Dragon Tiger Gate Review
Early reports on Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen's second collaboration, Dragon Tiger Gate, pegged the film as a very mixed bag and those reports are most definitely correct. While the film features the stellar martial arts you would expect with Yen both choreographing and starring as well as some surprisingly strong performances from pop stars Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue the film also has serious script problems and seems caught between wanting to create a frame for frame tribute to the source comic and creating something more serious and so ends up caught in between without really satisfying either urge.
The titular Dragon Tiger Gate is a legendary martial arts school in Hong Kong, a school that uses martial arts to help the poor advance themselves - frequently training street orphans - and that has become much loved as a result. But the united front of the Gate hides a more fractured life behind the scenes, the co-founder having left his first wife and young son to start a new family with another woman, the first wife leaving the martial arts community and her son Dragon - played in adulthood by Yen - eventually adopted and raised by a gangster following her tragic death in a fire. The younger son Tiger - played by Nicholas Tse - remains in the community with all the benefits of an intact family, having only sporadic contact with his half brother.
The film begins with the children fully grown, Dragon now employed as bodyguard to his adoptive father, Ma Kun, a gangster who has just been presented a golden token from crime overlord Shibumi, a masked martial arts master, thus inspiring the jealousy of his fellow crime bosses. When a chance altercation between Tiger and some of Ma Kun's goons results in Tiger taking possession of the token a full on brawl erupts that both brings Tiger and Dragon back into each other's lives while also introducing Tiger to Turbo (Shawn Yue), a brash young man come to Hong Kong hoping to train at the Gate. While the brothers struggle towards a reconciliation opposing forces in the criminal world bring tragedy that unites Dragon, Tiger and Turbo in a fight to the death against Shibumi.
So what does Dragon Tiger Gate do well? Well, the promotional materials promise a load of martial arts action and the film certainly delivers that. Yen's choreography is typically fast paced and intricate, his own performance blazes across the screen and both Yue and Tse prove themselves remarkably competent on the physical front. The central performances are also quite strong with Yue, Tse and Yen all elevating the material they've been given to work with. Yue is greatly underused but while on screen he is charismatic and engaging and the core relationship between Yen and Tse - a relationship that should have been made more central than it is - is natural and convincing. Tse deserves particular mention in this: from New Police Story to The Promise to A Chinese Tall Story to Dragon Tiger Gate Tse has now had key parts in four consecutive films with script issues of varying degree and in all four he has proven himself able to elevate the writing rather than being limited by it. While other actors of his generation are drawing more attention Tse is increasingly proving that he may be the most talented of the lot and someone who could very easily break through in a big way if given some parts with some depth to them.
On the negative side is the already mentioned script, one cluttered with unnecessary side plots and secondary characters that serve no role other than to take time and attention away from the key bits that are universally under developed as a result. A key example of this is Shibumi, the central villain who barely exists in the film at all until the final showdown and, as a result, you have no investment in him at all when the key moment comes. There's an over reliance on flash back - which itself relies on one truly horrible child actor - virtually all of the secondary characters are played as broad stock types, and the story plays the deus ex machina card enough times that they must've kept a mechanic on scene to keep the machina in good working order. The film is also critically unable to commit to whether it wants to exist in some heightened parallel reality or in something closer to the real world, transitions between the two options are poorly integrated and the CG - which is greatly over used at the film's climax - is middling at best.
Most people will judge this film purely based on the quality of the fights. There are seven.
1. Tiger vs Scaly and Ma Kun's gangsters. The first major sequence of the film pits Tiger against a small gang of gangsters harrassing a family in a restaurant, a fight that quickly escalates to pit him against a mob of mobsters and showcases the kicking style that he favors through the entire film. Lots of wire assist here but Tse also showcases his natural speed and agility. This sequence also gives us our first taste of Yen in action as Dragon and while Yen obviously totally outclasses Tse as a martial artist that actually plays into the flow of the story since Dragon is meant to be far superior to Tiger.
2. Dragon versus Scaly and thugs. The showcase piece of the first half of the film and very likely the best in the film as a whole. Dragon goes to reclaim his bosses token from Tiger, who he has recognized, only to find that Scaly has drugged Tiger and his friends and intends to lay a beating on them. Dragon defends his brother against a swarm of attackers armed with swords that quickly end up flying out of hands and embedded haphazardly into walls. This sequence also introduces Turbo and his nunchuks and includes a stunning overhead shot of two mass fights occurring simultaneously in neighboring rooms.
3. Turbo versus Tiger. A quicky designed, again, to show off the duo's distinct fight styles while also allowing the characters to bond as they spar. It's over fast and there's nothing flashy but it's also one of the rare sequences which features no wire assist and allows Tse and Yue to show off their own abilities.
4. Turbo versus Master Wong. Again a quicky, this time featuring the over-confident Turbo being given a lesson in humility by Master Wong who is armed only with a slipper.
5. Thugs versus Ma / Dragon versus Thugs. Starkly lit on a barren field this is a very old school piece of work featuring a gang of thugs armed largely with poles attacking Boss Ma, armed with a baseball bat. Dragon arrives on the scene with a pole of his own a wreaks absolute havoc. With very little wire work this is the most naturalistic sequence in the film and shows of Yen's incredible speed while also introducing a different fight discipline to the film.
6. Shibumi versus Turbo, Tiger and Master Wong. Turbo and Tiger are scarcely any opposition at all for the masked villain, Master Wong (Yuen Wah), fares significantly better in a good one on one battle with a bit of CG and wire assist. This exists largely to set up the dramatic finale.
7. Shibumi versus Tiger, Turbo and Dragon. Their skills greatly increased (the most obvious and irritating of the narrative cop outs) Tiger and Turbo go after Shibumi. All three now boast supernatural levels of skill which translates to lots of wire and CG assist - these are the sequences that dominate the trailers - but the different elements are integrated very well and Yen's choreography is excellent. When Shibumi eventually triumphs over these two Dragon appears on the scene to finish the job. The Dragon versus Shibumi sequence starts very well before eventually being bogged down by incredibly excessive and poorly executed CGI.
The new Hong Kong DVD is excellent. Formatted for all regions so it can be played on standard equipment anywhere in the world it boasts a beautiful transfer in the proper 2.35:1 ratio and DTS 6.1 and 5.1 EX sound options. The second disc includes trailers, deleted scenes, behind the scenes reels, production diaries and lengthy interview with Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, director Wilson Yip, and both main actresses. All special features other than the deleted scenes include English subtitles.
