Fei lung gwoh gong

Enter the Fat Dragon is obviously a pun on the famous Bruce Lee film but completely unrelated to it. It's also unrelated to the movie of the same title starring Sammo Hung. This movie here is however a quirky return to Hong Kong action-comedy cinema of the late eighties and early nineties. The story follows a cop who destroys half his city while trying to arrest a group of robbers and gets transferred to a static desk job. His overambitious fiancée also leaves him and attempts to become a popular actress despite an obvious lack of talent. The protagonist starts feeling depressed and gaining lots of weight in the process. Many years later, he gets a chance to redeem himself as he is asked to escort a criminal to Japan. Things quickly spiral out of control when the criminal escapes during a rest stop. The protagonist gets some help from Chinese emigrants in Japan to fix the problem but he soon realizes that influential groups and even police force are in on the coup. Things take a turn for the worse, when his former girlfriend, who happens to be in Japan for a publicity stunt, gets kidnapped. The chubby cop must fight his powerful opponents with his grit of yore.

This movie obviously has a rather nonsensical plot with a few too many exaggerated coincidences. The idea to make fun of overweight people also seems somewhat old-fashioned these days. Despite those minor flaws, Enter the Fat Dragon is however a highly entertaining action-comedy revival film. The characters are unique, quirky and diversified. The plot has numerous unexpected twists and turns. The locations are splendid and especially the Japanese Chinatown has been crafted with much detail in the studio. The humorous elements are over the top. The action scenes are dynamic and find the right balance between amusing and gritty components. The fact that this action-comedy movie includes dramatic, romantic and suspenseful elements makes for a wild ride.

If you are craving for Hong Kong action-comedy cinema of the late eighties and early nineties with Jackie Chan and the likes, Enter the Fat Dragon will bring that golden era back to life in a nostalgic but quirky way. The movie won't win any awards for creativity but is entertaining from start to finish and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Invite your friends, grab your popcorn, pour a few drinks and enjoy this movie to the fullest over and over again.

ENTER THE FAT DRAGON shares a title with a Sammo Hung kung fu flick of 1978 but there the similarities end. This is notable for being a typical Hong Kong action comedy with Donnie Yen, with the twist that Yen plays the role (for the most part) in a fat suit. It's an unusual bit of spectacle for sure, although never quite convincing as the suit looks too rubbery for that. The plot involves Yen's cop heading off to Japan to escort a criminal while at the same time trying to restart a failed romance. The female roles are criminally underwritten (including Teresa Mo's) but there's a fun role for producer Wong Jing who even gets to fight. There are fun film references, some dodgy comedy that doesn't really work too well, and plenty of well choreographed action that generally hits the mark.

Granted, this 2020 version of "Enter the Fat Dragon" (aka "Fei lung gwoh gong") from director Kenji Tanigaki wasn't as original as the 1978 movie starring Sammo Hung, it was still an entertaining enough movie for what it turned out to be.

If you haven't seen the 1978 original movie, then I am sure that you might enjoy this 2020 re-make or homage - whatever it is supposed to be - more than you will in comparison if you have seen the original.

Personally, I found it a nice that Donnie Yen would actually star in a movie such as this. While he does carry himself nicely and the prosthetics are good at making him obese, he is no Sammo Hung, and it wouldn't be much of a contest to put the two next to one another.

For an action comedy then "Enter the Fat Dragon" proved to be entertaining and enjoyable. And it definitely is worth a watch, although the storyline tends to be a bit dragged out at certain points through the movie. And the final showdown scene was just unnecessarily cluttered by putting the helicopter aspect into the equation - it simply made the movie dumber than it had to be.

Now, the movie doesn't really boast a lot of overly famous performers, but worry not. Because the cast actually performed quite well with their given roles and characters.

My rating of this 2020 movie is a six out of ten stars.

I enjoyed this movie mostly because of the comical and charismatic acting of the supporting cast. Almost all of them really put effort into their roles, and also looked like they were genuinely enjoying themselves. The movie has a very positive feeling mostly because of the various supporting characters, in my humble opinion.

Donnie Yen is kind of boring. He is wearing a fat suit in most of the movie, and he does not do a good job of pulling that off. He is a guy in a fat suit, not really a fat guy who knows martial arts. I recall Sammo Hung was genuinely a fat guy that knew martial arts, and he pulled this role off very well in the 1978 original version of this movie.

I enjoyed the movie, but it was the supporting cast that made it entertaining.

Well... basically 0 fat shaming. Donnie gaining weight gives nothing to the plot. Comedy movie that makes 0 jokes about him being fat. Not once he got tired because of the extra weight or jokes about him getting stuck or fighting with food. The fighting was pretty good. Without that it's a 3/10 movie. The only time anyone called him fat he took it like a champ and he was like: Im fat?!?! you are a toothpick! And the skinny guy almost died in shame...