In an interesting role reversal, Ti Lung plays Cao, a treacherous Shaolin disciple whose temple is razed when he betrays it to The Emperor. He then oversees the ongoing torture of the survivors, although it quickly becomes apparent that something's not quite right: the prisoners are being too well fed and are actually becoming stronger under Cao's torture. Among the prisoners is Dorian Tan, but he doesn't get to display his spectacular kicks for very long: he's killed halfway through the movie in what was, for me, as shocking a scene as Janet Leigh's shower in PSYCHO. THE HEROES has some decent if all too brief fight scenes, and it's beautifully directed for what looks to have been a low budget affair. I'm not surprised to see that THE HEROES was directed by Ma Wu, who also did the fantastic comedy THE DEAD AND THE DEADLY.
Review of Xia gu ying xiong zhuan
