Clearly, it is Donnie Yen who has taken the cheers and expectations of his viewers and supporters to the next level, much like Jackie Chan. While Chan is well associated with more absurd “What the fuck” moments than Amanda Byrnes at the international roller disco, Yen keeps moving to different strengths. For a fan of kung fu cinema, not many things are more satisfying than the announcement of “Donnie Yen’s New Movie”.
By now, most of his fans would have rushed to the theatres to watch “Dragon,” albeit the sinister name. I was one of the lucky ones as I managed to get my hands on the much older Hong Kong version, “Wu Xia”, which was quite a bit longer than the international version. Tragically the latter half of the DVD was completely scrambled which is why I didn’t feel at ease reviewing it prior to viewing all of it.
I’ve finally watched “Dragon” and I do plan on watching ‘Wu Xia’ at some point too, it’s just that twenty minutes is a bit too close to when I would like to start writing the review Which is not anytime soon considering 2028. The plot outlines the life of a quiet gentleman Liu Jin-Xi, who merely is a paper merchant and resides with his wife, two kids, and a gushing outlook on life.
That is until Liu Jin-Xi becomes embroiled in a skirmish which leads to the accidental demise of two particularly vicious bandits. Unfortunately for him OR IS IT? Detective Xu Bai-Jiu (the brilliantly cast actor Takeshi Kaneshiro), is called to examine the case, and from this moment on it only gets better.
To share the film in a nutshell would in fact be one huge spoiler so I would rather not go too far in details, plot-wise. It would be somewhat similar to telling “The Sixth Sense” by saying, “So there is this ghost who is portrayed by Bruce Willis.”
First and foremost, it must be stated clearly, that “Dragon” is not a story of Kung Fu. Well, it is but in the unconventional sense. Something like claiming that anal sex really isn’t making love.
The film movie operates similar to the approach taken by the “Five Deadly Venoms” where most of the focus is on the mystery of events and the fights serve as balanced components of the movie. As Xi moves deeper into ascertaining Bai-Jiu’s truth, the audience is cognizant of building tension. There is this anticipation of a fist and feet explosion. However, the journey of build-up is one that is extremely gratifying.
When they do arrive, the fights are explosively satisfying. One of the fab queens of the Shaw brothers, Kara Hui has an appearance and in this movie, she is at her prime. In fact, her fight sequence with Donnie Chen is among the top tier in the entire movie. With Donnie taking over the choreography, there is a good amount of exchange of fierce hand movements, jumping kicks, and in fact, some lightweight wirework from ‘Hero.’ But the excessive drama is absent. There are certain editing mistakes where the fights get a bit more blurry than what is preferred. But on the upside, it is the solid brawling you have come to expect from Yen.
As one would expect of an actor, Donnie often finds himself in grim, self-reflective roles; this one is no different. Yet, the entire attention is on Kaneshiro, who is a cross between Ichabod Crane and a dysfunctional, but somewhat, civilistic figure. Little by little, as Xu Bai-Jiu starts to take shape, his figure is more distinguishable, so is the logic behind the actions. This is what forms the inner struggle of the character.
So, what about one of the living legends of kung fu, the notorious Jimmy Wang Yu? Yes, he is included, but so is a new character, which, quite frankly, is villainous in nature. Over the years Wang Yu has turned into a character that appears a notch on the evil side. A character that would not bat an eye at a chance to abuse a kitten for the sole purpose of watching a kid cry. His cheekbones are made for that kind of role.
In the film Dragon, the character’s face reveals an imposing figure which gives him an edge over Yen during the climactic moments. However, rather than delve into the background, I would instead point out that the specific ‘face’ curtails a narrow band of movements, it seems to make it easy for Sequential design to cut the choreography in such a way that it does not tax him. This is one of the areas in this movie where the editing actually helps rather than detracts from the final product. If there are double moves, you cannot see them.
Even though this film contains many positive aspects, there are some that are quite dispiriting. For instance, Tang Wei as a character was not done any justice, and her presence in the movie didn’t add any value to the plot. From her, we only get the impression of a worried wife with no deeper characterization. The context offered about her is exclusively for the sake of her husband’s story.
There were times when the unique noir-like style of the movie (especially during there Kaneshiro’s voiceovers) was poorly acted, but I’m uncertain if that is how it was meant to be. If there are laughs in the movie, they were incompletely fulfilled for my liking and left me puzzled whether it was merely an eccentricity of the movie or if I was supposed to interpret these moments as actual humor.
All in all, ‘Dragon’ is a beautifully crafted action mystery. The camera work is picturesque and the scenery is stunning, the fights are electric, and bone-cracking, and the characters are deep and multifaceted. Admittedly, it isn’t everyone’s favorite drink, but if you appreciate a bit of uncovering puzzling mysteries with people getting kicked in the throat served on the side, how can you not like ‘Dragon’? It is the older more mature version of the kung fu film: a glimpse of the recent modernized era of smart martial arts movies that has begun gaining attention with Wong Kar Wai’s film The Grandmaster.
For those of us who are madly in love with the overwhelming intensity of ‘True Legend’ and ‘Ip Man 2’ ‘Dragon’ is a great refreshment: a pause from all the limbs violently colliding. It is more than worth a watch.
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