Eastern Condors (1986)

[Neville]

IMDB entry.


In a few words: Vietnam! Sammo Hung Yuen Biao!

I a few more words: I'm impressed, this must be one of the best action HK movies ever. It's about a special ops group that is organised in order to destroy a weapons cache left behind by American troops in Vietnam (Westmoreland, you botcher). It is mostly composed by Chinese-americans, Sammo Hung among them.

So yes, it's your standard "Dirty Dozen" copycat, but the plot flows nicely, and the action is nothing short of amazing. You have plenty of gunplay towards the end, but also plenty of old-fashioned kung-fu, in which Sammo hung and Yuen Biao get their hands dirty. I bet Hung has never been as good in the ass-kicking department as in this one. The IMDB states that he lost weight in order to improve his skills, and he certainly gets to do more acrobatics than in other stuff I've seen him in. As for Biao, he gets enough opprotunities to show off his skills throughout the film.

If you watch it, take this into account: 1) This is a serious film, not a comedy, although it has its moments, and there's quite a lot of violence and blood on it. Be warned. 2) Avoid older releases of this movie, they are edited for violence and, most importantly, they are missing some expository scenes at the beginning, including a quite funny one where the captain gets to retrieve an American flag.

[Flangepart]

Oh, yeah. Not a bad flick! Sammo did good here.
Oh, and the photo reminds me, of when some guys were shot with that .50cal.
No, a mon won't just drop, he will explode!
A .50 has too much energy for a human body to with stand.
And if ya doubt me, ask Andrew.

[Neville]

Are you telling me the "John Rambo" trailer is realistic? Aw... I'm surprised GIs don't throw sand over the battlefields, then. I'm told sailors did that (in other times) before naval battles.