Dragon Tiger Gate

People have been unfairly criticising this film and taking things far too seriously indeed.

If you love Hong Kong action films, and have been a fan of such productions since the 70's or earlier, you will love this film pure and simple.

I actually enjoyed some of the action in this film more than SPL! Why? Because DTG was pure unadulterated comic book escapism. It isn't meant to be serious, it isn't meant to be deep. Its a totally entertaining popcorn movie, and I would suggest that anyone who tries to analyse it any further than that really should take some time out from watching movies.

Put simply, Dragon Tiger Gate is what a comic book adaption should be. As a long time Hong Kong martial arts film fan, I found this film to deliver everything I expect from such a thing and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Just don't bother watching it if you are the type of person who is going to sit there with their arms folded expecting it to change your life or something like many of the other reviews I have seen on the web seem to have done.

Oh-ho! This may be the best Kung-Fu movie I ever saw. The fighting scenes looked real. But I can say that the movie has a thin plot which is not very good (I can say). The only good thing is the fighting. Don't get me wrong, I do like the movie, it is just that I felt that the movie might need some improvement on the plot. It is about Tiger Wong, Dragon Wong and Turbo who believe in justice. They take possession of a gold plaque that holds one of the largest Asian criminal organisation, the heroes are now the target. They will have to fight the evil. The fighting scenes, I say it can be improved, as it just take a few minutes only. Longer fighting scenes would be more interesting. But overall, it still pass in my standard.

For me personally, this movie is one of the best Modern Martial Arts Flick of Hong Kong today! The kind that I've been waiting long to see!

As a long time fan of Donnie Yen (I'm an instant fan since I saw his first movie Drunken Tai- Chi, a loooong time ago), I believe he has finally get the chance to show his true talent, as the up-and-coming modern day Action Director. Donnie Yen has arrived!

The fight choreography is very unique and freshly thought, amazing at times. Combined with limited wire-work, stylized complicated movements (Donnie Yen's Specialty) and very complementary Computer Generated Special Effects, the fight scenes will blow your mind away. Not to mention the addition of the ground-shaking 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound Effects. You gotta see and experience it for yourself to know what I mean.

Story wise, LONG HU MEN (Dragon Tiger Gate) delivers true to it's comic book nature about the tale of Good vs Evil, told within the realm of Amazingly Imagined Hong Kong Triad/ Martial Underworld.

The Cinematography are quite unique too. In some scenes it felt like a very imaginary world, others like a very beautifully-painted old-day Hong Kong, yet in another it looks so realistic, true to the colour of the world today.

I may be biased so just go watch it for yourself.

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?

Getting off to a very Marvel-like start should be enough of a hint that here's a comic book adaptation, in this event a conversion of an identically-titled HK staple. Similar to a multitude of other martial arts action fiestas, Dragon Tiger Gate espouses a mix of sentiment and beat 'em up orchestration that leaves it lingering on the average end of the dial.

Firstly, a word on the CG effects, used mostly in delivering a pseudo-Hong Kong metropolis that's seldom seen, yet overall manages to keep in tune with the urban, almost post-apocalyptic visage required in superhero stories. Technically, DTG looks quite good until you proceed to pay attention, and realize one especially long shot of the city basically takes digitizations of real-world skyscrapers, mixes them up and hopes for the best. This kind of amateurish shortcut doesn't become an otherwise professional production.

But aside from several visual faux pas, DTG's other irony is that the plentiful emotional segments really work much better than its action bits, which is somewhat odd in a fighting extravaganza. Uniquely enough, it's easy to become enthralled by the emotive content more so than with Donnie Yen's fight choreography, and despite submitting more than a mere sample of tacky clichés, the film nonetheless packs a touching punch far more formidable than its roundhouse kick.

And make no mistake, it's all about Donnie Yen, fresh from success with crime-noir number SPL (also directed by Wilson Yip), and less triumphant moments in Seven Swords and Hero. Surely, Yen's genuine martial arts prowess and good-guy charm come charging in on top of making movies like Dragon Inn and Iron Monkey so memorable, but in DTG he's in weaker form. Having said that, co-starring hunks Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue (Infernal Affairs trilogy) fall far short of eclipsing yen, indeed living up to their roles as his subordinates.

The trio delivers Dragon Tiger Gate's pivotal triumvirate of characters, Yen as Wong Siu Long (Little Dragon), a master fighter employed by benevolent underworld boss Kun (one has to love those kindly mobsters). When Kun's empire comes under attack from mysteriously evil overlord Shibumi (Yan Kung), Siu Long's enrolled in the cause, particularly since it involves protecting fragile Kun daughter Xiaoling (Dong Jie, who's grown a lot since Zhang Yimou's Happy Times).

Help for struggling Siu Long emerges from leftfield in the form of two fighters also trained in eponymous kung fu academy Dragon Tiger Gate. Wong Siu Fu (Tiger Wong, done by reformed badboy Nicholas Tse) and Shek Hak Long (charismatic Shawn Yue's Turbo Shek) both lend a helping hand. All receive a proper thrashing until realizing several internal issues and consigning themselves to the sacrifice one must offer in the name of goodness. Thus, DTG follows a path previously tread by the likes of Teenage Mutant Ninjas, since here too a goofy master bestows magical supernatural powers in a scene that comes across out of place.

As entire gangs of underworld henchmen and enough home décor for a Home Depot/IKEA combination megastore are demolished, the movie intersperses its action and borderline-sci fi atmosphere with back story, revealing the hurt that brought many of the characters together. These function well in spite of being ostensibly trite, extending to the story's most alluring persona, ambivalent beauty Rosa, who's affection for Siu Long conflicts with working for arch-rival Shibumi. Gorgeous Li Xiao Ran renders this troubled individual with flying colors, proving almost on a par with Maggie Cheung's double agent role in Moon Warriors all those years back.

Yet capable melodrama and a few acceptably strong performances do not suffice in qualifying Dragon Tiger Gate the classic. It may be often confused with Wuxia heyday masterpiece Dragon Gate Inn (1992), but rest assured a gulf separates the two. Toned-down, unimaginative moves come as a surprise from Yen, veteran of so many martial arts bonanzas himself, and the story in general does little to transcend the formulaic.

This is another major native East Asian comic book transition onto the silver screen that fails in many respects, following abysmal Initial D last summer. While blissfully not as bad, Dragon Tiger Gate has very little to recommend it beyond a few choice moments, and even those take it only so far, a predicament familiar to viewers from previous high-profile releases also afflicted with dud syndrome: Legend of Zu, Avenging Fist and Black Mask 2 all come to mind.

The hunt for a summer 2006 mastery of things action continues, and in the meantime, perhaps Dragon Tiger Gate aficionados can bide their time patiently for a hopefully reinforced home video release.

Rating: * * *