Eastern Condors
Eastern Condors
| 09 July 1987 (USA)
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A motley group of Chinese prisoners held in the US is sent on a covert mission with the promise of a pardon: to go deep into Vietnam and destroy a secret depot of missiles that the US left behind during the pull-out.

Reviews
TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film
Ploydsge just watch it!
Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Bob I recommend watching this with friends while drinking, partly because although it's supposed to have *some* comic relief, all the funniest elements are unintentional, including bizarrely out-of-place dubbed accents and the villain's ridiculous laugh. (In other words, watch the english dub rather than the original subbed.) The action is great and there's a lot of it, in the final act there's literally something exploding or being machine gunned, or both, on screen at all times. Rounding things off is better-than-it-needed-to-be music which drips 80's action film aesthetic, it sounds a bit like Vangelis at points.
dworldeater Eastern Condors has few equals in the action genre. Directed and starring Sammo Hung, Sammo turns the action to eleven in this hybrid of modern action and kung fu. Also appearing is Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah as the ever reliable villain. E.C. is Hong Kong's answer to The Dirty Dozen where a group of Chinese/American criminals go on a suicide mission to destroy a missile ammunition dump left behind by Marines in Vietnam. The tone is lighter than John Woo's Bullet In The Head, but is taken serious enough to care about the characters, move along the story and sell the abundant and insane action scenes. There is enough bonebreaking martial arts, crazy stunts, as well as a barrage of machine gunfire and explosions to please the most jaded of action fans. Overall, Eastern Condors more than delivers and I always enjoy re watching this action classic.
Bogey Man Sammo Hung's action film Eastern Condors (1986) tells the story of group of Chinese convicts, who get a chance to get free if they accept to go to deadly mission to Vietnam to destroy one American weapon stock before Vietcong finds it. The group arrives there, but soon learn there are spies among them and everything is not quite as it looks like. What follows is plenty of martial arts and gun fire mayhem.This film has great cinematography and editing and the action scenes are definitely intense, as can be expected from Sammo Hung and other talents who worked on this film. There is plenty of kung fu and different weapons they make in the jungle, and then there's plenty of the usual fire fights and bullets. The last 20 minutes have been said to be extremely over-the-top action, but I don't think it is so strong and intense, but maybe after seeing films like Heroes Shed No Tears I had little too high expectations.The main problem with Condors is its stupidity and naive elements as the whole thing is not too believable and the film glorifies war too much. Also, the underlining attitude towards Western culture and America is too gratuitous as characters say things like "Westerners are so stupid" and so on. The characters are not deep but very shallow and uninteresting. The film doesn't have any soul and thus becomes a delight to the eye only.I appreciate clever action films very much and Hong Kong has produced very much of those films, too. Eastern Condors offers very fast action and martial arts, but lacks the depth and message this kind of film should and could have. Still I found this worthwhile to watch since I like Eastern cinema much and can also forgive some of their films' mistakes and flaws easier than some other films'. Many will without a doubt think this is among the greatest action films ever, due to its kinetic and occasionally brutal action, but anyone waiting for little more intelligent or symbolic piece of cinema will slightly disappoint. Still I think 7/10 is the right rating for this film. If you're interested in this kind of Asian adventure, I'd recommend John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears, which is much more interesting film and has really incredible action scenes and also symbols borrowed from the Japanese Baby Cart films.
Antzy88 A group of Chinese prisoners are sent on an unknown (well, to them, anyway) mission in Vietnam in order to win their freedom and a large fortune. Tensions mount as the troop get picked off one by one. Will they survive long enough to enjoy their freedom? This has been widely hailed as Sammo Hung's greatest directorial achievement, and it's certainly up there with the best of his work behind the camera. For his appearance in front of the camera he actually lost some of his trademark girth to facilitate his ability to perform some of the action required. 'Eastern Condors' is an awesome mix of action, drama (as platoon members die, mostly) and martial artistry. Fans of Hong Kong cinema will love the amazing combat scenes, particularly the ones from Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, who still dazzles with his usual amazing gymnastics and frightening flexibility. Definitely a thumbs-up in my reckoning! 8/10