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 ovies
based on comic books aren't expected to be deep on
any level, but the extent to which "Dragon
Tiger Gate" goes to excising any semblance of
respectable storyline borders on impressive. Of
course, if you're only after groovy martial arts
duels and half-baked melodrama, then the film will
certainly suffice.
Based on the popular comic
book by Yuk Long Wong, "Dragon Tiger
Gate" is directed by Wilson Yip, who produced
last year's highly entertaining and gritty martial
arts/police crime actioner "Sha
Po Lang" (since re-titled "Kill
Zone" for Western audiences). Action
choreography comes to us courtesy of star Donnie
Yen, who is quickly making a name for himself as
the guy to go to when Yuen Woo Ping is not
available.
"Dragon Tiger Gate"
opens in well enough, with the brash but righteous
Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse) getting into a brouhaha
with crimelord Kwun's gang at a restaurant. At
stake is a plaque that grants Kwun a healthy share
of the criminal business, delivered to him by the
beautiful
Rosa
courtesy of masked kingpin Shibumi Lousha (Xiao
Ran Li). During the restaurant ruckus, Tiger Wong
ends up butting heads with his long lost brother
Dragon Wong (Donnie Yen). As it so happens, Dragon
left the Dragon Tiger Gate, a sort of hospice for
the needy (although they only seem to train
martial arts to kids, so you figure it out), many
years ago, and is only now returning home.
A lot of stuff happens from
this point on, including: Dragon tries to get his
boss to retire early, Tiger falls in love with
Kwun's daughter Xiaoling (Jie Dong), and there's a
final confrontation with Shibumi, who despite
being (apparently) the lord of all criminals in
the film's anachronistic city, nonetheless resides
in a dank basement-like "castle" with
absolutely no furniture and wears a grotesque mask
for reasons unknown. To be honest, nothing about
Shibumi makes sense, so hopefully those who have
read the comics will know better, as I am
clueless.
Needless to say, you won't be
spending a whole lot of time trying to figure out
what is happening in "Dragon Tiger
Gate". It's a basic movie, constructed from
basic plots, with its one saving grace being the
intricate action choreography by Donnie Yen. As an
actor, Yen has still not improved enough to carry
a movie; not that he has any help from Hong Kong
heartthrobs Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue, both of
whom look to be on cruise control, probably
spending more time polishing up their action
scenes (they are not real martial artists) than
all that "acting stuff". And although
I'm certain it's by design, the hairstyle of our
three heroes end up emoting more convincingly than
the men themselves. Now that's what I call being
upstaged!
"Dragon Tiger Gate"
gets points for style, but not much else. When
Dragon or Tiger aren't kicking ass, the film gets
bogged down with ridiculous romantic
entanglements, including Dragon's oft-talked
about, but never acted upon (at least onscreen)
affair with Rosa, and Tiger's sophomoric
"meet cute" relationship with Xiaoling.
Of more interest is the crimelord Ma Kwun, who
doesn't really seem like all that bad of a guy. I
mean, the fact that he's a crimelord
notwithstanding. He's actually quite an agreeable
chap, and seems to want nothing more than to leave
his life of crime behind to concentrate on his
darling daughter. Which he eventually does, with
(predictably) disastrous results.
Giving credit where credit is
due, the only real reason why "Dragon Tiger
Gate" even gets a passing grade is thanks to
the plentiful action. Which seems to leave
director Wilson Yip in the cold. Could you blame
the film's weakness, its non-action moments, on
Yip? Yes and no. The script is not exactly made of
sturdy stuff, with the first 60 minutes little
more than treading water. It's not until the hour
mark that Shibumi climbs out of his
basement/castle to do battle, taking center stage
as the film's chief villain. And while the sudden
focus on an identifiable villain is appreciated,
the film also becomes even more random in nature,
sacrificing any semblance of story for genre clichés
like super healing potions, secret martial arts
moves, and mysterious masters.
In the end, does it matter?
Not really. If sold exclusively as an action movie
with some pretty cool stunt work and a lot of CGI,
"Dragon Tiger Gate" delivers. It's a
visually impressive film, especially when the
kicks are coming hard and fast, and a lot of the
movie's purposefully anachronistic vibes work. For
instance, the film has contemporary sensibilities
(everyone is carrying cellphones), but no one uses
guns, instead relying on old-fashioned kung fu
(and of course, nunchukas). The characters all
seem to be hip to modern fashion sensibilities,
and even Shibumi, the evil, all-powerful
crimelord, is decked out in baggy pants.
Although the film does come
dangerously close to overdosing on too much CGI
toward the end (a ridiculous minute-long plummet
through what seems like all the layers of hell
comes to mind), the undemanding audience should be
sufficiently entertained. "Dragon Tiger
Gate" works more often than not, with its
strong points (its action) easily overshadowing
its lackluster performances and writing. The film
certainly gets all kinds of extra points for
style, something I'm sure everyone can appreciate.
And say what you will about Donnie Yen (the man
does indeed suffer terribly from vanity issues),
but the guy knows how to do action scenes.
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