Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen continue to fly the flag for HK Martial Arts films after Sha Po Lang with their latest collaboration: Dragon Tiger Gate, based on one of the most successful HK comic serials of all time. Out now on R3HK DVD.

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Four words put the fear of god into me when used in relation to HK cinema: Based on the comic. Over the years HK filmmakers’ relationships with their favourite comics have been uneven at best, stretching back for almost thirty years now. In the 80’s we were subjected to (or treated, depending on your viewpoint) crudely made horrors taken from Japanese Manga: The Story of Riki-oh and Wicked City, which provided camp entertainment only for their graphic excess and ridiculously poor special effects. Continuing the Manga theme, the 90’s saw the rise of hit & miss martial arts films like City Hunter and Dragon from Russia, while Andrew Lau took the HK Triad comic Young & Dangerous and kick-started one of the most successful film franchises of the decade, although by the end of the decade too many sequels had left a bad after-taste. In 1998 and 1999 Lau dipped into the HK comic well once more when he directed the big-budget SFX action-extravaganza films: Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero, two vapid, vacuous films where little things like characterisation, story, and even martial-arts took a back seat to CGI effects that could only match US TV shows like Star Trek rather than Hollywood blockbusters like The Matrix.

Review: Wilson Yip delivered a fine piece of Hong Kong cinema with his dark and gritty 'SPL'. No wonder that expectations were pretty high for his new movie, but any way you look at it, 'Dragon Tiger Gate' is just a big disappointment. A money-making, colorful and CGI-loaden exercise in stupid over-the-top action, that no one really needs. Three martial artists, two who grew up training in the Dragon Tiger Gate school and another a nunchaku specialist who joins the school to train alongside Master Wong Xianglong, team up to defeat an almighty foe, Shimubi, who has killed both their master and the leader of one of the largest crime syndicates in Hong Kong.

Nov 09, 2006 Unfortunately this impetus is diffused by the final act and confrontation between Dragon, Tiger, Turbo, and Shibumi which doesn’t show-piece enough Kung fu and relies too much on flash CGI moves. I’ve probably made Dragon Tiger Gate sound a lot worse than it is. The truth is that at just under 95minutes long the film never drags at all. See full list on kungfukingdom.com. A modern day fantasy through the 2006 lens, Dragon Tiger Gate finds two supernaturally gifted martial artists going up against an even more supernatural criminal organisation. This is very much a comic book movie, as it announces with a faux-Marvel title sequence.

Almost a decade later and director Wilson Yip is riding high after teaming up with Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen to make the first decent HK martial arts film in too long: Sha Po Lang. When news that he would be working with Donnie Yen again to deliver another martial arts film, I rejoiced, but then I read that it would be a high-budget CGI fest and those four little words…

Based on the immensely popular and influential comic serial “Dragon & Tiger Heroes” by Tony Wong Yuk-Long (which has been running for over 35 years now), Dragon Tiger Gate follows the exploits of two estranged brothers: Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse) and Dragon Wong (Donnie Yen) and an eager young Nunchaku specialist called Turbo (Shawn Yue), who each have ties to a dojo run by the brothers’ uncle: Wong Jiang-Long (Yuen Wah) at the Dragon Tiger Gate. The film opens as Tiger and his dojo “posse” are enjoying a meal in a restaurant where the Ma Kwun gang are arguing with a rival gang over the fact the powerful Lousha Gang have given Ma Kwun (Chen Kuan-Tai) their Lousha Plaque, which gives his gang the monopoly on smuggling jobs across Lousha territory. While the two gangs argue upstairs, Tiger comes to the aid of a family at a nearby table who are being shook down by Ma Kwun debt collectors. The ensuing melee ends up disrupting the triad meet and Tiger finds himself in possession of the plaque. Opting to keep hold of the plaque as a memento, Tiger is eventually stopped by Ma Kwun’s personal bodyguard, Dragon; who recognises Tiger as his younger brother and refuses to deliver the finishing blow.

When Tiger escapes with the plaque, Dragon tells his boss that he will go retrieve the important item and catches up with Tiger and his friends enjoying a meal in a Japanese restaurant, but before he can take the plaque back to Ma Kwun, fellow gang member Scaly turns up with his own men to take the plaque himself. This causes a huge fight with Dragon and Tiger taking on all of Scaly’s men, which ends up disrupting Turbo who was enjoying a brief meal. With experts fighting Scaly’s men the brawl soon comes to an end, and Dragon swiftly returns the plaque to his boss while Tiger takes Turbo back to the Dragon Tiger Gate because the youngster wants to enrol as a student there, but becoming a student of Wong Jiang-Long is a lot harder than Turbo thinks. Meanwhile, after briefly re—uniting with his younger brother, Dragon starts to realise the decisions he made in life that led to him becoming a triad member were probably the wrong ones, and seriously contemplates leaving the underworld behind for good. As it turns out Ma Kwun is also considering retirement, but when the ruthless Lousha leader Shibumi finds out that the man he entrusted the plaque to is planning to pull out of the crime business, he sets in motion plans that will tear the Wong brothers’ lives apart.

Does Dragon Tiger Gate finally prove that HK can pull off high-spectacle comic book films to match the glut of titles coming out of Hollywood? No, I’m afraid not, BUT it is a hell of a lot better than the horrid Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero. The film’s ultimate failing is that Wilson Yip tries to have his cake and eat it by incorporating five decent sized action sequences and three distinct character arcs into a story that’s over by the 95minute mark. It’s simply too much, the end result is an almost non-existent narrative that barely demands any dramatic involvement from the viewer, and characters that amount to little more than the most basic genre clichés. Action legends Chen Kuan Tai and Yuen Wah are the biggest casualties of this, both have matured into fine character actors in their old age but their dull cardboard cut-out characters give them little opportunity to display this. Only Dragon is afforded much of a back story and some form of moral depth as Dragon, a man with a natural sense of justice who became a Triad to please his adoptive father Ma Kwun and is now realising his heart belongs to the Dragon Tiger Gate. This is pretty much the extent to his character which is shocking considering two-thirds of the narrative is set around this most basic of conflicts. Tiger and Turbo are completely surplus to requirements, Turbo arrives in HK from the US to convince Sifu Wong to join his dojo under any circumstances and that’s it! Tiger is at least afforded a romantic subplot with Ma Kwun’s daughter, but Yip expects the audience to accept them as a creditable romantic couple after they’ve shared two scenes together and swapped mobile phone numbers. What’s most shocking though is that aside from one or two scenes, their story arcs run completely separately to Dragon’s to the extent that they don’t even fight alongside him when the inevitable fight showdown with Shibumi occurs.

Of course, I’m well aware that adaptations of action comics should ultimately be judged by whether they capture the essence of the source material and the strength of their action set-pieces than the actual script, but unfortunately Dragon Tiger Gate is uneven in these areas as well. Wilson Yip is a talented visual director – he’s proven this with his previous films – and he directs a number of scenes with real style, with a particular high point being the shooting of the Japanese restaurant action sequence where Yip’s camera glides, jumps and slides from room to room covering the various participants. It’s obvious that genuine effort has been made to capture the fantastical visual style of action comics, but what looks good on page does not necessarily transfer well to screen. For instance there’s the stylistic difference between the main characters’ world and the villain’s. The HK that Dragon, Tiger and Turbo live in looks pretty much identical to the real thing, but whenever the story cuts to Shibumi he appears to be living in Mordor, only instead of a tower with a big eye on top he is given a huge crypt with a big throne and stairways that lead nowhere. The look of Shibumi’s lair is a big departure from the comic book, but proof that what works on page doesn’t necessarily work on screen is provided by the comical hairstyles that make the three leads look like they have been assaulted by Vidal Sassoon. If their camp appearances as adults wasn’t funny enough, when Dragon flashes back to his childhood we see that the child versions of Dragon and Tiger also sport the exact same clothes and hairstyles! The comic’s creator actually wrote and co-directed a film adaptation of his serial in 1979 which was released in the west as Hell’s Windstaff. Fans of Hwang Jang Lee (who played the villain) will probably remember the film fondly, but I’m not entirely sure it was that faithful to the original comics, but then from what little I know about Dragon & Tiger Heroes it doesn’t look like Wilson Yip’s effort is any more faithful either.

As for the action itself, as mentioned before there are five main set pieces in Dragon Tiger Gate. The first two – set in a Chinese and Japanese restaurant respectively – are technically the most impressive, Nicholas Tse demonstrates some impressive foot work, Shawn Yue looks ok, and Donnie Yen is as good as ever and in fantastic shape for a guy approaching his mid-forties. As action director Yen demonstrates is usual over-reliance on undercranking but considering the fantastical setting of Dragon Tiger Gate and the superhuman abilities of the characters, the fight sequences don’t rely too much on wirework and feature a healthy amount of grounded kung fu. Wilson Yip too ensures the fights are creatively shot. The main problem with the opening set pieces is their heavily contrived setting, both take place before we’ve gotten to know the characters properly and both defy any form of logic. So instead of sitting back and enjoying the spectacle you’re left wondering why the mayhem started and why are there so many triads in these restaurants in the first place. The Japanese restaurant sequence is particularly nonsensical, as we have a snivelling, cowardly Ma Kwun gang member called Scaly deciding to attack fellow gang member Dragon. Dragon appears to be the boss’ number two guy and is a strong, just man, whereas Scaly is shown as a complete and utter scumbag who’s horrible to everyone around him, so it makes no sense to see scores of gang members faithfully follow Scaly’s wish and attack another senior gang member.

Thankfully, in the middle act we are treated to two fight sequences placed close to the dramatic high points of the film. Both are satisfyingly staged within the narrative and neither rely that heavily on cranking or wirework. As a result these fights leave a much stronger impression. The latter of these sequences is also the first time we get to see the main villain Shibumi in action, up until this point he’s a very camp villain in a mask who spends his time hitting large objects in his evil lair, but when he eventually gets off his arse and descends upon the Dragon Tiger Gate, he becomes a surprisingly menacing antagonist. Unfortunately this impetus is diffused by the final act and confrontation between Dragon, Tiger, Turbo, and Shibumi which doesn’t show-piece enough Kung fu and relies too much on flash CGI moves.

I’ve probably made Dragon Tiger Gate sound a lot worse than it is. The truth is that at just under 95minutes long the film never drags at all. The story may be piss poor, but viewers are treated to a fair share of flashy fight sequences and Wilson Yip’s visual flair, which ultimately makes for reasonably engaging, disposable entertainment.

Presentation

Dragon Tiger Gate is distributed in HK by Delta Mac in a 2-disc DVD set that contains the film on Disc 1 and 174 minutes of Extra Features on Disc 2 (34 minutes longer than the 140 minutes stated on the box!). There are three different releases of Dragon Tiger Gate to choose from at the time this review was written, with each separate release containing the exact same 2-disc DVD. The most expensive is the Limited Collectors Edition that comes with small Busts of the three main characters, and three tattoos matching the symbols the main characters have imprinted on their clothing (Star for Tiger, scorpion for Turbo, and lightning bolt for Dragon). The 2nd release is the Collector’s Edition, which comes with just the three tattoos, and finally there’s the just the plain old Regular Edition.

Presented anamorphically at approximately 2.35:1, Dragon the transfer looks quite good at first, but as the film progresses more and more problems pile up. First the good: Brightness and contrast levels are perfectly fine and colours are vivid with only some minor bleed around the edges of bright colours like reds. The image is generally sharp but mid to far range shots exhibit a slight lack of detail. Now the bad: It appears the disc has been encoded by monkeys, because there are compression problems throughout the film. Most of this comes in the form of Mosquito Noise, which together with some excessive Edge Enhancements in some scenes, causes very ugly ringing all through the film. If this wasn’t bad enough, the problem is ramped up to eleven when the action scenes kick in, and some very heavy macroblocking is thrown into the mix too. The transfer for the most part is progressive, but very occasionally some interlaced frames creep into the image.

If the video is lacklustre then the same cannot be said about the audio, with just over 1.7GB of the DVD taken up by the original Cantonese DD6.1-EX, Cantonese DTS 6.1-ES, and Mandarin DD6.1-EX tracks. For the purposes of this review I sat through the film twice listening to each of the Cantonese tracks and can confirm that these are pretty much reference quality. The DTS track is full bitrate (1536 Kbps), aggressive and provides a fantastic audio experience. Dialogue is loud, clear and very solid, bass has serious punch but still remains tightly defined. Sound dynamics are excellent, with every little element coming through rich and clear, while the soundstage is expansive with rears being used to good effect during the action sequences.

In comparison the DD5.1 simply lacks the power of the DTS, everything just seems little bit lesser: Nevertheless dialogue remains loud and clear, bass is powerful deep and tight, and the sound dynamics are very good. There’s certainly no need for those without DTS compatible equipments to feel like they’re not getting the full audio experience from this DVD. As for the Mandarin DD6.1-EX track, it sounds exactly the same as the Cantonese DD6.1-EX track.

Optional English subtitles are provided, with only occasional spelling and grammatical error, nothing that detracts from the film.

Extras

While there isn’t a sniff of an extra feature on Disc 1, slap the 2nd disc into the old DVD player and you’ll be confronted with a wealth of extra material all neatly indexed into sections for your perusal, and best of all there are optional Chinese and English subtitles for everything – well, except for the Deleted Scenes.

Ok, first let’s get the token extras out the way first: Photo Gallery (04min 47sec), Theatrical Trailer, Teaser, and 3 TV Spots, do exactly what it says on the tin. Next up there’s a Deleted Scenes (7m 39s) reel, presented in the original aspect ratio but unfortunately non-anamorphically and without subtitles. Most of the scenes are pretty self explanatory though; many are simple fleshing out of Ma Xiao-Long’s relationship with Tiger and her father. It’s worth noting that the deleted scenes are presented in the original recorded audio (as opposed to the finish film which is dubbed). So Dong Jie and Li Xiao-Ran are delivering their lines in Mandarin while everyone else is using Cantonese.

The rest of the extras are placed in sections entitled: ON THE SET, STAR INTERVIEWS, and CANNES NIGHT & HK GALA, so I will go through each section independently:

ON THE SET:

This section is divided into 3 subsections entitled: The 4 Main Settings, Shooting Diaries, and Making Of:

The 4 Main Settings
Dragon Tiger Gate (02m 34s): Shawn Yue talks about his character Turbo’s role in the movie while we’re treated to behind the scenes footage on the Dragon Tiger Gate dojo set.

Japanese Restaurant (02m 24s): This is some brief behind the scenes footage on the Japanese Restaurant set while Donnie and Wilson Yip talk about shooting the Japanese restaurant fight scene and how they achieved the fluid high angle camera sweeps.

Lousha Gate (02m 35s): Again Donnie and Wilson talk about how they came up with the idea for building a vast set to be the headquarters for the Lousha Gang as behind the scenes footage is shown. One surprising revelation comes when we see that the giant punch bag Shibumi uses for training in the film is an authentic one.

Floating Restaurant (02m 27s): Nicholas Tse and Donnie discuss the shooting of the opening fight scene while we’re treated to footage of the shoot. This There are plenty of clips showing Donnie directing Tse and making sure he gets the best out of him.

Shooting Diaries
Pre-Production (03m 19s): Almost devoid of dialogue, this is a series of clips showing artwork from the comic book and comic creator Tony Wong playing his part in the film’s promotion. After this we’re shown footage of how the look and style of each charcter was achieved.

Shooting Diaries 1 (03m 33s): Random behind the scenes footage from various scenes in the film, mostly the action sequences.

Shooting Diaries 2 (03m 59s): This one concentrates mostly on the set design for the Lousha Lair and the Dragon Tiger Gate, although by the end of the feature we have returned the shooting of the fight sequences.

Shooting Diaries 3 (03m 30s): The last Shooting Diaries featurette follows the same pattern as the others, a few random clips from the shoot and then a swift concentration on the shooting of the fight sequences.

Making Of (18m 27s): A very generic Making Of featurette, consisting of cast and director interviews and the occasional bit of behind the scenes footage. Unfortunately almost all the interview footage is repeated from the longer, separate interviews on this disc.

STAR INTERVIEWS: (Each interview is presented here in the order they are on the DVD)

Donnie Yen (24m 30s): A long and informative interview with the Yenster where he discusses the challenges his dual role as star and action director brought. Yen talks intelligently about every aspect of the action sequences, providing an excellent breakdown of each scene and how he tailored his choreography to match Nicholas and Shawn’s individual strengths. This is probably the best feature on the disc.

Nicholas Tse (13m 42s): Tse talks about all his co-stars and reveals Donnie Yen is one of his all time favourite HK action icons and a big reason why he took the project on. Apparently studios had been trying to get this film into production for at least five years now, as Tse was offered the role of Tiger back in 2001, but he turned it down because he felt he wasn’t quite good enough for such a high profile, action intensive role.

Shawn Yue(13m 13s): Yue receives the same questions as Tse and replies with similar answers, revealing an earnest, hard working nature.

Dong Jie (07m 28s): The first question Dong’s asked is to talk about her character in the film, she then proceeds to basically describe every single scene the character of Ma Xiao-Ling takes part in! Even more amusing, her next question is “What is your most memorable scene?” – I think the answer is all of them! Once she’s done with the scene descriptions though, she does give some insight as to what it’s like for a young Mainland actress working over in HK and the different attitudes of the crews.

Li Xiao-Ran (07m 11s): Like Dong, Li also talks us through pretty much every scene her character appears in, but then her part in Dragon Tiger Gate was so slight, it’s no wonder she’d want to talk about everything. Almost all Li’s scenes in the film were one-on-one with Donnie, so she doesn’t have a lot to say about co-stars, but she does reveal that Donnie has a very playful side and would wind her up mercilessly each day on set.

Wilson Yip (18m 00s): Director Yip talks briefly about each member of his crew (Composer Kenji Kawai, Costume Deisigner Willam Chang, etc) and of course goes on to discuss the stars of the film and what they brought to each role, he even reveals that he intends Dragon Tiger Gate to be the first in a franchise of films based on the comic. This is the second longest interview on the disc, but also one of the best.

CANNES NIGHT & HK GALA:

Dragon Tiger Gate Cast

Cannes Night (2m 00s): Various footage from the Cannes Film Festival where the film was playing, we see Donnie & Co doing all the promotions and stuff. Note that this feature is set to music, without dialogue, so no subtitles are provided or indeed needed.

HK Gala (3m 46s): Footage from the film’s special gala premier ball set to music, so no dialogue or subtitles.

When looking at the extra material as a whole, there’s a definite case of quantity over quantity here. The production featurettes are all too short and leave you wanting more, while the shooting diaries are split up into too many categories when they should’ve just covered all the action sequeneces in one long diary and then keep the non-action footage for over diaries. The most informative and thus interesting extras are the Star Interviews, but it’s seriously disappointing that Yuen Wah and Chen Kuan Tai are completely ignored, especially considering their contribution to HK action films over the years.

Overall

Dragon Tiger Gate continues the trend in HK of disappointing adaptations of comic book serials, but it’s far from the worst film in the comic book genre. A dull narrative and pointless subplots and characters aside, Dragon Tiger Gate at least delivers a good level of action spectacle within a low runtime – ensuring that the film’s pace is kept inoffensively swift. If you like CGI polluted guff like A Man Called Hero and Storm Riders, the chances are good that you’ll really like Dragon Tiger Gate. DeltaMac have done a reasonably good job of bringing the film onto DVD, the transfer is rather lacklustre transfer but the audio is fantastic, and there’s a wealth of extra material, even if most of the featurettes are too short.

Updated: Nov 09, 2006

It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for…

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Story: Tiger (Nicholas Tse) is a promising young Martial Artist, who is a student of the 'Dragon Tiger Gate' school. When one day he sees a guy getting bullied in a restaurant he can't help but to intervene. Unfortunately, he also clashes with the organisation of powerful underground boss Ma Kwun (Chen Kuan-Tai). Moreover, he even steals an important medallion from him, which was given to Ma from evil crime lord Lousha, serving as a symbol for free hand in several businesses in the neighborhood.
Dragon (Donnie Yen), the right hand of Ma Kwun, gets the medallion back, but not without leveling to ground another restaurant, when getting into a fight with Tiger and Turbo (Shawn Yue), a guy who by chance is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It appears that Dragon is the older brother of Tiger, who had to leave 'Dragon Tiger Gate' school several years ago. Tiger and the school's master want Dragon to come back, but out of gratefulness to his foster-father Ma Kwun, Dragon has to decline the offer. It seems that the two brothers are now fighting on two different sides, but soon a mutual enemy, Lousha, arises. A man whose cruelty and savageness arouses the hate of both brothers. One thing is for certain: Without the help of Dragon, Tiger and 'Dragon Tiger Gate' new apprentice Turbo won't stand a chance against Lousha.

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Review: Wilson Yip delivered a fine piece of Hong Kong cinema with his dark and gritty 'SPL'. No wonder that expectations were pretty high for his new movie, but any way you look at it, 'Dragon Tiger Gate' is just a big disappointment. A money-making, colorful and CGI-loaden exercise in stupid over-the-top action, that no one really needs. That's what we get with this screen adaption of the successful Hong Kong comic of the 70s. Starring in this flick are the 'hottest' actors available in HK, nowadays, and of course Donnie Yen who embodies everything that will annoy you in this movie after the first ten minutes: loud nonstop action with a coolness factor that is more than intrusive. I really appreciate good action, but a little bit of substance wouldn't have hurt, would it? Even if it would have been just a little...
Let's just stick with the real problem of the movie: Donnie Yen. What is there to say about this man? Yes, he is an excellent Martial Artist and his fighting choreographies stand out with inventiveness and power. Later on there is enough praise for his fight sequences, so let's just point out what's there to criticize.
It's almost embarrassing how hard Yen tries with already 43 years on his shoulders to look like a hip 20-years-old. If he is on the screen then he suddenly becomes the center of the universe (at least of his own universe). The wind constantly blows through his hair and he can't be outdone in his coolness by anyone else. However, it's also just too much. Donnie Yen is so occupied with looking good on screen that one has to wonder if he isn't actually... well, how to put this... gay?! Is there any guy that sets so incredibly great value on his appearance? Be that as it may, you can't deny that there is one hell of a narcissist hiding in Donnie Yen. And he comes out more often than what we are willing to endure.
The comic-strip-like introduction strongly reminds us of those of the Marvel-comic screen adaptations and so you also shouldn't be surprised to see all actors fight in tight jeans and with perfectly styled hair, that is always covering half of their face. This is one big fashion show, that is only topped by the very bold advertisement for Nokia-handies on several occassions during the movie. Yes, it's all a bit ridiculous, but since this is supposed to be a comic book screen adaption, it somehow remains within a frame you can work with as a viewer. Even the CGI-effects, which were heavily used to push the over-the-top action almost over the edge and which were also used to create many of the sky scrapers and backgrounds, may look somewhat cheap at times, but nonetheless fit into this comic-like world surprisingly good. Everything is depicted in garish colors, yet many of the sets also look very slick and inventive. Especially some of the landscape shots which very enhanced by CGI-created temples, towers etc. look almost breathtaking. Sadly, the producers didn't know how to use the great cinematography to their advantage and so almost any picture is somehow wasted in this flick.
The movie's biggest flaw is its story which prevents us from being engaged by the well-done pictures. Generally, it's just about the eternal fight of good against evil, with some stereotypical relationship revelations inserted, a love story and many pointless backgroundstories that don't serve any purpose at all. Latter are told in flashbacks and even unnecessarily slow down the pacing. It's not really important what's happening on screen, anyway, so we may ask ourselves why the director didn't put his focus on other aspects of the plot. For instance, the main villian really would have deserved more time on screen. He gets almost no introduction and is thrown into the movie way too late for us to care about him or what his goals are. Why is he in the movie, anyway? Well, because... he is the villian! We never weave a bond of hatred or any other emotion towards him and it also doesn't seem to be necessary that we learn to despise him, even though he does kill some of the more important characters. It all doesn't matter as long as there is someone our heroes can do some serious slapping to at the end. That's really weak...
Concerning the acting achievements you shouldn't expect any gold, of course. But any kind of metal would have been good, also, if you get my drift. Instead we are presented with badly written characters, that are only standing out, because of their uber-coolness. Nicholas Tse ('New Police Story') is supposed to be one of the main protagonists, but he plays his part very shallow and has nearly no onscreen presence, except when it comes to the fight scenes.
Shawn Yue ('Infernal Affairs II') somehow has this mysteriously-cool charisma to him, but his character also isn't anything to write home about, even though he is without a doubt the most interesting fellow of the three heroes.
It's not a big surprise that Donnie Yen ('Hero', 'SPL') can't act, but he also really can hide it better than here.He tries to score with some emotional scenes, but especially his exaggerated acting during these moments stands in stark contrast to his coolness, even if the quantity of these scenes is kept within limits.
If you keep in mind what 'Dragon Tiger Gate' is at its core, namely silly popcorn entertainment, than it's the more irritating that the flick is surprisingly serious in its undertone and serves us only with little to none funny moments. The dramatic scenes don't work out anyway, so some more humor really could have played to the movie's advantage.
To director Wilson Yip's credit it has to be pointed out, that there are in fact some nice shots throughout the movie. Especially the brawl at the restaurant shot from bird's-eye perspective comes to mind. Thanks to the fact that this movie is based on a comic series, there are some inventive shots, that can be really eye-catching, but this is all for nothing as there is no content to fill the nice wrapping.
So, somehow you just find yourself waiting for the next battle. Luckily, Donnie Yen did put some great effort into his choreography once again. Nicholas Tse shows us that he is capable of dealing out some nice high kicks and even Shawn Yue doesn't cut a bad figure with his nunchakus, and this even though they both are no real martial artists at all.Of course, there is also some serious wire-work involved and the CGI-effects also play their part when the surroundings are smashed and cracked in big-time comic-style. Furthermore, there are also some special moves the characters learn throughout the movie, that are pretty nice to look at. However, realism is nothing to be looked for, here.
Donnie Yen even invented a rather odd fighting style for his role, which surely doesn't exist the way it is depicted here, as it mainly stands out because of its stylish hand-fidgeting. Nevertheless, there is no doubt, when it is great fights you want, Yen is the man!
At the end, there is nothing left of the energetic and at times incredibly silly entertainment, that is called 'Dragon Tiger Gate'. The fights are a reason to watch this flick, and for some fans of the original comic it might be tempting to take a look as the artist of the comic series Tony Wong Yuk Long has a little cameo as Master Qi. However, the rest is just trivial and not worth your money. A movie that is as satisfying as a synthetic Big Mac. There is lots of artificial stuff, that seems to be appealing to your taste, yet at the end you just have to come to the conclusion: It's not what I really wanted...

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