San lung moon hak chan

I saw this movie once as a 15 year old kid during a holiday in Hong Kong. Still, I will never forget the feeling I had then: absolutely stunning, the guys at school should see this, the best I've ever seen, there's nothing in the world that can beat this one. And after all these years, I haven't seen anything that reached the level of New Dragon Inn and gave me that wonderful, heart pounding feeling. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero are okay, but absolutely not comparable with this real Hong Kong martial arts classic. New Dragon Inn is absolutely on the list the next time I go to Hong Kong (I only want the original Cantonese version). There are a lot of people who won't understand the feeling a good martial arts movie can give you, but that doesn't matter. I know it's Hong Kong's no. 1 in the kung fu category. Absolutely.

Even as Hong Kong wuxia movies go, this one is wild, replete with a Hotel California in the middle of the northern Chinese desert, a marauding crew of arrow wielding horsemen, the evil eunuch from Butterfly and Sword, a lovable midget barbarian, the beautiful Maggie Cheung, and the gender bending immortal Brigitte Lin. Maggie Cheung carries the movie with hilarious style. Donnie Yen sweeps into the end of the movie looking like Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The final battle scene culminates in a sudden surprise so ludicrous that I laughed out loud, even though I was alone. The film's only disappointment is the wooden love interest Tony Leung (KF, not the much better CW) - why would Maggie fall for such a stiff? Dragon Inn is simply a fun film, and comparing it to the pretentious and boring Crouching Tiger, as other reviewers do, does it a disservice.

All the characters are remarkable, and the movie is really a classic.

One of the most beautiful of Hong Kong's 'New wave' sword-fight films, "Dragon Inn" has virtually nothing wrong to be said for it. A dark Romantic tragedy over-layered with a romantic comedy almost as dark, and filled with living breathing characters brilliantly portrayed by an excellent cast; still, the film's primary asset is its breathtaking imagery and carefully subdued (given the material) editing. You never have any doubt as to where your eye should light, nor are you ever disappointed.

After viewing any narrative film, we have the right to ask ourselves, "did I go any interesting places here? did I meet any interesting people? did I see anything I could not have seen otherwise?" The answers for this film are: "yes, yes, and again yes" Although this is not a 'magic kung fu' film, yet there is magic in virtually every frame. It takes us to another world and introduces us to interesting people, and then, when the end comes, it simply says 'adieu' and the film closes and we are home again - but far better informed on the nature of the world, and of the human heart, than we would be other wise.

True cinema magic, and certainly one of the best of its kind - perhaps one of the best of any kind.

DRAGON INN exibits the same great production values of every Tsui Hark film. It's a good movie all around, with some truly enjoyable performances by a stellar cast.

What both makes and breaks it is the shaky balance between the bulk of the film and its climax. The first 95% is rock solid. The last 5% goes off the deep end, in a crazy, supernatural gorefest fight between Donnie Yen and the varied protagonists. Film school diehards will want their money back. HK film fanatics will sit there in astonishment for a few moments -- then start laughing and cheering. It's truly insane, and I love it.

My only knock: not enough Donnie Yen.

But there are other films for that.