Originally published on Set The Tape
Set during the Ming Dynasty, The Valiant Ones paints itself as a historical epic that plays it more realistic than most Wuxia movies, yet manages to still fall into the realm of the delightfully ridiculous at times. As part of Eureka Entertainment‘s Masters of Cinema collection, fans of the genre are given the chance to add this hard to find film to their shelves.
Directed by King Hu, the film tells the story of a nation under attack, as China has fallen victim to a band of Japanese pirates and bandits who routinely raid, pillage, and kill. The Jiajing emperor, shown to be mostly disinterested in the plight of his people and generally lazy, puts one of his officials, Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi), in charge of putting an end to these attacks.
Zhu Wan begins working with a skilled tactician, Yu Dayou (Roy Chiao), and his band of expert warriors, who hatch a scheme to bring an end to the Japanese attacks by killing their leadership, thereby leaving the rest of the pirates leaderless and lost. Part of their plan involves using the highly skilled married fighters, Wu Ji-yuan (Pai Ying) and Wu Ro-shi (Hsu Feng), whose skills have become legend.
The Valiant Ones sits in a strange place in terms of tone, and those looking for a pretty straight historical movie will find that there’s a little too much ridiculousness here to be fully pleased with the way that King Hu presents the movie; whilst those looking for the extravagant, and fantastical elements associated with some of the better known Wuxia movies may find the more realistic tone too dull to keep their attention.
The film seems to jump backwards and forwards with what kind of movie it wants to be, and this is perhaps the biggest downfall in an otherwise very entertaining film. King Hu presents things well at least, and there’s a strong use of striking colour in order to draw the viewer’s eye, with good use of lighting and smoke in enclosed sets that create a pretty decent atmosphere that sets it apart from some of the more hastily produced and less cared about films in the genre.
The character introductions are strong, with some of the early scenes that showcase why these heroes have been recruited being some of the first action scenes in the film. Thanks to a somewhat slower start, when our protagonists come to the aid of a small town about to be attacked by bandits it almost comes as something of a surprise. You have almost begun to forget that this is a martial arts film thanks to the quieter moments.
As the film progresses these moments become more frequent, with bigger and more elaborate scenes being used. There are a number of scenes where it almost feels impossible that our heroes will make it through, outnumbered by several degrees, and these are the best parts of the film. The action is choreographed well, and King Hu uses a moving camera and interesting angles that elevate the feel of the film.
There are times, however, where certain scenes begin to feel like they go on a little too long, and with the overall run-time of the movie being close to two hours I couldn’t help but think that some of these scenes could have been trimmed down, or cut altogether, to help with the pace.
There’s a scene where two of our protagonists go undercover, and the raiders insist that they show off their fighting ability. And then again, and again, and again. Every time they fight an opponent or showcase a skill the enemy wants them to try a different opponent, and by the third time the scene has already overstayed its welcome, no matter how good the martial arts skills are. Despite this, the film is filled with some good moments, and the group of heroes makes for an enjoyable team that are a genuine delight to follow.
The new Blu-ray release comes with a 1080p HD presentation of the film, restored from the original negatives, and looks absolutely fantastic. Alongside this is an audio commentary from Frank Djeng, who delves into the history of the setting, as well as his usual dive into the histories of the cast and crew who worked on the film. There are a number of new interviews about the film, a video essay, and some archival material, alongside a collector’s booklet with some interesting writings inside by John Clements that makes this a release that fans of the genre are going to want to check out.
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