JUST HEROES is a film that was apparently made due to an urgent need for money. Nothing new there in the filmmaking industry you might think, but apparently renowned Shaw Brothers director Chang Cheh was in financial difficulty and many of his friends decided to make this film and give him the proceeds. Despite this somewhat unorthodox production process, JUST HEROES turns out to be an excellent film in the Hong Kong gangster genre.Things kick off on a great note in which director John Woo reveals his trademark slow-motion violence: we witness mob boss Wu Ma and his men attacking a turncoat, played by the delightful Phillip Ko, and a shoot-out on the dock ensues. After this, things slow down a great deal for a storyline which is reminiscent of King Lear: a mob boss dies and his three underlings fight over who'll take over the empire. The twist here is that one of those sons killed his own boss.There are the usual twists and turns and melodramatic moments that you'd expect, and an unusually high number of famous faces in the cast. Seemingly many of the famous Shaw Brothers stars came back to appear in this. Danny Lee, David Chiang, and Chen Kuan Tai play the feuding brothers, and they're supported by an excellent cast including the aforementioned Wu Ma and Phillip Ko, Ti Lung, Lo Lieh, Fung Hark-On, Bill Tung, Yueh Hua, Chiang Tao, Paul Chun, and a good, early role for the usually comedic Stephen Chow. It goes without saying that the acting is wonderful in this film.The story's watchable, too, and enlivened by the usual set-piece action, of which the climax – a massive shoot-out inside a sprawling mansion – is by far the best. Bodies are flung through breaking windows, riddled with machine gun bullets and people jump through the air firing weapons. It's one of those films where a single bullet never suffices and victims are always riddled before they bite it.

From what I have observed a lot of people is really disappointed in this movie but I fell in love with it! It is such a shame that this movie is only available as French and Japanese DVDs and both are without subtitles. I guess this explains why many people does not know this John Woo movie.The story is not that bad but they really could've added a lot to "who will be the heir to murdered triad boss ?" storyline.But they opted for a lazier method and rushed everything in the movie. I guess this is mostly because of the fact that it is shot for Wu Ma which was in desperate need of money.If they didn't rush everything because of the reason given above, it really could have been a true John Woo classic like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Hard Boiled. This is what I call a missed opportunity.Whatever your reason for not liking this movie might be but there is no denial that the finale shootout is awesome. This is John Woo and Heroic Bloodshed at its best. I'll surely watch it once again.Please release this movie on DVD with remastered picture and subs so that other Hong Kong action movie fans get to watch this.

What better summary line than the English title for the movie? I don't know if it is an accurate translation from the HK title, but more importantly: Why is there no release of this movie on a DVD yet? At least not in the western world and not an official one, as can be seen here at IMDb ...Just Heroes is another Woo flick with his well known ingredients: Bloodshed, Heroism, loyalty and respect. The slow motion is thrown in there for good measure too! ;o) Of course it's something that a John Woo Film, can not be without! And although it might sound emotionless or apathetic, how I just list those things, the movie is a really good action film! It's not his best, but if you like his other better known HK offerings, you're gonna love this one too! :o)

The crime business gets an even more banalizing makeover in this John Woo blowout than it does in the beige-suit-and-silver-tie-clip yakuza world of Takeshi Kitano's gangland melodramas. Reportedly thrown together in haste, this web of intrigues in a most routinely businesslike mob world has it all: tippling molls, Kun Opera, quadruple-crosses, buckets of Wooian sentimentality, and world-class, state-of-the-art action choreography. Woo learned from the masters Walter Hill and Sam Peckinpah and did them one better: nobody on this earth, except Steven Spielberg on a good day, understands the ballet of gunmen and camera like Woo. It's become a cliche, but it's true, and this underrated movie proves it: Woo raised the bar and then hurtled over it. He's the tops.