Dragon Eyes

This movie is actually better than rated by audiences here. Cung Le is good in this quasi-western martial arts film. JCVD is very good in a Miyagi like role. Peter Weller is good as a crooked cop. Some good elements. Some good fights. Doesn't all tie together to make a great movie but good for streaming. If you know Cung Le's UFC career you'll recognize a lot of his signature moves here.

This review is for those that are not hard-core Martial-Arts Movie fans. They have another perspective, more closely associated with the popular genre. It is for those that drop in occasionally to see what all the fuss is about or to check out the "new kid on the block".

In this one it is a real life fighter of some sort or another and has made his way to the screen via his physical abilities and was the best at what he does. Cung Le makes Jet Li look like a great talent in the acting department. But as these things go, no one much cares.

The film looks, again, like a sepia-tone, washed out, colorless, "style" that is supposed to say this is hard-boiled stuff, nothing pretty here, only dudes allowed. All it really does is look pretentious and lifeless.

The fight scenes are very good and are shot with a focus and not quickly edited so you can actually see what's going on and there are a lot of them and are quite convincing and brutal. The plot is confusing and way over written. Van Damme is a secondary mentor type, but Peter Weller makes an impression as a cartoon cop. Worth a view for fans but there is really nothing here for outsiders slumming it.

Fan or not, there is no denying Jean-Claude Van Damme's action star status throughout the 90's. Over the years he has made a name for himself in the straight to video market, but unlike some out there his movies have held a sense of quality on some level. His latest film Dragon Eyes brings along MMA fighter Cung Le, but takes Van Damme in a different role than we are used to seeing him in.

Dragon Eyes follows a man who moves into neighborhood living in fear thanks to the rival gangs at war. Slowly he begins playing them against each other using his martial arts skills he learned from his mentor while serving time in prison. Just as he starts gaining control in the neighborhood he is thrust into a war with a corrupt police chief as well as the gangs to try and defend the scared people of this desperate neighborhood. While the story here isn't anything all that original it still gives it that old school feel. It kind of goes all over the place at times and seems to suffer a bit due to editing, but not enough to hurt the overall film. This film is very much like most martial arts films of the 80's and 90's. Cung Le takes the lead and does a decent job. His acting skills are slowly but surely getting better, but this is his first time out carrying one on his own shoulders and he does a fine job. Van Damme takes a back seat approach playing more of a Mr. Miyagi to Cung Le with very little dialogue, but still delivering an effective character through action. This film is clearly more about the martial arts and there is no shortage. Le does a great job with the fights delivering some well-choreographed entertaining fights.

This is an old school martial arts film that fans of the genre will have fun with. Cung Le has made numerous films, but his turn as the lead here showcases a new generation of action star that he could easily fill. Van Damme serves his purpose here very effectively and gives you just enough of what he does best to tide you over until he steps it up as the villain in The Expendables 2.

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'DRAGON EYES': Three Stars (Out of Five)

International Kickboxing champion and UFC star Chung Le stars in this crime drama action film. It co-stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Peter Weller and Kristopher Van Varenberg (Van Damme's son). The film was directed by John Hyams (who also directed the last two 'UNIVERSAL SOLDIER' films, also featuring Van Damme) and written by Tim Tori (who also wrote the low budget B horror films 'PROWL', 'HYSTERIA' and 'TRESSPASSERS'). It was produced by After Dark Films, who had primarily been known for releasing horror films but has now turned to martial arts action films as well (they also produced the recent Scott Adkins action film 'EL GRINGO'). The film is about what you'd expect from your average martial arts B movie but it does showcase Le's talents well; as an action force to be reckoned with.

Le plays Ryan Hong, a mysterious loner who rolls in to a town, rife with gang violence, known as St. Jude. He turns the two ruling gangs there against each other before falling under the attention of corrupt police chief Mr. V (Weller). Mr. V first sees Hong's skills as an asset and uses him to help control the gangs but then finds him to be more of a menace than an ally. Hong turns to the skills he was taught in prison by an old resident of St. Jude, known as Tiano (Van Damme), and attempts to clean up the town once and for all.

Le has had a lot of cool supporting turns in action films like 'TEKKEN', 'PANDORUM', 'FIGHTING' and most recently 'THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS' but this is his first chance to show off his leading man chops. His fighting skills are very impressive and he has an acting style similar to the likes of the greats; like Jackie Chan and Jet Li (in my opinion). It would be nice to see him get better movies with higher production values but this is a good start for him. Hyams is a good action film director and it doesn't get much better than having Van Damme and Peter Weller supporting you in your first starring role. Van Damme plays little more than an extended cameo in the film but was given top billing in all the marketing (including posters and the DVD cover) in order to sell it (his name is pretty marketable these days, despite being seen as washed up just a few years ago). He doesn't really have enough screen time in this film to make much of an impression but just his presence gives the film some extra cred. Weller is great as the movie's villain and it's nice to see him popping up in films still as well. The movie is really just an action vehicle for Chung Le though and at that it does it's job pretty well.

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Storywise this really aims high. Something that people might not really be into that much, but whatever the case, you have to admire the filmmakers for trying at least. There are some very fine ideas in this movie (loyalty, friendship, respect amongst them), but none get explored too much. Not to mention that the emotional connection between the viewer and the main character unfortunately isn't the strongest. And that has nothing to do with the storyline, but has more to do with the way the movie is handled.

The action scenes are decent enough (some are even spectacular), but hopefully you're not renting this to watch van Damme fight. He's playing a major part, but is a supporting player. But Cung Le knows how to fight. In the charisma department on the other hand ... One really good coup the movie made is installing Peter Weller as the main bad guy. He is terrific and shows what Charisma really is!