Dragon Tiger Gate: Reviews

Based on a popular comic book, Dragon Tiger Gate was the "big" movie this past summer in Hong Kong. Like most summer "blockbusters" (especially those based on comics), Dragon Tiger Gate looks great and has a lot of special-effects-enhanced action. But, unfortunately, like most other films of its' type, Dragon Tiger Gate also suffers from a weak story and lackluster acting. But given the anemic state of Hong Kong movies, the enjoyment you get out of Dragon Tiger Gate is a case of being able to be a bit optimistic and looking at the glass as beeing half-full.

The story has two half-brothers who have taken different paths in life. Tiger (Nicholas Tse) dedicates himself to training with his uncle (Yuen Wah) at the Dragon Tiger Gate, while Dragon puts his kung-fu skills to use as a bodyguard for the head of a major crime family (Chen Kuan-Tai). After years of not seeing each other, the brothers meet after Tiger gets into a brawl with some of Dragon's co-horts. Dragon wants nothing to do with Tiger, but after one of Tiger's buddies steal a valuable golden seal, Dragon sets out to find Tiger. Eventually, the two (along with a nunchaku expert named Turbo, played by Shawn Yue) team up to take on the city's biggest boss, a mysterious kung-fu expert named Shibumi.

The first nit-pick I have here is with the casting. Dragon and Tiger are only supposed to be a few years apart, so why is Donnie Yen playing the part of Dragon? Shawn Yue would have made more sense, especially since him and Nicholas Tse actually look somewhat alike. Perhaps Yen is going through a mid-life crisis and needed an ego boost -- certainly a lot of the slow-motion closeups of Donnie and his flowing locks would attest to this. Also, product placement is a given in today's movie market, but Dragon Tiger Gate takes it to new levels. At times, it felt like this was more of a commerical for Nokia phones, rather than a film. Lastly, the movie does go a bit overboard with CGI, especially during the final fight. Which was a shame, because Yen doesn't really need to resort to that kind of gimmickry to create good action sequences.

Still, I did have a pretty good time with Dragon Tiger Gate. This isn't a Wong Kar-Wai or Tsui Hark movie, nor does it ever try to be. Sure, there are some parts where Wilson Yip overstretches his wings, tries to create some real emotion, and falls flat as a result. But I was willing to forgive it for the sake of the action scenes, of which there are a good number that are, for the most part, well-created. It was also nice seeing Yuen Wah in something other than Wong Jing's latest cheapie. Dragon Tiger Gate isn't anything outstanding, but it does do a solid job in providing a brainless "popcorn" movie experience.