Dragons Forever

It's amazing what you can do in your "last collaborative effort." With other movies behind Chan, Hung, and Biao like "Winners and Sinners" and "Wheels on Meals" (weird-as-all-hell names, if you ask me), the three kung-fu-teers, as they've been called, made their last, and what I consider best of their films. The inimitable Jackie Chan plays a lawyer, and a corrupt one at that. However, he does beat a healthy load of bad guys into body casts, with his pals Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao along for the ride. Scary kickboxer Benny "the Jet" Urquidez dukes it out with Jackie for the last time as a generic thug, subsequently getting his villainous rear knocked from here to the god-awful studio that made "Baby Geniuses." Give this movie a try. You won't be disappointed.

Defence lawyer Jackie Lung (Jackie Chan) represents shady businessman Hua Hsien-Wu, who is accused of polluting a local fish farm owned by Miss Yip (Deannie Yip). To help him win the case, Jackie enlists two friends from the criminal fraternity, arms dealer Luke Wong Fei-hung (Sammo Hung) and cat burglar Timothy Tung Tak-Biao (Yuen Baio). Jackie also romances Miss Yip's pretty cousin Nancy (Pauline Yeung) in order to get inside information, but finds himself falling in love for real, resulting in a change of heart that pits him and his friends against Hua Hsien-Wu and his cronies.

For twelve incredible minutes, Dragons Forever shows Chan, Biao and Hung at their very best, in a blistering finale that sees the trio battling numerous bad guys in a chemical factory: our heroes perform amazing feats of acrobatics, punch and kick at jaw-dropping speed, bodies falls from gangways onto hard surfaces, and lots of glass is smashed. It's just a shame that to get there one must endure well over an hour of mediocre comedy and dull romance, interspersed by the occasional spot of less memorable martial arts to retain the attention of fight fans until the final showdown.

As a whole, the film really only warrants an average rating, but I'm happy to bump it up a bit for the main bad guys, the excellent Yuen Wah (who also played the memorable villain from another fave of mine, Eastern Condors), and the awesome Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez—never has eyeliner been so macho! 6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

The comedy is VERY funny (casting Jackie as a lawyer is funny in itself, intentionally I hope), the romance is sweet and the action is (expectedly) spectacular. The film is marred only by its inconsistent tone: there is a little too much violence toward the end, which doesn't sit too well with the rest of the movie. By the way, I watched the dubbed version, and this may be one of those rare instances where the dubbing does not significantly detract from the film - in fact, it probably ENHANCES the comedy. (***)

The last of the 3 Brothers films is undoubtedly the best. Yes, even better than Project A. It took me a while to find a copy of this Chan-Hung-Biao classic, but as soon as I found it, I immediately bought it. I payed 29 dollars for it, and it was totally worth it. It has some of the best action choreography I have ever seen. It is a fast, hilarious, action-packed ride that everyone can enjoy. I think that every single person should see this film, because if you havent, you dont know what action really is.

Dragons Forever may be one of Jackie Chan's best and certainly one of his most satisfying films. It contains some of the best fight action of his career,and an equal amount of humour,but also has a reasonable plot,some character development and a welcome dose of romance,something which is usually sidelined in Chan films. In fact,this is one Chan movie which might be enjoyed just as much by the gals as well as the guys.

This was the last film featuring the great trio of Chan,Samo Hung and Yuen Biao,and it sees them experimenting a bit by playing against type. Chan is really good as a shady,skirt chasing lawyer,and Biao is very funny as a mentally unstable thief {some versions of the film remove two of his scenes,so beware},but Hung,who was easily the best actor of the three,gives the stand out performance as Chan's devious gun running buddy. A great deal of time is given to Hung's and Chan's romances,and there is one really touching if over the top scene involving Hung with a megaphone trying to get his potential girl to trust him in front of loads of people.

Some of the film's slapstick perhaps goes on a bit,but there are some terrific scenes where the three heroes keep comedic-ally fighting each other,sometimes all at one time. Don't worry action fans,amidst all this romance and slapstick is some superb fighting. The fights are not that many in number and some are quite brief,but Chan looks near his best and Hung and Baio also shine. Chan's running battle with a gang of heavies on a ship and his duel with Benny Urquidez {a thrilling battle and not at all like the Chan/Urquidez match in Wheels On Meals} are amongst his best fights ever. Just try and keep a a note of all the stunt men who do extremely dangerous falls during the climax! As often with a Hung-directed film,the violence is a bit stronger than the usual Chan film.

As usual there is the odd scene which doesn't work,such as when Hung apologizes to his girlfriend and she......smashes him in the face with an iron bar!-after which they make up! The film was rushed and sometimes looks a little rough around the edges. Nevertheless,this is a truly enjoyable all round movie which should satisfy even if you're not really into martial arts movies!