Dragon Fight
Review
Stars: Jet Li, Dick Wei
Jet Li and Dick Wei play two Olympic Martial Arts champions who are in San Francisco to display their skills along with the troop. Upon leaving the country, Li (Ah Lap in the movie) finds out that Wei, who plays someone named Wai, wishes to stay in America. However, as the plane is leaving, Lap is too busy fussing with Wei and he misses the plane. What happens then is a stream of events that entangles Lap and Wai in a gang that kills for a living.
I was completely entertained by Dragon Fight. I was 2 inches away from buying it a month ago but instead bought Tai Chi 2. Not a good trade. Dragon Fight is one of those very very few movies that is awesome in the wu shu department, features known martial artists, and uses absolutely no special effects. No undercranking, no wires, and the cuts are used so sparingly as to simply liven the situation. Seriously, Lap and Wai go at it in the end for a good 10 seconds without cuts, and then another 10 minutes of solid fighting ensues after that as well. And for not having any effects, the results are extremely impressive. I'd give an arm to see Jet in more of these kinds of movies. It's as though this one's an ideal martial arts movie.
Since it was a Tai Seng video, the quality of film wasn't left in tact fully, but it was still pretty good. Luckily, the subtitles were easy to read due to many dark scenes, and things were actually inferred quite a bit along the way too. I thought that Jet and Wei did a great job acting, as did the rest of the cast, and the movie was very realistic in that it grabbed my attention within the first 2 minutes. Very believable plot as well.
I have to say that I've never seen Jet Li perform so well. Once Upon a Time in China and Fist of Legend are about the only other movies that I can think of where I was awe inspired by this guy, but what's different here is that HE'S NOT INVINCIBLE! Nope, Li doesn't always throw the perfect kick, and doesn't always block punches. In fact, he gets beaten up pretty well, but since he's the hero he has to win some how, and it's good too because it's still believable. He faces the last group of fighters with a staff, so he has quite an advantage and doesn't pull some "We have to match weapons" crap and throw down the pole. Instead, he shows us an entire life of wu shu training can accomplish. And to start the movie off, he even puts on a sword performance in a theatre. Maybe that's what got my attention so quickly. The director, whoever it was, certainly knew that Jet was worth more than what he had been used for in the past.
Dick Wei was impressive as well. I've never seen someone block kicks with kicks so much. Maybe that's the Tae Kwon Do he's so good at because I've seen him do it in other movies like Millionaire's Express. And, as usual, he plays a bad guy and dies a bad guy, which didn't help things. He and Jet, as I said above, get into a fight at the end of the film which is very well done. Although it's not long, it's pretty exciting and the choreography makes the scene very intense.
Overall there were I think about 7 good fights total that I took note of. The first one is at the performance where Jet and Wei do a sword vs staff duel, which is for show. Then Wei fights some people at a bar, which I really liked too. Then Jet fights some guys on the street and does a kick that goes about 8 feet high. I put the clip on the front page so you can all see it. Jet fights Wei and his group in a store. Jet fights Wei at the end, Wei fights group, and Jet fights group. Then there were a few other small bits thrown in here and there to liven things up. I'm glad to say that those 7 fights, except the spear vs sword duel (looked a little too choreographed, as though Dick Wei didn't know how to use a spear) have all entered my collection of fights that I keep on my computer. It's almost a gigabyte now, and I'm picky too.
Anyways, I am extremely impressed with this early Jet Li performance. I hope to see something like this again. I don't like effects in kung fu movies unless it REALLY helps it out, and in this case there was no help needed. Great job Dick Wei and Jet Li and the rest of the cast.
Rating: 10/10
Return to the home page