While kung fu films about the bigtime masters and heroes are all the rage, Gallants salutes the veterans and cheers on the has-beens. It might have seemed incredible that an action film with a cast made up primarily of yesterday's stars would get greenlighted (kudos to Andy Lau who bravely financed this film), much less embraced by the mainstream audience. Yet, despite the old and feeble appearance, the refreshing crowd-pleaser from producer Lam Ka Tung and co-directors Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng has a heart that beats with a youthful passion and a defiant spirit that makes it such a winner.

The narration by senior actor Tam Bing Man puts the viewer in the nostalgic mood right off the bat. We're introduced to Wong You Nam as a wimpy office boy sent on an errand to a countryside village, where he is bullied by the local thugs. Lucky for the young man, a scruffy-looking drunkard is dragging his leg nearby, and he reveals his sharp reflexes and mean kicks to beat off the thugs. Later the city boy comes to a rundown teahouse run by his savior (Bruce Leung) and his equally broken brother (Chen Kuan Tai). Upon learning that a long time ago the place used to be a martial club inhabited by legendary martial artists, the poor fellow begs to become their disciple. This setup sounds maybe too similar to the countless chopsocky flicks that came before it, but in a nice twist of the genre convention, the focus of Gallants is not on the disciple, but the "washed-up" old masters and how they get back on their feet.

It's nice to see several last-generation action stars given the opportunity to flex their muscles again on the big screen, and we can see how much they revel in that. Seventies stars Chen Kuan Tai (64 years old) and Bruce Leung (62 years old) shine with confidence as the main leads. These uncles may be already past their prime, but their fighting skills still look fast and furious, as shown in the mano-a-mano between Chen and fellow Shaw Bros. veteran Lo Meng, and the climactic duel between Leung and Li Hai Tao. The cast is superb across the board, including young actors like MC Jin and JJ Jia, but the film's best performance arguably comes from the long-unseen Teddy Robin as the comatose master, who sudden wakes up one day and in turn shakes everything and everyone up. Teddy Robin's vibrant performance gives rise to scene after scene of ludicrous humor and genuine hilarity.

"You won't lose if you don't fight, but if you do, you must fight to win", the film tells us. It's a bit disappointing that another iconic old-time action star Michael Chan appears in a potentially meaty "villain" role but doesn't join the fray throughout the film. If he did fight Chen or Leung in the ultimate showdown, that could have made Gallants even better, but really it's not your typical good-vs-evil story and it doesn't need villains. As much inspiring as it is entertaining, the film has found its unique place in the current renaissance of Hong Kong kung fu cinema in earnest.