Heroes of the East is sort of like a mash-up of a romantic comedy with a martial arts movie. It involves a young Chinese kung fu master who marries a Japanese woman, only for them to clash over which country has the superior martial arts. This leads to a tournament where the Chinese kung fu master must take on seven experienced martial artists from Japan, in a physical battle of the cultures.
The first half is mostly focused on the relationship troubles and is the more outwardly comedic half. It's the part of the movie I didn't really like. It's repetitive, scenes just seem to happen one after the other with very little logical flow or satisfying story progression, and the comedy wasn't very funny (to me- that last point is purely subjective). The brief combat scenes we get in the first half also aren't particularly satisfying.
But the second half that features the tournament is thankfully pretty fun. It's all one on one fights, but they do a good job at making them feel varied by featuring different styles, weapons, and locations for the fighting.
I wasn't emotionally invested in the combat exactly, because the set-up in the first half failed to get me caring about which school of martial arts was superior, and also because the fights don't have more dramatic stakes (they're only really putting combat styles against each other, after all).
But at least the action itself is well-choreographed and engaging all the same, being well-filmed, using just the right amount of slow-mo, and having great stunt work (I also really dig the old school combat sound effects). It's ultimately worth sticking with the first half for much of what's contained in the second.
The first half is mostly focused on the relationship troubles and is the more outwardly comedic half. It's the part of the movie I didn't really like. It's repetitive, scenes just seem to happen one after the other with very little logical flow or satisfying story progression, and the comedy wasn't very funny (to me- that last point is purely subjective). The brief combat scenes we get in the first half also aren't particularly satisfying.
But the second half that features the tournament is thankfully pretty fun. It's all one on one fights, but they do a good job at making them feel varied by featuring different styles, weapons, and locations for the fighting.
I wasn't emotionally invested in the combat exactly, because the set-up in the first half failed to get me caring about which school of martial arts was superior, and also because the fights don't have more dramatic stakes (they're only really putting combat styles against each other, after all).
But at least the action itself is well-choreographed and engaging all the same, being well-filmed, using just the right amount of slow-mo, and having great stunt work (I also really dig the old school combat sound effects). It's ultimately worth sticking with the first half for much of what's contained in the second.