Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Unity of Heroes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 29, 2019

Have you ever tried so-called “alternative medicine”? One of the kind of interesting things about living in the (supposedly?) hip and happening Pacific Northwest is that there is a veritable glut of such “alternatives”, and for those who think that the typically very “scientifically” minded approach of Western Medicine may not have all the answers, the fact that there’s at least a choice seems to appeal to some part of the populace, at least as evidenced by the success of various "alternatives" doing business in this neck of the woods. The interplay between “Western” and “Chinese” medicine is one of the kind of curious but potentially kind of captivating subplots of The Unity of Heroes, a film which is many ways a throwback to any number of Asian outings from years (and indeed decades) past, though in this case it seems to be entirely intentional and not some misguided effort at pastische. Vincent Zhao is on hand in The Unity of Heroes as real life martial artist and doctor Wong Fei Hung, a character he essayed years ago in a Tsui Hark produced television series named after the character. But many fans of Asian entertainment may know the character of Wong Fei Hung at least as well from either Drunken Master, which featured Jackie Chan’s memorable take on the relatively modern (late 19th to early 20th centuries) legend, or from another Tsui Hark presentation, namely Jet Li’s characterization in the Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy (note that the link points to a recent British release from Eureka, one which I’ve coincidentally just gotten check discs for and will be reviewing as soon as I can get to it). Obsessed fans with a penchant for datapoints may know that Vincent Zhao took over the role from Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China IV and Once Upon a Time in China V, neither of which are (perhaps self-evidently) included in the Eureka trilogy linked to above.

There initially seems to be a kind of supernatural, demonic element at play in The Unity of Heroes as an almost zombiefied or perhaps vampiric individual is found caged in a seaside urban square. An unfortunate series of calamities ensues, with the — well, whatever it is — getting away, and with a concerned (female) captain named Lu (Wei Xhaohuan), urging her acolytes to cover up any signs of a struggle and resultant conflagration. Not so surprisingly the very badly burned victim of the carnage shows up in the courtyard of Wong Fei Hung, where the concerned doctor side of the character figures out the poor guy’s been poisoned, after, that is, the butt kicking martial arts side of the character lassos the burn victim and pummels him to within an inch of his life (the guy had been acting like a possessed lunatic, so there’s that).

A number of sidebars intrude, including the arrival of Aunt 13 (Wei Ni), a potential romantic interest for Wong Fei Hung who is sweet but perhaps too Westernized (she can't properly navigate the use of chopsticks). And in fact the dialectic between West and East serves as a kind of bubbling undertow here in a number of ways, with another subplot being the opening of a hospital run by a Western doctor who is supposedly offering a cure for opium addiction. What's really going on is of course more nefarious and plays into the poisoning documented earlier. Even before that revelation is (probably expectedly) disclosed, Wong Fei Hung laments that Westerners first got the Chinese hooked on opium, and now are offering "new, improved" drugs to break them of their habit. There's therefore just a slightly jingoistic, "rah rah" element to some of the underlying tenets of the story that may chafe slightly at certain Western sensibilities.

There's nothing very surprising about The Unity of Heroes, but there's also something kind of unabashedly comforting about this effort, one which revisits several tropes of previous Wong Fei Hung entries, but offering everything with style and some appealing fight choreography. The film arguably could have used a bit less of its sometimes hokey slapstick fervor, and there will of course be those who will always think of Jet Li in this role, but The Unity of Heroes manages to evoke the past without making fun of it or cheapening fans' memories of various treatments of this character.

The Unity of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Unity of Heroes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.30:1. This is another Asian effort that doesn't seem to have a ton of production data available online, and the IMDb has no accounting of what camera was utilized or what resolution the DI was. That said, as can probably be gleaned from many of the screenshots accompanying this review, this is a very appealingly sharp and well detailed presentation, one that offers generally consistent fine detail levels, sometimes even in less than optimal lighting conditions. The palette here is perhaps surprisingly not overly colorful, with, for instance, our main hero always clad in white or beige, and with only isolated pops of color tending to inform the frame. There is some fairly inartful CGI at play at times (see screenshot 4), which can look soft and almost blurry at times.

The Unity of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Unity of Heroes features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one which bursts to life in any of the spectacular action sequences, but which also offers consistent engagement of the surround channels in a number of other scenes, including several in various outdoor locations where relatively large groups of people assemble. Sound effects are often very artfully placed, and there is some good energetic use of LFE. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, with no problems with regard to distortion or dropouts.

The Unity of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 1:22)

Note: As is usually the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored so that trailers for other Well Go USA releases follow this sole supplement automatically. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

The Unity of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While I'm giving The Unity of Heroes the same overall 3.5 score I did for Rise of the Legend, another relatively recent opus designed to "resurrect" Wong Fei Hung, but I have to say I probably actually enjoyed this film more. It has a brisk style and an unpretentious air that is inviting, and it's fun to see Zhao in this role again. I personally didn't really find much of the supposed "comedy" all that funny (or even necessary), but the story, while rote, is handled with energy and a committed attitude by the performers, and the film's visual aesthetic is often quite stylish. Technical merits are solid, and The Unity of Heroes comes Recommended.