My Father’s a Hero aka The Enforcer: Dimension Films
Rating: USA: R

After making a name for himself by starring in numerous period martial arts films (including playing Chinese heros Wong Fei-hung and Fong Sai yuk), kung fu superstar Jet Li decided to try and parlay his success to films with a more modern setting. Overall, most of these films really tend to pale in comparison to Li’s period work—they’re not awful films, but few of them are classics. I’m not sure why Li has had such difficulty making an engaging action film in a modern setting—it could be that he simply became typecast by his period films, or it could even be that his modern day movies couldn’t compete with the madcap antics of Jackie Chan. Whatever the case, Li’s films set in the present day rarely manage to live up to his historical epics.

And that brings us to the subject of this review, Jet Li’s 1995 film My Father’s a Hero, which was released as Jet Li’s The Enforcer here in the States—a Li film with a modern day setting that ultimately fails to live up to the actor’s best work.

Li plays Kung Wei, a family man with a doting son Johnny (martial arts champion Xie Miao) and a terminally ill wife. Unbeknownst to either of them, he’s leading a secret life as an undercover cop. Soon, Kung Wei is called upon to infiltrate the organization of a master criminal named Bo (Yu Rong guang)—a job he reluctantly agrees to, even though it means leaving his dying wife.

Kung Wei infiltrates Bo’s organization, and soon runs into female police inspector Fong Yat wah (Anita Mui). Fong makes it her duty to capture Kung, and traces him back to his home on the mainland. There, she meets Johnny and his sick mother and begins to believe that Kung Wei is more than a petty criminal.

When Kung Wei’s wife dies, she takes Johnny to Hong Kong in search of his father, who’s working with Bo on a plan to rob a large auction boat. From there, things come to a head and lead to a climactic showdown where father and son take on three very bad men.

Unlike your standard Li film, My Father’s a Hero is an interesting mix of elements and not just a straight action flick. There are elements of the family drama, thriller, martial arts action, and even some of the heroic bloodshed subgenre’s stylish gunplay mixed into the narrative. Unfortunately, this broad focus tends to work against the film—the story is often spread too thin in order to accommodate all of these disparate styles.

In fact, for a Corey Yuen/Jet Li action film, My Father’s a Hero spends long stretches with no action at all, concentrating instead on trying to develop the characters or play up the drama aspects of the story (which was conceived by Wong Jing). This normally wouldn’t be a bad thing—however even with the time spent on character development here, no one’s all that particularly well-drawn and most of the drama falls well into the predictable category. Add in a healthy dose of schmaltz (because any film with a child and dying mother is going to feature an abundance of manipulative scenes designed to milk our emotions) and you get a film that really more like a movie of the week drama than a legitimate action flick—and we all know that Li’s not recognized for his brilliant acting ability…

Of course, with Corey Yuen behind the camera, you can be sure that the action that does make it into the film is going to be impressive—and you won’t be disappointed here. The film features several good action set-pieces that highlight both Li and Xie Miao’s impressive martial arts abilities. The first features Li battling several bad guys while Yuen intercuts footage of Johnny sparring during a martial arts competition. soon, the action reaches the same arena—with Johnny fighting on stage in front of a crowd and judges while Kung Wei fights in the rafters above.

Another impressive sequence involves a shootout in a restaurant between cops, Bo’s gang, and a rival gang. This scene uses a little bit of everything—there’s some martial arts mayhem, gunplay, and even explosives. There are reversals in the action on numerous occasions, and the scene ultimately culminates with a car chase, followed by one last explosion—it’s certainly heady stuff, and goes a long way to offsetting the lulls whenever there’s a series of dramatic scenes.

Anita Mui and Xie Miao get a chance to shine in a scene that has the two taking on six or so armed bad guys on a boat. Both actors dish out some heavy doses of Hong Kong style punishment to their larger and stronger assailants.

Mui also gets in the action in a later scene with Li and Yu Rong guang. Here, the two men fight while holding on to a moving garbage truck. Mui climbs a fence, shoots the driver, hops through the broken windshield, and commandeers the truck—it’s a great scene, one of the most memorable in the entire film.

Finally, Li and Yuen save the best for last—a martial arts showdown on a yacht wired with explosives with Li and Xie Miao taking on Yu Rong guang, Ngai Sing, and Ken Lo. The action here is fast and furious, and the scene really highlights the abilities of all involved. If the scene has any weakness, it’s that it relies a little too heavily on wirework with Xie Miao’s character. I don’t mind some wire-fu in my martial arts movies, but some of the stuff here just goes a little overboard—and disrupts the scene in the process. The one other problem I noticed is that this scene appears to have been sped up—making it look like everyone’s moving a lot faster than they really are. These guys are all amazing martial artists—tinkering with the speed to make them look even better seems to denigrate their real talent, in my opinion.

The performances are all decent, even from Jet Li, who’s generally hit and miss for me in terms of actual acting. Li does a nice job here, particularly in a scene where he has to watch Bo smash his son’s head through a glass table (if Kung Wei were to intercede, his cover would be blown). Anita Mui also turns in another fine performance, playing Fong with a nice balance of tough girl cop and vulnerable mother figure throughout the film.

However, the real scene-stealer is Yu Rong guang’s Bo. Bo is a great villain, partially because he’s written with some idiosyncrasies (he’s always running around with a black trench coat, white gloves, and dark sunglasses) and partially because Yu plays the role with such an over the top zeal. You’re never really sure what to expect from this character, and that makes him intriguing. A prime example of this is when he smashes little Johnny’s head through the glass table—that’s simply something you’d never see in an American action film—or any film, for that matter.

Dimension has released this film on DVD (again, as The Enforcer here in America) and it’s another subpar job. The picture is nice (and in widescreen), but the new music and sound effects sound out of place and detract from the film overall. The dubbing, as is to be expected, is pretty awful. Track down a subtitled version if you can—the translation won’t be great, but at least you’ll hear the actors speaking in their own voices.

Overall, My Father’s a Hero is a fairly uneven affair. By trying to make a film that combined drama, action, and a little romance, director Corey Yuen has spread himself too thin—and made a film that doesn’t succeed completely on any level. This isn’t to say that My Father’s a Hero is a bad film—because it’s not. There are some great action scenes, some solid performances, and a fair degree of chemistry between the leads. Unfortunately, though, it becomes readily apparent while viewing this film that it could have been so much more—a fact that ultimately makes it a bit of a disappointment. Still, if you’re a Jet Li fan, lover of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, or just looking for an action film with some drama, then My Father’s a Hero is well worth checking out.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups