David Reviews John Woo’s Last Hurrah for Chivalry [Criterion Collection Blu-Ray Review]

Before he became known as the master of the bullet-riddled heroic tragedy, John Woo sharpened his trademark themes and kinetic action choreography with this whirlwind wuxia spectacle. Unaware they are caught in a deadly game of deception, a pair of rambunctious swordsmen (Wai Pak and Damian Lau) join forces to help a nobleman (Lau Kong) in his quest for vengeance. Paying thrilling homage to his mentor, martial-arts innovator Chang Cheh, Woo delivers both bravura swordplay set pieces and a bloodstained interrogation of the meaning of brotherhood and honor in a world in which loyalty is bought and sold.

The Criterion Collection expands its ongoing exploration of classic Chinese cinema with the publication of John Woo’s LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY. The result of a decision by its director to revive the then-out-of-vogue wuxia genre, the film only achieved so-so results at the box office when first issued in 1979. But it did provide the opportunity for John Woo to continue refining his skills at creating riveting action sequences that would in time establish him as one of the preeminent masters of that style. Despite LAST HURRAH’s mixed reception, the film stands up today as an entertaining and frequently impressive demonstration of exhilarating swordplay and athleticism, set in a colorful feudal milieu. My spontaneous reaction to the film was captured in a brief video clip embedded below, where I shared a few observations with the accompaniment of the film’s trailer (with a few of the bloodier bits edited out just to get it past the moderators…)

@dee.ell.bee an instant review of #LastHurrahForChivalry directed by #JohnWoo #newrelease #criterioncollection #bluray #wuxia ♬ original sound – David Blakeslee

LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY is Criterion’s first full-on martial arts film release since they issued the robust six-feature ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA boxset in late 2021. I’m glad to see that they haven’t concluded their survey of either the genre or Chinese films in general. Last year’s release of The INFERNAL AFFAIRS Trilogy is among my most enjoyable recent film discoveries (and conversations, which you can listen to here as the most recent episode of our Inside the Box podcast). When I saw that this early John Woo title was added to the release calendar for March 2023, I was eager to check it out, as the film connects quite a few dots among Criterion titles from different phases of the Collection’s growth over the years.

As the blurb above mentions, there’s Woo’s connection as an apprentice to director Chang Cheh, which links these films to Chang’s sensationally popular THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, a character who made a guest appearance in the Zatoichi franchise (even though Chang wasn’t involved in the making of that film). The throwback wuxia style aligns generically with the King Hu masterworks DRAGON INN and A TOUCH OF ZEN. Woo played a big part in launching the career of Jackie Chan, who was featured a few years ago in his two POLICE STORY films issued in 2019. And of course it’s great to see John Woo back in print once again in the Collection. Back when Criterion was just launching their new DVD line back in 1998, Woo (momentarily, at least) was the most represented director in that branch of the Collection with not one, but two titles to his credit! But that reign didn’t last too long. His breakout gun fu classics THE KILLER and HARD BOILED were among the very earliest of DVD releases (spine numbers 8 and 9!) before they went quickly out-of-print (and just as quickly became among the most notorious bootleg DVDs of all time).

The disc provides adequate, though not especially in-depth, supplements to place the film in the context of both Woo’s career, still somewhat embryonic at the time, and the Hong Kong movie industry, which was going through a sorting out period as studios adjusted to a general decline in audience interest in straight-up kung fu movies and experimented with new variations on the themes. Though Woo’s late-70s revival of traditional wuxia can be regarded as an option that wasn’t widely imitated at the time, it does serve as a bridge of sorts to later, more popular films like CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

For more information and a visual overview of the disc release, check out the clip below:

@dee.ell.bee a closer look at #lasthurrahforchivalry #bluray #newrelease from the #criterioncollection ♬ Chinese style elegant background music(832745) – PeriTune