EASTERN CONDORS (1987), dir. Sammo Hung Kam-Bo

A dirty, not-quite-dozen goes behind enemy lines in “Eastern Condors,” an action/war movie about Chinese ex-convicts recruited for an impossible mission. Directed by Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, this Hong Kong production has more in common with the aerobic martial arts films of Jackie Chan than “The Deer Hunter,” but despite being more entertainment than message movie, the entertaining parts really shine.

The plot: U.S. military brass assigns Lt. Col. Lam (Ching-Ying Lam) the task of destroying deadly weapons left behind in Vietnam. In order to infiltrate the country more effectively, his team consists of Chinese immigrants, incarcerated men who take the job in exchange for early release and money. These hard-luck types run the gamut between old and young, brave and timid, and although most of their personalities are painted with broad strokes, the camera seems to gravitate naturally towards Shawn (Kam-Bo), whose noble features contrast his 30-year sentence for killing a policeman.

Like a lot of Hong Kong movies, “Eastern Condors” mixes action and comedy, but the overall tone is fairly serious, even with the occasional touches of wackiness thrown in. There are lapses in logic now and then, such as a team member dying because he has a stutter, and it takes him too long counting to 20 before opening his parachute. In another scene, Lam’s commanding officer tells him, “Don’t do anything heroic. Get home safe.” A moment later, however, the same C.O. asks if he can look up his long-lost brother, a soldier who wasn’t able to escape Vietnam with his unit. This raises the question: Isn’t risking your life to find someone presumed dead heroic, not to mention dangerous?

Luckily, the missing soldier’s nephew (Yuen Biao) turns out to be both an expert smuggler as well as a formidable martial artist who knows the terrain. Meanwhile, woman warriors, a familiar Hong Kong action trope, also feature prominently, this time as three freedom fighters every bit as tough as the men. They may even be tougher: in one grisly scene, a guerilla who has been stabbed and had her hand sliced off still manages to take her assailant down with her.

Kam-Bo, who was a stuntman before becoming a successful movie star and fight choreographer, does a good job directing, too, capturing mayhem at interesting angles and using slow-motion when things get impressively hairy. Sometimes the action gets a little too elaborate: in one of many scenes spent engaging Vietcong troops bent on killing the unit, Biao dives down from trees with vines wrapped around his waist, which seems like an awful lot of effort to take out enemies one-at-a-time. Nevertheless, the film’s breakneck pace and sheer innovativeness ensure things never get boring; expect daring escapes from jungle prisons, explosions, hand-to-hand combat of all sorts, even a scene where leaves are turned into projectile weapons.

Interestingly, “Eastern Condors” is ostensibly about Chinese emigrants to the U.S., and as such, the movie can be viewed as reflecting what Hong Kong thinks its brethren’s relationship with their adopted country is like, in all its potential complexity. There are moments with definite subtext: for example, the look of discomfort on the Lt. Col.’s face when the prison warden tells him he should take 100 Chinese convicts, not just the ten he wants, because he’ll “just lock up more.” Later, when one character is faced with the possibility of dying in Vietnam, he resignedly says, “At least I’ll die in the East.”

With regards to the film’s depiction of the Vietcong, it helps to keep things in perspective, and remember that “Eastern Condors” represents the prejudices of a specific nation with its own baggage about that country. However, any critics of “The Deer Hunter” will likely be offended by certain scenes involving Vietcong child-soldiers, and the appearance of a fey-looking general who alternates between high-pitched giggling and single-word screams is curious. At least that main heavy kicks ass, and the movie ends on a suitably sardonic commentary about the Chinese’s love-hate relationship with America.

When there’s no Army helicopter in sight to effect a rescue, one protagonist starts cursing, “F*cking America, goddamn America.” When Shawn asks him where he’s going to go after leaving Vietnam, his answer is, of course, “Back to America.”

Overall rating: *** (out of ****)