2012: Dragon (Wu Xia) directed by Peter Chan
Movie Review: An Unlikely Hero Rises, and So Do Suspicions, ‘Dragon (Wu Xia),’ Directed by Peter Chan Ho-Sun
A soaring Donnie Yen in “Dragon,” an intricate tale set in China that includes many fight scenes.
Written by: A. O. SCOTT
Published in: New York Times on November 29, 2012
A quiet, hard-working father and husband in a small town foils a violent robbery, sending a pair of nasty bandits into the next world with what looks like a combination of clumsiness, unconscious reflex and dumb luck. But this act of unassuming heroism — filmed with violent precision and impressive technical flair — might be something else. It might be a clue that this solid citizen is really a member of a brutal and sinister criminal organization, which has its own plans for him.
More About This Movie
You may recognize the above as a summary of “A History of Violence,” David Cronenberg’s mesmerizing adaptation of a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. It is also an outline of Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s “Dragon (Wu Xia),” a loose remake of Mr. Cronenberg’s film, which transplants the action from picket-fence America to early-20th-century southwestern China and translates the genre from film noir to sword-and-martial-arts-based action.
The hero — the Viggo Mortensen character, for Cronenberg fans — is a gentle, sad-eyed fellow named Liu Jin-xi (Donnie Yen), who pursues a peaceful existence with his wife (Tang Wei), their young son and her older boy from a previous marriage. Jin-xi’s improbable feat of self-defense attracts the attention of Xu Bai-jiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a scholarly detective with health problems and a deep knowledge of physiology, in particular the workings of the Vagus nerve. He deduces that Jin-xi cannot possibly be the bumbling bumpkin he pretends to be, but must rather be a lost member of the dreaded 72 Demons gang, which soon shows up, making inquiries of its own.
It is best to forgo further plot details, not only because there are a few surprises in store, but also because narrative coherence is not really the point of “Dragon.” Like many other films in its genre, it uses an intricate story to explore ethical problems and states of feeling — most of them tied to ancient codes of honor, loyalty and revenge — and, above all, to stage elaborate, brutal action sequences. These are swift, gritty, bloody and sometimes inventive, adding weaponized acupuncture needles and household tools to the regular roster of blades, fists and feet.
Mr. Yen also choreographed the fight scenes, which Mr. Chan uses to pay homage to the wuxia film tradition while updating it with faster editing and digitally assisted gimmicks. The results are sometimes overly busy, and the tone of “Dragon” wavers between knowing pastiche and melodramatic sincerity. At times it feels like a lively, winking genre spoof — the kind of thing that Quentin Tarantino helped to popularize, even if his own films have been more daring and ambitious — and at others like a straightforward attempt to recapture the frenzy and intensity of beloved older movies.
As a whole, it does not quite work, especially at the end, when Mr. Chan tries for a Shakespearean climax of filial rebellion and paternal rage. But at its less grandiose moments, the combination of expressive acting and kinetic action pays off in ways that are likely to satisfy both novices and adepts in martial-arts fandom.
“Dragon” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Nonstop violence.
Dragon
Opens on Friday in New York and Los Angeles.
Directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan; written by Aubrey Lam; action choreography by Donnie Yen; directors of photography, Jake Pollock and Lai Yiu-Fai; edited by Derek Hui; music by Chan Kwong-Wing and Peter Kam; production design by Yee Chung Man; costumes by Dora Ng; produced by Mr. Chan and Jojo Hui; released by Radius-TWC. In Mandarin, with English subtitles. In Manhattan at the Village East, Second Avenue at 12th Street, East Village. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes.
WITH: Donnie Yen (Liu Jin-xi/Tang Long), Takeshi Kaneshiro (Xu Bai-jiu), Tang Wei (Ayu), Jimmy Wang Yu (the Master) and Kara Hui (the Master’s Wife).
http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/movies/dragon-wu-xia-directed-by-peter-ho-sun-chan.html