The Vietnam War is over but American soldiers have left a massive clutch of weapons in enemy territory. Lt. Lam (Ching-Ying Lam) along with the criminal Tung (Sammo Hung) is tasked with leading a ragtag group of Asian prisoners into Vietnam to destroy the weapons before the Vietcong can get their mitts on them. In exchange for a successful mission, the prisoners are promised their freedom. Once in Vietnam, they must meet up with three women guerilla fighters as well as rescue a couple of prisoners of war before blazing a path of violence through the jungle to complete what they set out to do. But with the Vietcong around every corner and a traitor in their midst, will all of them make it out alive?

Sammo Hung is considered one of the pioneering directors of Golden Harvest’s bread ‘n’ butter broad kung fu comedies, directing films like The Iron Fisted Monk and Enter the Fat Dragon which blended Hung’s knack for amazing fight choreography with slapstick humor that we would also see Jackie Chan utilize to great effect. Knowing this makes Eastern Condors all the more surprising of a film because the humor is toned down dramatically as compared to many of Hung’s other films up to this point. Instead we get much more of a somber straight-forward actioner very much tailored after The Dirty Dozen and in the same vein as DC Comics’ Suicide Squad. Of course the appeal to this kind of set up is that we know that these aren’t straight up heroes to begin with, so they can be killed off. It also gives us a team full of potential redemption arcs to track over the course of the film. What this does is add an extra layer to the viewing experience that removes the plot armor while allowing for personal character growth. It’s a wonder we don’t see these kinds of films even more often than we do. What Hung has done here is populate his crooks-as-soldiers premise with a murderer’s row of excellent character actors to share the screen with, emphasizing one of Hung’s greatest strengths as an actor and director of building a dynamic ensemble rather than tailoring a whole film around one person. The squad is composed of great figures in Hong Kong cinema like Corey Yuen (director of HK classics like Yes, Madam and All for the Winner) and Yuen Woo-Ping (the legendary fight choreographer who also directed classics like Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master and Jet Li’s Iron Monkey) as well as eccentric character actors like the notorious Billy Lau of the Mr. Vampire movies and frequent Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan collaborator Yuen Biao. The most surprising inclusion is perhaps Cambodian actor Haing S. Ngor, fresh off his Oscar win for The Killing Fields and who is featured in a surprisingly intense scene reminiscent of The Deer Hunter. On the action front, Eastern Condors is a tour-de-force of amazing stunts, skilled martial arts and blistering gun fights that never lets up. It is an absolute must-watch for action fans, particularly in the second half when all hell breaks loose.

The 2K transfer of Eastern Condors here looks very nice and clear with an excellent sense of depth and color saturation. The greens of the jungle stand out really well and there are very few if any blemishes in the image. Interestingly, the disc also includes an English dubbed “Export” version which also also been restored very crisply. The primary Cantonese mono soundtrack, which according to Criterion’s notes was approved by Hung himself and reassembled by collectors from various sources and even re-recorded in one instance to clean up a garbled line of dialogue, is nice and clear with the action scenes delivering a solid punch for a mono track. While it would have been cool to have a 5.1 surround sound experience for such an action heavy film, I still appreciate being faithful to the source, and the audio track is quite robust as-is. Criterion has delivered several very nice extras here. First we have an audio commentary from film critic Tony Rayns who goes into a lot of detail on the history of Hong Kong action cinema and Hung’s place in it. Very good listen if you want to know more about HK cinema. We also get a new interview with Sammo Hung discussing the movie as well as an archival interview with Hung and actor Yuen Wah. We also get a really neat extra I can’t recall coming across before. It’s a stage re-enactment of scenes from Eastern Condors featuring the original cast that was performed during the 1987 Miss Asia beauty pageant. Like all mainline Criterion releases, the disc also includes a physical essay by film critic Sean Gilman on the film. Annoyingly it’s printed on the back of a fold-out poster making it awkward to read.

While Eastern Condors tonally may at first seem like it shouldn’t work, shiftly wildly from fun actioner to bleak and somber war picture to wise-cracking and silly comedy (sometimes even in the same scene), somehow Sammo Hung not only makes it work but elevates this disparate grab bag of emotions into a completely satisfying and imminently watchable whole, delivering one of the best Hong Kong action films of the ’80s.