Coração de Dragão

After several "Lucky Stars" films, Sammo Hung wanted to direct Jackie Chan in a serious movie. Jackie believed (rightly so) that the Hong Kong audience would have trouble accepting him in a non-action role. Sammo was insistent and Jackie acquiesced. With a screenplay coauthored by Barry Wong and Sammo Hung they ventured forth to create Heart of Dragon (aka First Mission). This film would be a box office disappointment though he soon would create one of his best films – Police Story.

Jackie stars as a CID officer (formally from SWAT) who takes care of his mentally-challenged 29 year old brother Danny. Danny is an affable and naive grown-up who is known as Do Do by his child friends. He is so credulous that even his kid companions use him for nefarious reasons such as getting into a restaurant or passing off as a parent. He is a constant drain on his brother Jackie who always has to take care of him. Jackie is also split between wanting to make his girlfriend Jenny (Emily Chu who was also in the first two A Better Tomorrow films) happy and his dream of becoming a merchant marine. Danny is wonderfully played by Hung who is not afraid to sacrifice his dignity and his body for this role such as the scene when Danny is looking for a job to be more self supporting is taken advantage of by a restaurant owner (Wu Ma who also helped produce this film) who persuades him to act like a bull, a dog and a snake. Chan's acting is good with occasional forays into the melodramatic.

Heart of Dragon is an enjoyable but fragmented and uneven film. It attempts to be a drama, but after half the picture is over it wants to be action movie. I feel that they did not believe they could create a full serious picture. The switch in tone of the film is distracting and hurts the overall feel of the picture. Yet the ending choreographed by Yuen Biao, though somewhat stereotypical of action film endings, has one of the most exciting sequences Jackie and Sammo has ever done. So my feelings are mixed by this change. Golden Harvest also felt that the audience would not believe a Sammo and Jackie film could sustain a dramatic pace and ordered two additional fighting scenes for the Japanese market. These scenes can be found as deleted scenes on the Fortune Star release.

You could review this film as two separate films. The drama was good except for periodical bouts of overacting and melodramatic scenes (though Sammo's character seems quite believable.) The action part of the film was also good (not counting the opening scene which was totally unbelievable with Mr. Eyebrows – one of my favorite actors Lam Ching Ying) but catered to stereotypical scripting. For example Do Do plays cops and robbers with his kid friends and accidentally scares a gangster into giving up a bag of jewelry that belongs to local Triad member the cigar chomping Mr Kin (James Tien.) Mr Kin then, eventually, kidnaps Do Do to get the eventual climax between CID and Mr Kin and his men.

As a complete concept, the film does not work as well as the sum of the parts. The film also has the problem of transitioning from action to drama to action then back to drama again. Then there is the problem with the horrible "electronic" music playing in the background. But many of the parts are quite excellent. People who are expecting a "Jackie Chan" film will be disappointed with the exception of the deleted scenes and the excellent ending. I was disappointed because I saw that they could have made a more compelling drama or at least a more fluid piece. However, there is much to enjoy with the film, as if I had not said it enough, especially the ending.. Notes: other character actors in the film are Fung Hark On (portraying another slimy character), Yuen Wah and Corey Yuen (both who grew up with Jackie Chan, Sammo and Yuen Biao as part of the Seven Little Fortunes.)

not an action movie! a heart felt drama that had me(yes me) in tears. there is action at the end, but that wasnt even needed. this great drama is about jackie helping his retarded brother through thick and thin or something like that. bring some tissues and dont see it with the guys, cause its a sad one.

"Long de xin" has Jackie's character (Tat) on the CID (Criminal Investigation Department). This is no "Police Story" though, and Chan is portrayed as just another member of the squad. His main occupation though, is looking after his mentally-disabled brother (Dodo, or Do-do), played decently by Sammo himself. Tat is constantly being called away to help out his brother, and the crime-fighting scenes in the film take a long time to develop.

This film has all of the ingredients that I look for, but it failed to impress me as much as it might have. First of all, Sammo direction is usually brilliant and progressive, in this film however, it seems that most of his creative energy went on his character-acting - and I must say, the scene about Jackie's leaving is particularly impressive. This moment, with it's heart-wrenching display of frustration, anger, and love is as memorable as any of the fight scenes in the film. Chan here is a brilliant dramatic actor, and it took Sammo to get it out of him I suppose.

Yuen Biao, as action-director, does a great job. And the final fight scene is particularly brutal and snappy. But, I can't help but wonder how much better this film may have been if Biao was given an on-screen part - I can see many that may have suited in retrospect.

The film does it's best to balance the drama and action, but I think this is it's main area of failure. There are none of those clever edits that Sammo is usually known for that make for brilliant transitions between contrasting scenes. Here, we sit through some repetitive and redundant scenes that (yet again) display Dodo's vulnerability as much as common man's inhumanity. (Actually, I was just realising how much trouble the children cause for Sammo - even his closest friends are doomed to hurt him). The first few times are good, the rest were trying.

This is a film that is worth watching for some great highlights, but it's not a film that I can imagine enjoying start-to-end, over and over like so many other of Sammo's directorial gems. Sammo and Chan's dramatic acting are the real winners in this film.

This is one of Jackie Chan's most serious movies and one of his best. Jackie Chan plays a Hong Kong cop who gives up his dream of sailing around the world to take care of his mentally retarted brother (played by Samo Hung who won an award for this role.) Samo is kidnapped after accidentally getting mixed up in a gang war and of course Jackie has to save him. Less action then the usual Jackie Chan movie but the action that is there is quite good. Be warned there are some real tear-jerker scenes in this movie. Jackie Chan fans this is a must see. The only disappointment is you never get to see Samo Hung display his martial arts talent.

If you think that Jackie Chan can't act then go watch this movie. Why? Because he actually acted quite well in this movie along with Sammo Hung who got out of his usual ways and acted a retard.

If you're used to Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon then you might be surprised that Jackie can actually act a complex character (unlike the stereo-types he did in Hollywood). Not many actors can cry (or at least drop a tear) in front of a camera and Jackie actually did it.

Sammo Hung plays quite well as Jackie's retarded brother and it must have been hard to act a retard (not to mention he dropped some tears too). We mostly get to see the two doing some action movies where the plot(s) have to get in line for the action, so it was good to see them do a movie where the plot comes in first row.

Yes I said it, unlike most of the movies they did together this one relies more on acting and plot and all the action is just a plus. I got quite touched with the way they both acted and the plot and the story was quite good too, very touching. There were times where I cried watching this one and I never expected to cry in a Jackie and Sammo movie so yes it is a good movie with good acting.

But although I gotta say it is not his best movie either. 8/10