Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Heroes Shed No Tears Blu-ray Movie Review

An action extravaganza from John Woo (The Killer)

Heroes Shed No Tears (Ying xiong wu lei) is an action-packed ride from action filmmaker John Woo (The Killer). Produced by Peter Ho-Sun Chan (The Warlords, Perhaps Love), Raymond Chow (The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon), and filmmaker John Woo. As an early Hong Kong action flick, there's something to be said about Woo's frenzied action pic and its chaos-meter (consistently breaking the bar).

Chan Chung (Eddy Ko) stars as the tough-muscle leader of a Chinese milita group designated to take out a ruthless general on the opposing side. Coming face-to-face with an eyepatch wearing villain, a diabolical Vietnamese officer (Ching-Ying Lam), the rage between sides ensues as non-stop action escalates into mayhem: fire and fury. Which side will be victorious in a battle to the bitter end?

There are a number of excellent production elements to the feature. The music is enveloping with a strong action-oriented music score composed by Siu-Lam Tang (Police Story 2, Wheels on Meals) which also finds ways to bring some elegance to the filmmaking as well. The cinematography by Kenichi Nakagawa (Jeuk ngau jai foo dik Jung Kwai, Se yu yu chun qing) is visually stunning to behold and grips on to viewers with splendor.

Big guns, explosions, and babes galore

There's just something to be said about Heroes Shed No Tears director John Woo (A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled). Woo had Hollywood calling after making a series of acclaimed action films in Hong Kong and the rest is entirely history. While not really a great storyteller or a director with much actual stylistic finesse, that's probably not what audiences are even looking for in a John Woo film. If so you'd better look elsewhere!

Woo is almost like the Hong Kong equivalent of Michael Bay: explosions, loud sounds, and bombast appearing at every turn. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Just know what you're in for. Woo has so much fun with Heroes Shed No Tears that watching it is like experiencing a film made by a hyper-energetic child who can't stop playing with their action figurines: “Kapow! WOOSH! Bang!”

While not a great film by any means, Heroes Shed No Tears is an absolutely entertaining non-stop action film which doesn't let up at any moment. It's almost like Woo doesn't even want audiences to take a pause to breathe. From the opening sequence of the film alone, the film immediately wants viewers to know one thing: this film kicks ass big-time and it intends to do so for every frame: the experience is non-stop with flamethrowers, bullets dropping everywhere, buildings exploding, and muscle-men rushing at each other with weapons in tow.

Heroes Shed No Tears is a total action fest and that's why the film works so well as an example of total spectacle. It's basically impossible to not become absorbed by the filmmaking and it's magic shop of kick-ass wonders. Turn off the good ol' noggin and enjoy in the frenzied madness on display as Woo literally dials things up to 1000% for the glee of action-buffs everywhere. Time to chill. Or should I say... time to kill?

Heroes Shed No Tears Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Heroes Shed No Tears arrives on Blu-ray in North America for the first time from distributor Film Movement. The release is presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen. The 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation on this Blu-ray release is of a brand new 2K scan of the film. What a glorious transfer of the film. The film looks impressive visually with excellent color reproduction: the outdoor scenes are absolutely vivid and a sight to behold.

The film grain on this presentation has been left intact beautifully and this is a wonderfully organic and satisfactory image. There is no annoying DNR to be found or other detrimental components to draw one out of the presentation. The encode quality on this release is also highly satisfactory and pleases throughout the film presentation. The title card opticals do look a bit soft to me but this is often due to the source-resolution on these types of title opticals. The rest of the presentation is simply top notch and will not disappoint.

Heroes Shed No Tears Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track. The release provides viewers with a variety of high-resolution audio options. The film is presented with both a Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks as well as an optional English dub option. Though this is a feature film which is largely dialogue free, dialogue is easy to understand throughout. The film's presentation is greatly enhanced by the superb sound mix which has excellent surround sound usage.

The audio design is creative and engaging. One becomes fully absorbed by the rip-roaring sound-stage of the machine-gun firing at full blast and the loud explosions are enveloping and absorbing. This is a fantastic sound mix that has great highs and clarity. The resolution boost on the track is excellent and during the action scenes it felt like the film was even more intense and dramatic because of the fun sound effects. This is such an extremely clear audio track with great dynamics and strong LFE. The English subtitles provided are free from any distracting spelling or grammatical errors.

Heroes Shed No Tears Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release comes packaged in a beautiful clear case with inner artwork and a booklet.

On disc extras include the following:

Eddy Ko Interview (HD, 19 min. 39 sec.) is a fascinating sit-down discussion with the star of Heroes Shed No Tears as he delves into the production of the film. Ko discusses how he became involved in film acting (and how his career originated as an action stuntman before evolving into acting in action films directly), the process of working with filmmakers like John Woo, the behind the scenes events in filming in the country of Thailand, as well as a variety of insightful and eye-opening stories about some aspects of the production: such as how the film was produced with live-bullets used for many scenes as shot at empty buildings and also used during some of the biggest action scenes.

Ko delves into how in one scene he got hit by bullet blank shells which hit him under his stomach and how he had to rushed into an emergency room to have them removed. He continued filming the scene without stopping so they wouldn't have to re-do it. In addition to these insightful stories he also delves into other interesting aspects of the production which any fan of the film would feel compelled to explore with this entertaining interview.

Heroes Shed No Tears Original Trailer (HD, 4 min. 8 sec.) showcases the original trailer without its restorative work done for this brand new 2K digital restoration. It's great to compare the trailer to the final transfer and see how much better the new master is especially with the much richer and rewarding colors.

The release also includes trailers for other Film Movement releases: The Fate of Lee Khan (HD, 1 min. 39 sec.), The Great Silence (HD, 1 min. 44 sec.), and Violent Cop (HD, 1 min. 21 sec.)

The release also includes information on Film Movement and their important work on bringing culturally significant art house, independent, and foreign language films to the United States.

Heroes Shed No Tears Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What a blast of action entertainment. One can't help but get sucked into the fantastic imagery of action chaos from certified-badass Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo. There is something to be said about non-stop action movies featuring a parade of bullets, explosions, flamethrowers, and kick-ass fight scenes. For action enthusiasts who want to chill back to a wonderfully fun action extravaganza, Heroes Shed No Tears is a perfect ticket to experiencing action mayhem of the finest order. The Blu-ray release features a top-notch film presentation and includes a highly insightful interview with star Eddy Ko which is absolutely essential. Highly recommended.