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Anyway you cut it, Heroes of the East is a fine example of classic martial-arts filmmaking. The name Lau Kar Leung may not immediately ring a bell with younger fans of the genre, but if you’ve seen Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master 2 (aka Legend of the Drunken Master), his performance as the tough-as-nails Fu Wen-Chi is nigh-unforgettable, and on more than one level.

The character portrayed by Jackie Chan, Wong Fei-Hung, is well-known to martial arts film enthusiasts as the subject of over 100 films stretching back to the beginnings of China’s movie industry. Lau Kar Leung, a well-respected martial artist in his own right, studied under one of the real-life Wong Fei Hung’s students, making him a living link to this legendary figure. To say that he’s as good a director as he is a martial-artist is a high compliment, and after viewing Heroes of the East I’d say it’s a distinction he rightly earns.

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