CALL OF HEROES is an action movie set in 1914's China, made as a collaboration between Hong Kong and China. Thankfully it's more like a Hong Kong movie than a Chinese one. The director is the veteran Benny Chan, who has helmed some of Jackie's greatest latter-day movies, and the story is an interesting siege scenario in which an evil general's forces besiege a small town.

For once, story dominates the narrative instead of action. Louis Koo goes over the top but is highly effective as the ruthless villain of the piece, while Wu Jing plays his loyal henchman. The good guys are represented by Eddie Peng as a wandering swordsman hero, and the excellently gruff Lau Ching Wan as the whip-wielding town sheriff.

I could have done with a little more action, but the martial arts fights are well handled with choreography by the great Sammo Hung (who has a tiny cameo). The opening restaurant brawl is a highlight, as is the 'jar mountain' battle and the explosive incident of the climax. The film resorts to the usual wire work and CGI but it isn't as noticeable here as in a film, say, from the mainland.

I liked the lead actors a lot. I thought they all did a good job, as opposed to the usual Chinese acting in movies in the genre. And I thought the basic concept of the film was great! There is this evil killer that just gets put in jail in the first part of the story, but then the fact that he is an important political figure starts to stir all kinds of things. It was almost a censure of the Chinese political system.

However, this is where the good things end. The plot was convoluted enough to never learn much about the individual characters, thus they are hard to empathize with. Time management isn't great either. Half of the movie happens in a day and the second is not clear, since a guy has time to travel with children to the capital and back and save the day. The kung-fu was minimal and still a bit too much. For example there is a scene where they destroy all munitions so that they have the opportunity to fight hand to hand.

Bottom line: it was enjoyable and I liked the underlying message, but the film was pretty bland.

"Call of Heroes" is an entertaining wuxia film with cool characters and good enough action scenes that help overcome its shortcomings (they being bad acting, in the overacting category, thin as they come plot, and a too long running time).

The army has left Pucheng undefended to fight in the war, and the local governance is in the hands of the local militia and its leader, Colonel Yeung. Cho, the son of a military governor, who seems to just go around for the sake of killing people, gets to the city, and after doing some of his nasty stuff (so, killing innocents),is put in prison by Colonel Yeung, guilty of murder and condemned to die at the next day's sunrise. Cho's army will try to stop this.

You can see almost every plot development, fight and showdown in "Call of Heroes" from moment one. You know who will fight against whom, and how the plot will develop. However, director Chan and everyone involved do a great job with the rhythm and the pace and the little scenes between fights, to keep things fresh and including one or two little twists that make things feel original enough. The use of locations in the fights, and the cool action direction by Sammo Hung (who gives himself a blind-and-you-will-miss-it cameo) makes for really good showdowns every moment the tension rises and the action unleashes.

It helps that we have here some of the most famous faces in Hong Kong action movies. Ching Wan Lau as Colonel Yeung does a great job in the 'I-am-a-calm-and-stable-leader' mold. But the movie belongs to Eddie Peng and he embodies the hero of the story in a too-cool-to-be-true manner. His acting may look simple (raising eyebrows and little smiles),but it fits the character perfectly, and makes the viewer connect with Ma Fung, elevating the character to one of those you would like to see at least in a couple more movies. The same cannot be said of Louis Koo's Cho Siu-lun, Louis Koo having taking a page of the 'unleashed Jim Carrey' school of acting. Louis Koo munches his dialogue as if he was hyper after having two litters of coffee and half a pound of chocolate. He is probably having too much fun with the character, but it makes the viewer disconnect from the story, as the histrionics go to a level not much seen before.

"Call of Heroes" is a very entertaining movie, that is not trying to reinvent the wheel, but just entertain the viewer. And the fan of the genre will probably enjoy it.