When Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse, New Police Story) uses his special Dragon Slaying Kick to protect an innocent family from being tormented by Triads, he unwittingly takes a large gold medallion from one of his assailants. He doesn’t know that it’s the Lousha Death Plaque – a powerful talisman belonging to one of the biggest .. Read more
| Starring | Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Yuen Wah |
|---|---|
| Director | Wilson Yip |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, World Cinema |
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When Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse, New Police Story) uses his special Dragon Slaying Kick to protect an innocent family from being tormented by Triads, he unwittingly takes a large gold medallion from one of his assailants. He doesn’t know that it’s the Lousha Death Plaque – a powerful talisman belonging to one of the biggest criminal organisations in Asia.
A marked man, Tiger is ambushed by a vicious gang, but is protected by a stranger with incredible martial arts skills. This man is Dragon (Donnie Yen, Hero), who is Tiger’s estranged step-brother. Together with Turbo (Shawn Yue, Infernal affairs) - an expert in nunchakus – these three street fighters must put aside their differences and stand alone against the might of the Lousha Gate.
| Starring | Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Yuen Wah |
|---|---|
| Director | Wilson Yip |
| Studio | CINE-ASIA |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 26 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 26 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, World Cinema |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Subtitles | English |
| Released | DVD: 25 Jun 2007 Blu-ray: 26 Oct 2009 Production year: 2006 |
| Format | DVD |
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ok so the stories dont seem to matter in films like this as we want martial arts action more anyhow,but the fight scenes sucked.
With Tony Jaa now proving that we are all sick of wires and cgi in martail arts movies it seems a shame that Donnie Yen hasnt adapted to it.
I would say he hasnt adapted to it as he cant do what he appears to be able to do,I am sick of special effects,Long live Tony Jaa now thats a martial artist that really really entertains us.
I've seen quite a few movies in this genre, but I would not describe myself as a particular fan of the style - I just want to see good movies. Overall this felt like an HK action film trying to be like The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, which is strange as they took most of their style from HK pictures in the first place.
The fight scenes were impressive, but I found them to be quite repetitive - a big gang of bad guys trying to beat up a seemingly invincible good guy in the middle - the scene in the restaurant almost made me think I was watching Neo and the multiple agent Smiths all over again. Also lots of posturing and posing with the arm out, wiggle the fingers in a "come on" gesture - over used somewhat.
I was not aware that all martial arts good guys had to have a long swathe of hair brushed over their right eye, usually blowing around in the wind, but apparently that's the case according to this film. By the time the third guy (Turbo) turned up with the most over the top version of the style of the lot, I was almost reaching for the off button...
There were good points in the film, and I do understand the comic book origin, but I have to agree with another review that once all the hocus pocus magic punches etc started I was starting to lose interest. Also how come the good guys who could fight 200 badies at the start can't land one punch on the top bad guy? Ah well I'm probably thinking about it a bit too much.
In the end it's really just another example of the type - fantastical fight sequences with lots of slow paced, non linear and fairly uninteresting over the top acting and plotting trying to hang it all together. If your main interest is seeing some great Kung Fu and you don't mind skipping the rest of it, probably worth seeing. If you want a story and decent acting, well you probably won't be reading this review in the first place...