Directed by Peter Chan.
2011. Rated R, 115 minutes.
Cast:
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Wei Tang
Yu Wang
Kara Hui
Wu Jiang
Yu Kang
Li Jia-Min
Zheng Wei
Xiao Ran Li
As per the overwhelming norm, our story takes place in a
small quite village in China. Our hero, Liu Jin-Xi (Yen), lives a nice life
with his wife Ah Yu (Tang), and their two boys. He’s a prized employee at the
local paper factory and couldn't be happier. One day, a couple of thugs show up
to rob his place of employment. After a spectacular struggle, the bad guys end
up dead. The police and the mayor show up. Detective Xu Bai-Jiu (Kaneshiro)
suspects our hero is hiding something. He’s right. The rest of the next two
acts play out as a police procedural, with the detective figuring out what
Liu’s past discretions may have been and working on a way to bring him to
justice for them. So far, so good.
To be honest, it is really good to this point. There’s very
little in the way of martial arts, but the dynamic between the two men is
intriguing. The inspector has some problems of his own, is exceedingly cynical
and has an existentialist thing going on where he routinely has out-of-body
experiences. It works much better than it sounds. Meanwhile, Liu is growing
more suspicious of the cop but bravely keeps up a happy veneer despite some of
the highly questionable tactics used by the detective. It’s a well-played
cat-and-mouse intertwined with a cute family story. And yes, it’s working
toward all the fighting. So far, so good.
Unsurprisingly, it turns out some very bad people are after
our hero. With all the fuss the inspector has raised, Liu’s location has come
to their attention. Of course, the leader of this group, the 72 Demons,
dispatches two of their own to bring Liu to him. They show up in town, he
refuses to go with them and an amazing battle sequence takes place that
involves leaping across rooftops, cows and a waterfall into a raging river.
After he defeats these two we’re next told what we already know: The 72 demons
won’t stop until they've either gotten Liu or killed him. Whew! Now the scene
is set for way more kung-fu. So far, so good.
Okay, there’s been some questionable science going on this
whole time. Chiefly, it involves being able to kill someone with one blow to
the vagus nerve. Since this is pretty standard martial arts stuff, no big
deal. However, it sets us up for what eventually derails the movie. I won’t go
into detail on what that is. I’ll just say that our hero twice, purposely hampers
his ability to fight before the battle even starts. It’s so far beyond dumb, I was
taken completely out of the movie because everything before this is fairly
smart.
You know how sometimes when things are going great,
something ridiculous happens that ruins your whole day.
Dragon is a microcosm of that experience. I sat down to
watch a martial arts flick. I’m not so naive, or stuffy, to think I’d be
witnessing a deeply human experience. After all, I grew up on this stuff. I
wanted to see Donnie Yen kick some ass, whether or not lots of wire work is
involved. He does and it is, but I was still sorely disappointed. The action
that closes the movie isn't bad, but by then I didn't care anymore. And the
night was going so well.
MY SCORE: 5.5/10
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