| This is a nice little old school film. The kind of movie to watch on a late Friday or Saturday night. The plot is simple: a warlord's son commits murder, is captured by a peace officer and is escorted across a stretch of land that is controlled by the warlord and his minions. Obviously, the warlord wants to get his son back, so he has his assassins go after the peace officer and his posse to try and grab the prisoner. As the death toll mounts, the official and his company wind up at Green Dragon Inn - in the warlord's own town. Not good. What happens next is a standoff as the official and his group barricade themselves against the warlord's forces while trying not to relinquish the prisoner. The plot is reminiscent of the old westerns of the 1950s - notably, "3:10 to Yuma" with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin ( although I don't think Van Heflin ever ran a sword through a man's mouth and had it come out from the other side of his head ). The fighting is pretty good and devoid of any wire-fu. The story moves quickly and gets suspenseful towards the middle. There are no romantic subplots, no comic relief sidekicks, no complex messages or political intrigue, no cute little kids, and some of the bad guys are just as handsome and noble as the good guys! Remarkable! All in all, this is a fairly decent film that really doesn't ask anything from the viewer-except to just kick back and enjoy the ride. Not one of the great films of the genre but not a bad way to spend a weekend either! |
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