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正牌韋小寶之奉旨溝女 (1993)
Hero from Beyond the Boundary of Time


Reviewed by: j.crawford
Date: 06/23/2012
Summary: raucous ribald fantasy.

Hero from Beyond the Boundary of Time [1993] is a ridiculously funny and absolutely raucous ribald fantasy film that stars Tony Leung before he became the darling of Cannes. Actor Leung plays the role of Wai Siu-Bo, a ladies man from the 17th Century Qing Dynasty who travels into the 20th century (via a device H.G. Wells would envy) on a mission to find the perfect virgin bride for his best friend, the sickly Emperor Kang. Once he gets to the future, Siu-Bo finds himself in the mood for love, totally 90's style. The Emperor's palace enemies have also figured out the secret to time travel, sending two kung fu killers into the future to hunt down Wai.

With this film, director Blacky Ko manages to capture the sort of “anything goes” attitude that was so prevalent in Hong Kong in the years just prior to the Handover in 1997. Ko did not sit in the director's chair but only 7 times during his career.

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 03/25/2011

If you are easily offended or are a film snob in any way, Hero Beyond the Boundaries of Time is not the movie for you. Sporting more than its' fair share of potty-mouthed humor and scatalogical references, Hero gleefully fillets the classic literary character of Wai Siu-Bo. Building its' foundation on jokes centering around boobs and boners that are right up Beavis and Butt-head's alley, this is not a picture you can enter into with the logical part of your brain on at all, lest you fall prey to an unfortunate aneurysm.

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 04/17/2004

H - BTBOT is a little bit like a Stephen Chiau period comedy married with Yuen Biao's The Iceman Cometh and the offensive sex/rape "comedy" of the Lucky Stars films, with Tony Leung Chiu Wai miscast as the lecherous Wai Siu Bo (the same character played by Chiau Sing Chi in the Royal Tramp films, I presume).

Wai Siu Bo has to travel 300 years into the future (to the present time) to find a virgin queen to save the life of the emperor. He meets up with psychotic cop Dicky Cheung and the two vaguely try to find the right girl, but devote more effort to getting in the sack with pretty much everyone they come across (including each other at one point) and avoiding some loan sharks.

The film is fast paced and very silly, recalling Chiau Sing Chi's comedies but without the wit and intelligence - though poor English subtitles may have masked those qualities if they were present.

It's not quite an awful film, but has a somewhat unpleasant taste despite some generally good production values. There's a big wire-fu fight at the end that is pretty spectacular, and is perhaps the main reason to watch the film, Veronica Yip's "assets" aside.

The Megastar DVD is anamorphic and has decent picture quality, but a dreadful sound mix and (as noted above) poor English subtitles.

6/10

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: pjshimmer
Date: 02/09/2004

very bad movie. Tony Leung has a sex scene.

[5/10]


Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 07/03/2000
Summary: Unlikeable lead char but fun fantasy

Yet again, Tony LeungCW plays an abrasive jokey womanizer, whom women seem to find irresistible. Having 7 wives already, he spends much of the movie wooing the luscious Ha to be number eight.

The producers chose well to give the early shower scene to the luscious Ng Suet Man (discreetly but gloriously nude) rather than Veronica Yip. And the lovely Ng is the most watchable feature of this film - until the colourful and stunning climactic wirework fight scene.

There is a fairly full-on sex scene, where Bo screws the loan shark's wife while chatting up Ha on the phone (do women really fall for this crap ?).

Overall, a wild ride. And it would have been twice as good if Tony LWC had NOT played such an arrogant prick.

Previously published:
A sort-of comedy version of The Iceman Cometh (the HK movie, not Eugene O'Neill's play). Tony Leung travels to the future to find a virtuous woman (i.e. a virgin) in modern HK, in order to prevent a dire fate, prophesied by the emperor's fortune teller, befalling the emperor. The story is a mixture of great flying-people stunt-work, really stupid comedy and lame romance. I find the character Leung plays most puzzling. He's one of the most obnoxious and loathsome "heroes" I've ever seen in HK filmdom. Something like Stephen Chow, but far less funny (by the way, I think S/Chow is at times quite good comedian, certainly far from great). What ANY woman could find attractive in this guy has me stumped, let alone him having seven or eight wives (he keeps forgeting how many) and still eventually winning the attention of the luscious Veronica Yip (for her fans : she appears in one discreet but still
pulse-racing shower scene). His strategy to pick up Veronica, basically, is to shower her with insults. OVERALL : Don't be in a great hurry to rent it. When/if you do, get it on video, and keep a finger poised over the fast-forward button. If Leung's dealings with the female characters disgust you (as they did me), hit it till it reaches the next fight scene.

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: spinali
Date: 12/08/1999
Summary: NULL

A court magician claims the only prescription to the Emperor's languor can be found in a wife from the far future. Oversexed Sin Bo, a friend of the monarch, consents to being put into 'The Invincible Time Adventure Wheel', a brass pot which is slung into the air and lands in the 20th century. With policeman Au Chiu (bless you!), he begins his wacky quest...until a power-mad minister from the past sends two martial arts masters to kill the time-traveler. Realizing the danger, Sin Bo's wife comes over with a bunch of tumbling, punching kung fu girls. All of this reaches an acrobatic climax in an amusement park -- and we haven't even hit the end yet!

(3/4)



[Reviewed by Steve Spinali]

Reviewer Score: 7