Just what I expected

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

In the early 90s, after reading a glowing review of the film in a fanzine, I shelled out mucho dinero for a pirated un-subtitled VHS copy of Eastern Condors. And even though I didn't have a clue what was being said, the movie blew me away with its OTT gung-ho action, bullet-riddled battle scenes and unbelievable martial arts madness.These days the film is available on DVD remastered, fully restored and subtitled, so fans of fantastic fight action have no excuse for not checking out this marvellous movie.Director and star Sammo Hung takes the basic plot of The Dirty Dozen (a group of criminals take part in a dangerous mission with the promise of freedom if they succeed), adds a touch of The Deer Hunter and Rambo, and throws in a ton of amazing kung fu to deliver one of the best Hong Kong flicks of the 80s.Joining Sammo on his dangerous mission (into Vietnam, to destroy a hidden US munitions dump) are the brilliant Yuen Baio (as a Vietnamese profiteer dealing in smuggled goods), Oscar winner Haing S. Ngor, Lam Ching Ying, Yuen Woo-ping, Corey Yuen, Charlie Chin, and Sammo's real-life wife, the gorgeous Joyce Godenzi. Playing nasty bad-guys out to foil the mission are Billy Chow and the fantastic Yuen Wah. With a line up like that, and Hung calling the shots, excellence is almost guaranteed.From the moment our 'heroes' parachute into a Vietcong infested jungle, Eastern Condors is non stop brutal action and unmissable fare for those who enjoy their war films violent and unfettered by serious political comment. The bad guys are pure evil (Wah's sniggering fan-waving general is as despicable as they come) and deserve to die. End of story.And die they do: blasted by machine guns, knifed to death in guerrilla attacks, hacked by machetes, and even killed by imaginative use of jungle flora! In a blistering finale in an underground, missile laden bunker, the surviving good-guys take on the enemy in a vicious showdown that will leave you breathless. Yuen Baio and Sammo take the spotlight in the final fight against Wah and Chow, and the result is some of the best martial arts action ever committed to film. Baio's acrobatic skills are well showcased, whilst Hung, who slimmed down in order to be able to perform more incredible stunts, is on particularly fine form.Only the occasional 'silly' moment (such as the death of a stuttering character who dies when he fails to reach twenty before opening his parachute), and the rather strange nutter played by Haing S. Ngor (I'm still not sure what the point of his character was) stop me from giving this top marks.But 9/10 is nothing to be sniffed at, and any fan of the genre should definitely check this one out.

"This movie is kind of an amalgamation of The Dirty Dozen and Rambo, with Lam Ching-Ying bringing a group of convicts (Sammo being the leader amongst them) into Vietnam to complete a dangerous mission. Even though there are some attempts at emotion and symbolism sprinkled throughout the movie, the emphasis here is on action. There is just enough exposition to get the the next action sequence, then a bit more story, some more action, and so on. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. I would much rather watch an action movie just be a straight-forward adrenalin fest than yet another Killer wannabe. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the non-action bits. I found the characters quite engaging and enjoyed getting to know more about them, especially Max Mok as the resident wise ass, Wu Ma as the crusty old-timer, and Joyce Godenzi (Sammo's wife) as a Cambodian mercenary. There are also some genuinely moving dramatic parts as well, most notably a Deer Hunter-style game of Russian roulette that involves children.But, as I said before, the emphasis in Eastern Condors is on the action, and it delivers it in spades. This is one of those rare movies where it's hard to pick out your favorite sequence because they're all so good. Sammo and Yuen Biao do the majority of the fighting (as well as doing some amazing stunts), but most of the cast gets in a few licks during the movie. It was really cool seeing guys like Corey Yuen and Yuen Woo-Ping showing their stuff on screen, versus the behind-the-scenes work they do now. Of course, most of the guys get killed off until a final confrontation between the remainder of the force and the Vietnamese bosses, which is a stunning fight, and like the rest of this movie, should not be missed by any martial arts/action fan. Eastern Condors is definitely one of Sammo's best films and comes highly recommended."

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

A gang of convicts are offered a choice: stay in jail, or take their chances on a dangerous mission into enemy territory, and win their freedom if they survive. Sound familiar? Of course it does, 'Eastern Condors' is 'The Dirty Dozen', remade Hong Kong style.Technically, by Western standards it's not the best of movies, with some bad cuts, color matching problems, step-printed slow motion, and my Chinese DVD has some pretty awful compression artifacts in places. Other things that might offend Western audiences are the (typical for HK) politically incorrect treatment of women, and a certain amount of anti-Amercanism, though that's entirely redeemed by the last few lines in the movie.If you can look beyond all that it has some great visual direction by Sammo Hung, plenty of comedy, great martial arts and acrobatics, cute guerrilla girls (and I've always regarded the M60 machinegun as the ultimate female fashion accessory 8-)), interesting and unusual characters, impressive stunts and all the imaginative action scenes you'd expect from Hong Kong; in particular, the brilliant final martial arts showdown with the Laughing Vietnamese General, one of the most memorable characters in the movie.So if you're an action movie fan with a sense of humor and don't mind the subtitles or the technical limitations which go with a relatively low budget (I'd guess the movie cost about the same as Titanic's catering) it's well worth a look; one thing they definitely didn't skimp on is bullets and explosives!