Lung foo moon

First of all, forget the story plot. This is a popcorn movie and there is really no seriousness to it. The summary on the back of the DVD said it was about two bothers who separate when young, but rejoin to enter a contest where they have to battle to top of a pyramid to get a valuable plaque. Huh, no, that wasn't the plot at all. There are two brothers Dragon Wong (Donnie Yen) & Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse). They were taken in by Wong Jianglong (Wah Yuen from Kung Fu Hustle) when their mother died in a fire. Wong J. has a school called Dragon Tiger Gate, where he teachers young kids martial arts and discipline. After a few years Dragon Wong rebels and leaves the school. The next time Tiger Wong meets his brother it's years later. The chance meeting occurs when two gang leaders meet at a restaurant to discuss the ownership of a plague called Losorous (something like that).

Meantime Tiger Wong and his friends are having lunch at the same Asian restaurant right below the gang members on the 1st fl. When a fight breaks out above them between the gang members, the floor breaks open and the plague fall through the floor onto Tiger Wong's table. What follows is some of the best action in a restaurant not seen since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Tiger Wong is kicking butt until a bodyguard steps in and teaches him a lesson. That bodyguard ends up being Tiger's brother, Dragon Wong. Tiger escapes with the plague and eventually Dragon Wong is sent to retrieve it. There are other smaller plots between Tiger and a girl he met on the street. Dragon also has a love interest from his past that meshes with the story. I won't give away anymore of the plot. The plot really isn't that important.

It's the action that true martial arts fans will want to see. There are 3 major action scenes in this movie. The first is in the restaurant which is breathtaking. The director uses several unique camera angles, one being above the action, that looks awesome. The 2nd battle is on a baseball field which is good, but nothing we haven't already seen. The final battle between the 3 heroes and Shibumi take place at Shibumi's lair which is dark and has wide stairs and huge columns. The action is fast and furious except for a few slow motion moments of bodies flying through the air. Dragon's 18 Palm technique is a blur of fast hand motions that will have you running the film in slow motions just to catch a glimpse.

If you're looking for a great script, deep plot or romance story in this film, you're watching the wrong movie. The movie is based off a comic book, so you really can't expect to much from it. It's a must see for martial arts fans who like hard hitting action. Just don't take this film too seriously and you'll have a great time.

Adapting comic book story lines into feature films is not new in Hong Kong, and adapting styles from how Hollywood does things, isn't new to the industry either. The opening credits of the comic-book flipping sequence seem to announce that this movie is aping the standards set on comic book films in the West, as well as to set expectations straight that whatever is played out is pure fantasy, not Oscar winning material.

Dragon Tiger Gate is sheer Hong Kong fantasy martial arts indulgence. Not every movie in this genre makes the grade though. Feng Yun (Stormriders) was probably the pioneer with its fusion of fantasy martial arts moves and special effects, but while it proved successful at the box office, purist condemned (don't they always)the storyline for bastardizing and summarizing its rich pulp history beyond recognition. It's tough to extract the essence into a 90 minute movie, and others like Zhong Hua Ying Xiong (A Man Called Hero) failed miserably, even with its effects which turned out laughable.

The effects in Dragon Tiger Gate has shown a lot of improvement where Hong Kong movies are concerned, with digitized landscapes blending perfectly in scenes. The fights were effectively enhanced with plenty of CG, as well as good old reliable wirework. But nothing beats having well choreographed fist fights (by Donnie Yen) or just unadulterated martial arts showcase of skills such as the use of the nunchakus. Jazzed up with a Japanese influenced soundtrack, the action bits are the highlight of the movie, as the rest of the dialogue laden scenes were insipid and unfortunately applied too much brakes on the pace of the movie.

Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse play brothers Dragon and Tiger (in Chinese mythology, this combination is very fierce, OK?) and together with their friend Black Dragon (Shawn Yue), they make good commercial role models for hair gel. OK, so I can't help it but to poke some fun at their long hair in the movie, providing ample opportunity for the use of what I call the hair- dryer effect - Strike a killer pose, cue strong wind to blow their hair from their face.

Tiger belongs to an aged old martial arts school known as Dragon Tiger Gate, while Dragon, separated from Tiger when young, gets involved with triads work, against his principles. Black Dragon on the other hand, is a braggart who became humbled when he visits Dragon Tiger Gate to learn new skills. Together, they go up against a Japanese secret society headed by a formidable villain called Shibumi.

There are plenty of elements typical of a Hong Kong action movie, especially with the relationships with the opposite sex, like the token evil female character Luosha who falls in love with Dragon, in an uninspiring romance bit with a self-sacrificial theme, as well as the token goody-two-shoes female character Ma Xiaoling, the daughter of Dragon's triad benefactor who finds Tiger attractive.

The much touted Guiness Book of World Records sandbag, was much ado about nothing. All it had was a brief 10 second appearance, from a wide angled shot which does not do justice to its enormous size, and then quickly forgotten.

If given the opportunity, I won't mind watching this again just for the action bits and fast forwarding through the slow dialogue pieces. Also, watching it in its original Cantonese track will always be preferred, and in this one, Louis Koo actually provided the voice-over for the chief villain. Talk about unknowns providing the Mandarin voiceovers. Yuck.

Oh... my... GOD! What can I say?

I just finished watching this film and was so utterly blown away by it that I just had to preach its awesomeness to all kung fu fans the world over.

There is a story to this one, but let's just skip that part and concentrate on what gets real kung fu fans itching with excitement: the action.

Not even ten minutes into this film and you know that you're in for a treat. By the time you're 53 minutes in, you'll be wetting your pants - it's just THAT GOOD.

Donnie Yen did the action choreography and it's some of the best you could ever hope to see, combining genuine martial arts skill with wire-work and a touch of computer effects for some of the most stunning fights ever to come out of Hong Kong... and that means a Hell of a lot if you know your grain.

For me, this film rates up there with other kung fu masterpieces such as Iron Monkey, Fist Of Legend and Tai Chi Master; fans will therefore be able to get an idea of just how masterful this flick is!

I understand that no film can ever be perfect, but I rated this one a "10", as such is the highest attainable merit.

Now, if you're any kind of action fan, go and watch this film - I promise that you won't be disappointed.

Comics-simple good vs evil. Fantastic three-way marriage of state-of-the-art CGI, clever montages and absolutely first class martial arts action (at least on Donnie Yen's part). Nicholas Tse at his cutest. Shawn Yue at his coolest. Donnie Yen always at his very best, and he IS the best. Beautiful and sometimes imaginative photography. Two Mainland actresses with faces that are very easy on the eyes and not bad in the acting department. And the sound! All add up to a super summer entertainment package. Highly recommended.

Just to given some balance, it's slightly odd to see 43-year-old Donnie Yen as 26-year-old Nicholas Tse's elder brother who is supposed to be just a few years older. Good makeup and lighting helps. Also, permit me to draw the analogy of having an absolutely top-notch, middle-age and slightly plump soprano singing the role of a slim, young girl in an opera. In the entertainment business, for excellence in one line, sometimes a little compromise is inevitable. Did you see Kevin Spacey's scene as a teenage Bobby Darin in "Beyond the Sea"?

Finally, ignore the "Plot outline" in IMDb. I'm sure it was contributed with good intentions. But the comics "Dragon Tiger Gate" has been around for decades and what the movie has done is just borrowed some of the key characters and put them into a story that barely has a plot. And who needs a plot anyway?

A few recent movies have raised the bar for Hong Kong action cinema. Aside from the obvious "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" which introduced a moving plot and quality acting to the genre, "Ong Bak" raised the stakes for action by replacing gracefully balletic Wu Shu fights with acrobatic but brutal, hard-hitting action. Similarly, the Korean movie "Fighter in the Wind" also followed the hard hitting formula but added stylish camera-work to the mix. Luckily, "Dragon Tiger Gate" shows that Hong Kong kung fu cinema does have the skills to match these foreign usurpers.

The first thing that jumps out at the viewer is the rather contrived but undeniably stylish air of "cool" that surrounds the lead characters with their snappy streetwear and (quite amusing) emo haircuts. These guys are ass kicking metrosexuals! Luckily they ass-kick very well! Following the Ong Bak formula, the opening fight scene shows foot hitting face with real force and the fighting style replaces the graceful wu shu of traditional Hong Kong cinema with something that looks more like Japanese karate or one of the harder, external forms of kung fu - not much posing or flowery stances but lots of straight to the point slamming strikes.

So the film looks great and the fights are cool - how about the plotting? Crouching Tiger standard? Of course not! It's a standard formula about estranged brothers on different sides of the tracks coming back together to defeat evil. But this really isn't the kind of movie where the plotting makes much difference (and, to be honest, when Hong Kong cinema tries intricate plotting you usually get an over-long and unfollowable movie, so fair play to them for keeping it simple!) - what you really want is quality fighting and stylish visuals and this movie more than delivers. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to kung fu movie fans.