Who payed the critics

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

HEROES OF SUNG begins with the defeated Emperor and his son conspiring with loyalists Jing and Meng to smuggle two Imperial seals south to reestablish their rule. Jing and Meng are attacked when they try to slip out of the enemy camp and barely manage to make it back to their respective bases. The dying Jing entrusts his seal to Tian Long (Pei-Shan Chang) and- without telling him- gives Fan Tienhu (Lo Lieh) a fake seal. Long and Fan, fighting together, use a "joint hand style" that enables them to hook their scabbards together and spin like a propeller- but, because Fan is "arrogant and impulsive," he's given the fake seal. Meng, meanwhile, gives his beautiful daughter, Hong-Er (Shih Szu) HIS seal. Our heroes hook up and head South. The beautiful but devious Miss Yan (Chia Chien Li) comes up with a plan to get Fan's seal (Hong-Er's seal is mysteriously stolen by Master Yan, using his weapon of choice, a claw on a chain, which he lowers through a hole in the roof): Miss Yan will marry Fan. Fan falls for it, and promises to bring the Yan clan the missing seal. There are some crazy wire-fu stunts in HEROES OF SUNG, but they seem oddly in keeping with what's going on: twice, we see the joint hand style employed by the Tiens; there's also a scene where Fan magically glides through the air parallel to the ground and rebounds, going back in the direction he came; and- my favorite- a scene where Master Yan is literally split down the middle. The precious seal is recovered from alongside the halved villain. HEROES OF SUNG is nothing if not a whole lot of fun. Recommended.