Dragon Eyes

'DRAGON EYES': Three Stars (Out of Five)

International Kickboxing champion and UFC star Chung Le stars in this crime drama action film. It co-stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Peter Weller and Kristopher Van Varenberg (Van Damme's son). The film was directed by John Hyams (who also directed the last two 'UNIVERSAL SOLDIER' films, also featuring Van Damme) and written by Tim Tori (who also wrote the low budget B horror films 'PROWL', 'HYSTERIA' and 'TRESSPASSERS'). It was produced by After Dark Films, who had primarily been known for releasing horror films but has now turned to martial arts action films as well (they also produced the recent Scott Adkins action film 'EL GRINGO'). The film is about what you'd expect from your average martial arts B movie but it does showcase Le's talents well; as an action force to be reckoned with.

Le plays Ryan Hong, a mysterious loner who rolls in to a town, rife with gang violence, known as St. Jude. He turns the two ruling gangs there against each other before falling under the attention of corrupt police chief Mr. V (Weller). Mr. V first sees Hong's skills as an asset and uses him to help control the gangs but then finds him to be more of a menace than an ally. Hong turns to the skills he was taught in prison by an old resident of St. Jude, known as Tiano (Van Damme), and attempts to clean up the town once and for all.

Le has had a lot of cool supporting turns in action films like 'TEKKEN', 'PANDORUM', 'FIGHTING' and most recently 'THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS' but this is his first chance to show off his leading man chops. His fighting skills are very impressive and he has an acting style similar to the likes of the greats; like Jackie Chan and Jet Li (in my opinion). It would be nice to see him get better movies with higher production values but this is a good start for him. Hyams is a good action film director and it doesn't get much better than having Van Damme and Peter Weller supporting you in your first starring role. Van Damme plays little more than an extended cameo in the film but was given top billing in all the marketing (including posters and the DVD cover) in order to sell it (his name is pretty marketable these days, despite being seen as washed up just a few years ago). He doesn't really have enough screen time in this film to make much of an impression but just his presence gives the film some extra cred. Weller is great as the movie's villain and it's nice to see him popping up in films still as well. The movie is really just an action vehicle for Chung Le though and at that it does it's job pretty well.

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This movie is actually better than rated by audiences here. Cung Le is good in this quasi-western martial arts film. JCVD is very good in a Miyagi like role. Peter Weller is good as a crooked cop. Some good elements. Some good fights. Doesn't all tie together to make a great movie but good for streaming. If you know Cung Le's UFC career you'll recognize a lot of his signature moves here.

i'd save 1 star for the some good fighting scenes and van dame's flashing lethal legs kicking. van dame, old but not weak yet, his kicking technique is still one of the best. but this clueless fantasy is one of the worst nightmare any movie wants not to be. a very funny movie also, with crazy sound track effects, sometimes with siren, the alarm that only when earthquake and tsunami hit the coastline or atomic bomb drops and detonates in certain city. this movie is also an ultimate insult to the law enforcement and the legal system. more like a doomsday display. a movie utterly pointless with latino gangbangers, black street gangs, Russian mafia and a police captain playing the last don of the whatever. there are moments also quite funny with camera close-up shots. this is a very ridiculous action movie since i've never seen any movie with such spacious prisoner cell where two prisoners could practice and martial arts training. st. jude? where the hell is it? no guns allowed...yeah, right.

Storywise this really aims high. Something that people might not really be into that much, but whatever the case, you have to admire the filmmakers for trying at least. There are some very fine ideas in this movie (loyalty, friendship, respect amongst them), but none get explored too much. Not to mention that the emotional connection between the viewer and the main character unfortunately isn't the strongest. And that has nothing to do with the storyline, but has more to do with the way the movie is handled.

The action scenes are decent enough (some are even spectacular), but hopefully you're not renting this to watch van Damme fight. He's playing a major part, but is a supporting player. But Cung Le knows how to fight. In the charisma department on the other hand ... One really good coup the movie made is installing Peter Weller as the main bad guy. He is terrific and shows what Charisma really is!

Sigh. Where to begin?

A bad film with a hell of a lot of stupid moments, a stock caricature villain, awful rap music... At least the Western-style cinematography is new - not particularly well done, but new. There's also the annoying and cliché freeze-frame with each character's name as they appear on-screen for the first time. Yes, just five minutes in you'll know that this film will suck... but will the fight scenes redeem it?

Unfortunately, I'd have to say no.

Cung Le is pretty good as the stoic, kick-arse lead and, given some better material, I'd give him a second chance, but the film is forgettable at best and painful at worst.

Yes, van Damme's in it (the reason I recorded it when it came on TV), but don't expect too much from him, as he somehow manages to train the lead in prison from sorry loser to ninja, in such a short period of time that his student's hair doesn't even grow!

Credits to the man for that - now where do I sign up for my martial arts lessons?

Given van Damme's massive library of content though, I'd have to advise that a fan looked elsewhere to get his kicks... a joke that falls about as flat as this dreadful feature.