Dragon Squad

Indeed, this is visually the most glorious movie I've seen. The Dircetor Daniel Lee gives us a lot of eye candy and he helms the action scenes well. This movie gives me an eerie feeling as I'm not used to see Asian movies and I like the flashback kind of scenes were we are given some background about the characters. All the actors give us good performances although I found the baddies more interesting. Especially Michael Biehn gives us a first rate performance, it's a shame he doesn't have any martial arts scenes. Maggie Q plays her role with ease, just by looking tough. Overall, this movie is well worth watching, maybe a little minus comes from the too shallow characters this movie creates. Maybe this is because of the fact that there are simply too many characters to plunge into. But the characters are still better improved than in many action movies. A big plus for the great soundtrack.

When a fellow countryman calls this "visually the most glorious movie I've seen", I feel compelled to shout out to the world (well, IMDb review readers) that his statement, even in 2005, when it was written, hardly represents an average Finn's opinion. If this is visually the most glorious movie *anybody* has ever seen, they really need to see more movies. Or study the meaning of the word "glorious". It seems, based on the average IMDb rating, that most people deem this movie anything but "glorious."

Hong Kong action films set in the time period when they were made should not be judged on terms of characterization, dialog, plot or acting (Mou gaan dou a.k.a. Infernal Affairs excepted). Most of them are meant to entertain with action sequences. This movie does not do that. Apart from the duel near the end *without* guns, the action sequences in this movie make Michael Bay seem a genius. The first question that came to my mind when watching this movie was: "What the frak was wrong with the editor?" The chaotic action sequences where you can't tell who's doing what thanks to ADD editing and visual effects that are all over the place were already bad enough, but what makes most of them downright disasters is the fact that it seems some shots that should have been between other shots to form, you know, a *coherent* visual flow, were either never shot in the first place, or ended on the editing room floor. Characters practically teleport instantaneously from one spot to other presumably because it was deemed too boring to show them moving.

Urgh. It's sad to see so many legendary actors' CV tarnished by this mess. I miss the golden age of John Woo. His movies had grace. A word that doesn't probably even exist in the vocabulary of the makers of this 4/10 example of how to ruin a perfectly entertaining action movie with horrendous editing.

Daniel Lee must have watched too many Michael Bay films, such is the speed of the editing in Dragon Squad. On top of that, the director throws in a myriad of cinematic tricks and gimmicks in an obvious attempt to try and capture a hip audience for his picture. Slow-motion, fast-motion, filters, crazy camera angles, bloody violence, a group of young actors that could pass for designer clothes store mannequins; your average thirteen year-old would probably think this is one of the best films ever made. Maybe that's the point. To a more (ahem) mature viewer, however, the movie plays like an extended pop video, where a long fringe or moody look is supposed to give our anguished heroes some depth. It doesn't. In fact as you watch the film, it begins to resemble an ultra-violent version of the A-Team. For surely only in that classic of 80s t.v. could almost a dozen protagonists firing automatic weapons in a narrow alley not hit each other with a single shot for five minutes. Aren't these people supposed to be highly trained cops and ex-special forces nutters? Duh? But then it happens. One of our paper-thin leads takes a bullet to the brain and suddenly Lee's film hits the ground running, becoming a darker and more twisted bastard of a film. So what's to recommend to the curious viewer about this movie? Well, the last half-hour is certainly more satisfyingly gritty, if just as silly, as all that has preceded it. On top of that, with our fledgling super-cops a charisma-free zone, it's up to old hands to give Dragon Squad some bite. Fortunately, (though given little to work with) Maggie Q, Michael Biehn, Sammo Hung and Jun-ho Heo managed to interject some weight into proceedings through sheer force of personality. Sammo and Heo's characters personal battle within the narrative is the film's highlight, culminating in a decent punch-up that is well choreographed by Hung protégé Chin Kar Lok. The numerous gun battles are also finely staged, certainly more brutal and bloody than the balletic shootouts of John Woo's justifiably lauded Hong Kong output. The film also has an excellent original soundtrack and there are some fun cameos, including Simon Yam (somewhat wasted), Kung-fu legend Gordon Lui (funny) and Hong Kong film expert Bey Logan (wooden). So if you're looking for a popcorn action flick with an Asian flavour, I guess you could do worse than Dragon Squad. You could also do a lot better.

Objectively speaking, this was your typical formulaic Hong Kong cop thriller. Sammo Hung plays the once brilliant cop, Kong Long, with issues as he heads to retirement. One of his issues surrounds an old case in which his team gets wiped out by a gang. Meanwhile five superstars (Shawn Yue, Vaness Wu, Eva Huang, Xia Yu, Lawrence Chou) in the Asian entertainment scene play five international cops who are there to testify against a mobster. However, on the way to court he is "rescued" by the gwei-lo, a former SAS man, Petros (Michael Biehn) and his team (which contains the delectable Maggie Q). Not surprisingly, once the mobster escapes, the young cops are after them and a chase ensues, following a path of history that Kong Long is all too familiar with.

Unlike most HK cop thrillers, there is more of an element of psychology involved and there are mind games that you, the viewer, do get caught up in. It is intelligent in parts, triggering some suspense. However, the downside is that this wasn't consistent throughout the film and much of the rest of the plot is rather weak and predictable. There are some action scenes that add a bit of excitement, but overall the script is the usual formulaic stuff that is much a throw-back to that seen in the last three decades of HK film.

But for most, like many Hollywood efforts of this type of film, the film appeals to the mass market. Some very big names in the world of entertainment in the Far East appear in this movie, including boy band F4-member, Vanness Wu, veteran kung fu supremo, Sammo Hung, and former model Maggie Q. It isn't a sublime work of art. It is meant to be seen at face value. And in that, it might have some success.

Overall, this film breaks no boundaries, in fact it stays well within the outfield. But, it's a fairly solid film that the masses will probably enjoy. One for a bit of action.

I was just given the chance to sit down and watch the 2005 Hong Kong action movie titled "Dragon Squad" (aka "Mang lung") here in 2021. And this was actually my first time to watch it. Sure, I had heard about the movie before, but I just never have gotten around to watch it. So of course I jumped at the chance to do so now.

And I will say that "Dragon Squad" was an adequately entertaining action movie, though it wasn't among the best that the action cinema from Hong Kong has to offer. But it is definitely an entertaining and watchable movie.

The storyline told in "Dragon Squad" was a bit simplistic and linear. Sure, it made for proper entertainment, but the writers Daniel Lee and Ho-Leung Lau didn't really venture into new territory, deciding to play it safe and following a strict how-to-make-an-action-movie blueprint.

The action sequences in the movie were nicely choreographed and executed on the screen, and there was indeed an abundance of action throughout the course of the movie. And director Daniel Lee brought this to life on the screen in a good manner with lots of high speed and adrenaline.

"Dragon Squad" has a rather impressive cast list ensemble, which includes Shawn Yue, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Maggie Q, Andy On and Simon Yam; so there is an abundance of familiar faces in the movie, if you are familiar with Hong Kong cinema. And it was an absolute blast to have Michael Biehn in the movie as well, and he was definitely back in form here.

I found this 2005 movie to be a nice surprise, and it definitely proved entertaining enough. However, I don't think that this is a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time though, as the storyline just was a bit too weak for supporting multiple viewings. My rating of "Dragon Squad" is a six out of ten stars.