SYNOPSIS:
Dragon Tiger Gate is a martial arts academy established by three
youngsters, Tiger Wong, Dragon Wong and Turbo Shek who strongly
believe in justice and truth. The three heroes unknowingly take
possession of a gold plaque that holds staff of power of one
of the largest Asian criminal organisation - Lousha Gate. They
hence become the target of this wicked power and ignite a battle
between good and evil..
MOVIE REVIEW :
For
Chinese manga fans who live through the 70-late 80s era, they
could not have possibly miss out the famous “Dragon
Tiger Gate” comic, created by Tony Wong Luk-Wong. This
masterpiece of his was deemed as the ever-iconic gem of the
Chinese manga.
This “Dragon
Tiger Gate” movie, to some, evidently might just have
its immediate appeal in question, especially to the audience
masses who are neither fans nor enthusiasts in manga field.
The timeline, for which its story unfolds in, is not clearly
defined at the start and might baffle audience. We apparently
have a gongfu movie lost in translation between the old and
new century that can be in the near future.
Nevertheless,
what it may seem lack, it is fully dispelled by its painstakingly
efforts put in the production from the special built setups,
intensive martial arts training of the 2 main leads (Nicolas
Tse and Shawn Yue) – can be watched from the Making
Of and Shooting Diary, real onscreen gongfu action from the
2 young uprising stars and the action choreographer cum main
lead as well, Donnie Yen, himself, and finally, bringing quite
a close adaptation from the comic. Dragon Tiger Gate movie
is one of the fewer recent precious Hong Kong productions
that can really stand out in terms of impressive quality and
inordinate concerted efforts.
Action,
more action, simply more action (carefully choreographed fighting
sequences) fully packed the movie from the start to the end.
Perhaps so, some room for audience to stop for a breath in
the midst of the story plot is carefully devised for more
detailed character and story development. It swings the pendulum
between sheer action and drama in aspects of brotherly love,
friendship and couple relationships. Undoubtedly, the 2 female
characters (China actresses, Dong Jie and Li Xiao-ran) add
further to the onscreen allure, neutralizing the utmost masculinity.
The trio,
Nicolas Tse and Shawn Yue, led by Donnie Yen are all in their
top form to display their admiringly well-trained martial
arts. Of course, a minor but distinctive virtual sore eye
will be the lifelessly stiff slivery- white hair of Turbo
Shek (Shawn Yue), who shares the bad hair’s day with
Storm (Halle Berry) in her X-men movie. But beyond that, Nicolas
and Shawn have brought out the best in each other.
The part
about the journey to the Bai Yun Mountain in China in search
of Master Qi is philosophical but meaningful.
Little
is elaborated on the background of the wicked character, Shibumi.
Disappointingly, he still wore his mask till the end –
perhaps living up to the ‘evil one behind the mask”.
SPECIAL
FEATURES :
The Making Of – The usual
making of featurette you normally sees on dvds. A quick run
through from the action choreographing to interviews with
the cast and crew. Weird thing is it don't come equipped with
subtitles. So for non-cantonese speakers, you might need an
interpreter on hand.
Shooting Diary – The Shooting Diary
which consists of three parts are the similar to the ones
on the official
movie website. Some of the highlights include seeing how
the sets are created from scratch in the studios and how the
fight scenes are choreograph.
A teaser and a trailer round up the rest of the disc. Not
a very comprehensive dvd but this version we are reviewing
comes in a nice box packaging though.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Visual
on the whole is free of smudges and specks and the audio is
in Dolby Digital 5.1. Pity this dvd comes only with Mandarin
track, it would be best if the movie can be watched in its
original Cantonese dialogue.
MOVIE
RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review
by Alicia Tee
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