DRAGONS FOREVER (1988)
Today, I’m talking about a movie I recently watched: Dragons Forever (1988). My wife had her year-end party for her school staff that day, I got some time until it finished. We've been watching Law & Order SVU daily, so between that and my job work, I haven't had much time for cinema lately. It had been a long time since I sat down to watch a movie, so I had to choose carefully.
I wanted something that wasn't a "hard-to-connect-with" art-house film—something like the first drop of water after a drought. I needed a movie that didn't require my brain to operate at 100%, but I also didn't want a bad movie that would ruin my first experience back. After careful consideration, I chose a Hong Kong action classic.
Everyone knows Jackie Chan, but many people—especially in Sri Lanka—mostly know him from his Hollywood movies. What many don’t realize is that his Hong Kong films are simply better. In the 80s, the trio of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao did enormous work for the Hong Kong film industry. Their youngster group practically carried the industry on theor shoulders, and This movie was supposed to be another one of the essential titles from that trio.
First of all, Jackie Chan is amazing in his Hong Kong era. The action is still unbeatable; I don’t think any modern film can truly compare to the choreography of 80s Hong Kong. The editing is mind-blowing, especially how much effort they put into hiding the cuts to make the flow seamless. I first realized this watching Police Story (1985), and it’s just as impressive here.
The story follows a young lawyer (Jackie) assigned to defend a chemical organization against a lawsuit from a local fishery. He brings in his friends (Sammo and Yuen) to help handle the case, and the plot mixes romance with high-octane action.
In my experience, old Hong Kong movies can be way too silly with their romantic sequences. It almost looks like Bollywood imitated the romance styles of Hong Kong cinema, though they could never meet this level of action choreography. For my taste, the romance scenes were almost stupid. Having watched highly police procedual "Law and Order SVU" for the past two months, the courtroom proposal scene was especially "cringe" to me.
The action, on the other hand, is top-notch. Most of it centers on fist-fighting and knives. Because Jackie, Sammo, and Yuen are all masters of martial arts, the film has a level of authenticity you can't fake. As for the lead actress, she was a former Miss Hong Kong; she had a beautiful face, but unfortunately, she couldn't act. Her range of expressions was very low, which was quite noticeable compared to how expressive the three leads are.
At the end of the day, I loved the storyline and the action parts, even if the romance and the actress’s performance lost some marks for me. I did have a lot of fun with it.
My Rating: 4/5
I definitely recommend this if you are into fighting scenes and high-level action, Like me. Otherwise, it might be okay to pass on. (Note: The film was also directed by Sammo Hung, who did a great job balancing his role as both actor and director.)