Indiana Yeoh and the Giant Dragon on the Poster which is Conspicuously Absent in the Movie Itself
Magnificent Warriors is a 1987 Hong Kong martial arts movie starring Michelle Yeoh, Derek Yee and Richard Ng. Following the hype of the Indiana Jones trilogy back in the late-80s, this is Hong Kong's attempt to blend the Indy Jones-style of globetrotting adventures with Hong Kong martial arts, in which Yeoh, then an upcoming star, gets to play the lead as Indy's asskicking Distaff Counterpart.
Set in 1930s Japanese-occupied China, Fok Ming-ming (Yeoh), a Chinese agent tasked with covert missions, is sent to the rural town of Kaal, somewhere near Tibet, to investigate the presence Japanese occupation over there, where a previous agent named Sky (Derek Yee Tung-shing, former Shaw Brothers superstar) is to be her contact. After a run-in with a buffoonish smuggler Wong (Richard Ng, Hong Kong comedian) and the town's Rebellious Princess of Kaal, Princess Chin (who believes her father the governor is being used by the Japanese but is too weak to retaliate), Ming and friends discovers the Japanese are manipulating the citizens of Kaal into using their town as a weapons laboratory and ends up convincing the once-peaceful citizens of Kaal to overthrow against the Japanese forces which are enslaving the town.
Yeoh, then 25 years old and hot off the success of films like Yes, Madam and Royal Warriors, would find bigger breakthrough roles later on, most notably the third installment of the Police Story franchise where she gets to kick butt alongside Jackie Chan.
This film contains examples of:
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Ming does this with her allies, either with Agent Sky or with Princess Chin.
- Badass Longcoat: Agent Sky and Ming both wears these throughout the film.
- Bittersweet Ending: The town of Kaal is destroyed and its citizens are homeless, but they are now free from Japanese Imperial rule and no longer living under tyranny.
- Blade on a Rope: The rope dart is Ming's choice of weapon.
- Booby Trap: How the citizens of Kaal manage to overpower the Japanese army in the final battle, using pit-falls, exploding barrels, collapsing rock traps, and the like. It works well enough against the first wave of Japanese invaders, but when reinforcements arrives…
- Bows Versus Crossbows: Agent Sky’s preferred weapon is his trusty crossbow, compared to the Kaal city guards who uses longbows.
- Dance Battler: Ming’s fighting skills are a combination of martial arts, ballet, twirling and spinning. It helps that Michelle Yeoh is an accomplished dancer in real life.
- Deadly Gas: The Japanese Imperial Army is using the town of Kaal as headquarters for them to develop these; we get to see prisoners in gas masks being used as test subjects for potency of the gasses.
- Elite Mooks: Japanese Imperial agents, which are clad in black and puts up a better fight than regular mooks.
- Expy: Michelle Yeoh’s Fok Ming-ming is the Distaff Counterpart of Indiana Jones, with her jacket, rope dart and attitude.
- Failure Gambit: After the finale, General Toga reveals that a second battalion of Japanese – including tanks, artillery and a superior detachment of soldiers – are on their way to Kaal, which the citizens have absolutely no hopes of winning this time. However, the citizens of Kaal then decide to instead burn down their entire city, leaving the town into a wasteland, where the Japanese then decides their occupation in Kaal is a waste of time and resources and promptly retreats.
- Home Guard: The local Kaal soldiers, which are lightly armed and uses primitive weapons like spears and arrows compared to the Japanese army who uses guns.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: After the Japanese army at the end have been defeated and General Toga is the Sole Survivor, a town guard who just witnessed his mother being one of many Innocent Bystanders gunned down by Japanese soldiers wants to kill Toga, but Ming stops him (and everyone else desperately seeking revenge), quoting this trope.
- It's Personal: Princess Chin, and the Kaal townspeople, are finally opposing the Japanese and retaliating when their governor and ruler becomes the Sacrificial Lion to the Japanaese army.
- Katanas Are Just Better: After killing a courtyard full of Japanese invaders, Ming and Princess Chin take over a couple of their enemy’s katanas and use it to take out a few Japanese agents.
- Knows the Ropes: Ming kicks a load of ass using a rope dart (seen in the poster above).
- Man on Fire:
- During a fight scene, an unfortunate Kaal town guard ends up being flung upon a burning haystack.
- In the climax, a small legion of 30-odd Japanese soldiers marches into a courtyard, eager to massacre the civilians hiding in it. However they’re greeted by several collapsing oil drums, which spills the contents all over the dry grass padding the area, right before Ming throws a burning torch on one of the bales of hay and turning the whole place into an inferno.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: The Japanese Imperial Army have finally captured the town of Kaal… but the townspeople set the place alight and turns it into a ghost town, rendering the entire Japanese occupation pointless. Also, while the Big Bad General Toga is the Sole Survivor, he will have to answer to the Japanese Army over the entire failed occupation and probably take responsibility over the whole waste of time and resources.
- The Mole: Agent Sky, who pretends to be a Kaal citizen serving the Japanese, turns out to be on Ming’s side.
- More Dakka: Ming’s mounted heavy machine gun, which is used throughout the film. Right in the opening, as a bandit tries pursuing her, Ming promptly fires around 120 rounds at the pursuing bandit who is on a bridge, missing every shot… then the bridge collapses throwing said bandit into a river.
- Old-School Dogfight: While piloting her plane towards Kaal, Ming gets intercepted by a Japanese Zero jet over a canyon. Cue dogfight between Ming's rickety biplane against the Zero.
- Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Princess Chin, who despite living a sheltered life in the palace, can kick serious ass with a katana as seen in the finale.
- Public Execution: Agent Sky, Ming, Wong and Chancellor Youda are sentenced to be shot by the Japanese, but the local townspeople’s love and respect for Chancellor Youda causes the entire population to turn on the Japanese and finally retaliate against General Toga's forces.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The citizens of Kaal are now free from the Japanese occupation, but their entire home is now lost.
- Rock Beats Laser: In the final battle, the poorly-equipped Kaal local militia, armed with their spears and arrows, have to battle the Japanese army which comes with artillery, vehicles and firearms. The citizens still manage to win through a combination of using traps, guerilla tactics, and sheer determination alone. Subverted that they still lose the city when a second, more powerful battalion of Japanese troops arrives to massacre the city, but at that point they’ve burnt the entire city down and escapes with their lives.
- Shoot the Messenger: When one of the Japanese agents tries to warn General Toga of Sky’s true identity, Sky stealthily shoots the agent from a concealed balcony.
- Sniping the Cockpit: The aerial chase between Ming’s biplane and the Japanese Zero jet ends when Ming fires a flare into the Japanese plane’s cockpit, causing it to crash.
- Spare a Messenger: After the Final Battle, the Japanese Imperial Army’s leader, General Toga, is the sole survivor of the invasion force, and he’s allowed to leave to deliver a message to the Japanese to leave the citizens of Kaal alone.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Michelle Yeoh’s Ming is the tomboy compared to the much more feminine Princess Chin. Doesn’t stop them from kicking ass side-by-side, though.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: In the climax, the peaceful citizens of Kaal and the local town militia are forced to take up arms and partake in one last defense for their hometown.
- Violence Really Is the Answer: By the end of the climax when the Japanese military have uncovered where the non-combatants and innocent civilians of Kaal are hiding, and are threatening to execute the civilians in order to force the local militia into surrendering, eventually Chancellor Youda, who opposes violence his whole life and have not even touched a gun throughout the movie, finally decides to grab a machine gun and uses it to take out maybe a dozen Japanese soldiers in a few seconds.
- Wire Fu: Used constantly throughout majority of the fight scenes in the movie.
- Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Averted, in the climax a standoff gone wrong ends with several Kaal citizens being gunned down by Japanese soldiers, prompting the peaceful Chancellor Youda to finally grab a gun...
- You Can't Go Home Again: By the very end of the movie, the town of Kaal is destroyed, and the citizens are reduced to wandering nomads. But they are now free from Imperial Japanese rule.
