The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureCinemaMovie reviews

Dragon

Dragon | Movie review
21 February 2013
Andrew Collins
Avatar
Andrew Collins
21 February 2013

The film’s two names – its original Chinese and its English counterpart – start alarm bells ringing from the start of the film. In China it is called Wu Xia which translates as martial hero, which is a generic name for a martial arts film like this one. Dragon in English has much the same overtones. This is the latest film from acclaimed director Peter Chan, who is apparently the most valuable filmmaker in Hong Kong, according to box-office records.

Dragon starts well enough; a parochial village in deepest China with a clan of people scratching a beautiful existence from the earth. A wonderful, wide visual style is applied to this initial segment as the film warms up. Suddenly, the martial arts begin when two debt collectors with ridiculous swords turn up where our protagonist, portrayed by Donnie Yen, is fixing a window. What follows is an excitingly choreographed fight that packs a punch visually and audibly, right up to its abrupt end. Enter the detective (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who has an overactive imagination, and recreates the fight in slow-motion in his mind’s eye, pinpointing each superhuman feat the window repair man achieved. Stylistically impressive and with comic elements, sadly this is the tipping point for the movie. Nothing after this scene is of the same quality or intrigue.

The story takes a dark turn and forgets its humour, the cinematography sustains a blow and the martial arts are replaced (up until the final, disappointing fight) with melodrama and a penchant for kicking the star when he is down.

The acting is sublime though – each character travels an emotional journey, and the characters are not your run of the mill Chinese cinema stereotypes, especially the detective. Takeshi interprets him as a Chinese version of the recent Robert Downey Jr take on Sherlock Holmes. The director of photography also takes a leaf from that movie and utilises some of the tropes, such as the slow-motion camera work while investigating, and placing the audience in the mind of the policeman.

Perhaps the UK cinema cut has removed the interest (along with one or two scenes of martial arts) the whole movie runs to a full two hours, and the version being shown in the UK is only 92 minutes long. In the end, the drama was uninspiring and not needed, but what little fighting there was, was sublime.

★★★★★

Andrew Collins

Dragon is released nationwide on 5th April 2013.

Watch the trailer for Dragon here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

The Queen of Black Magic

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

The Filmmaker’s House

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Imperial Blue

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

MLK/FBI

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Sing Me a Song

★★★★★
Abbie Grundy
Read More

A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Wonder Woman 1984

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

Come Away

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Murder Me, Monster

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • The Capote Tapes
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Dig
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Swimming Home: An immersive online experience
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Lupin
    ★★★★★
    Culture
  • Win a DVD bundle of House of Sand and Fog, Away From Her and Young Adam
    Competitions
  • Crobar: Music When the Lights Go Out
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Six books perfect for beating the winter blues
    Fashion & Lifestyle
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

James Morrison at the Fleming Collection | Exhibition review
BRIT Awards 2013: Emeli Sandé and Ben Howard score top accolades