Tiger & Dragon Reloaded

"Tiger & Dragon Reloaded" ("Da Lui Toi", aka "Gallants") is not your average Kung Fu movie. This is more of a down to Earth kind of movie, about the commitment to one's ideals and staying true to what you believe in.

Where as there is some fighting throughout the movie, it is not your typical adrenalin-pumping martial arts with lots of young talents, nor is it an impressive display of wire-fu with people flying all over the place. No, this martial arts performed by people who are no longer in their youthful prime. But they still perform quite adequately, nonetheless.

The story is about an old martial arts school now turned to a restaurant after the master fell into a coma. And as he suddenly comes out of the coma, his devoted pupils along with a couple of newcomers learn about old traditions and old ideals.

Siu-Lung Leung (playing Tiger) and Kuan Tai Chen (playing Dragon) carried the movie quite nicely. But the star of the movie was without a doubt Teddy Robin Kwan (playing Master Ben Law).

While it was refreshing to see a martial arts movie of this particular caliber, then the movie wasn't, sadly enough, really that outstanding. Sure, it is good for a single viewing, but it is hardly a movie that can support multiple viewings.

Gallants manages to find the perfect balance between action, comedy, and drama, with a relatable story and some of the best hand-to-hand action scenes I have ever seen.

The comedy is spot-on, contrary to the Hollywood approach, Hong Kong filmmakers don't go overboard - or so it seems -. While the main character, Cheung (Wong You-nam) is pretty funny, most of the comedic relief is done by Master Ben Law (Teddy Robin Kwan), who reminds me of Jackie Chan's uncle in the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures. Apparently, this is an estereotyped depiction of Hong Kongese elders.

The action, on the other hand, is on par with its comedic greatness - if not better -. The film has some of the best hand-to-hand combat I have ever seen. Unlike Hollywood, Hong Kong films don't seem to rely on constant cuts during the fight scenes, so the viewer can actually appreciate the action happening. I personally prefer this style.

The acting was great. From the leads to the supporting cast, everyone plays their part to perfection. JJ Jia, as one of the few female characters, particularly caught my attention in her portrayal of Kwai.

Directors Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng's use of rapid cuts and zoom, especially during face-offs make the film go from serious to funny and vice versa in a second. Also, Gallants was filmed in eighteen days!? It just got to show the incredible amount of quality good writing and direction can get when they keep things simple. Bravo!

The definitive Hong Kongese action comedy to me.

I remember watching this years back when it was released and I throughly remember that it was good the action was great too feels more of real life than CGI

The comedy was funny and it's paying homage to once great Kung fu actors of late

The soundtrack was great too

It really deserves to win the 2011 Hong Kong Flim Award best picture.

Well done.

Or school of Hard Knocks? (not the one Jay-Z was singing about mind you) Depending on your back knowledge of Shaw Brothers movies, this might interest you or not. It does offer a nice retrospective and nods to those movies. Or the era in general. Plus it stars a few of the people that were very big back then. (no pun intended)

Of course the way it is mixed together will not appeal to everybody and though it does have some philosophical aspects it is too thin in other areas. Plus it does not seem to have a constant flow, changing from humour to seriousness in a second. Which is staying true to some extent, but then again it did update a few things, so why not that one too?

All in all you could be almost excused if you thought this was an older movie than it actually is. That was the goal and they achieved it. Nostalgia or not, this is will mostly appeal to a certain group of people. And even they (some of them) might not even like it completely.

As noted by other reviews, this film is a throwback to the old school kungfu flicks of the 60's and 70's.

As the film has been well reviewed on the web already, I'll just add a few observations:

• Even though it's a nostalgic film, it might be too "hip" and "retro" for those for the original audience of these flicks.

• It's hilariously funny, but a little tighter editing would have made the movie even better. Teddy Robin, for example is very funny, but he gets a bit annoying after a while.

• Bruce Leung Siu-lung still moves amazingly well at 57 yrs old.. better than most action stars in their 20's.

• JJ Jia is a dead ringer for Kwai Lun Mei.