Dragon Tiger Gate (2006)
Reviewed by: dandan on 2011-05-19
Summary: ever think about changing your name to leopard?
i can't be arsed writing a synopsis for this, so i'll steal the one from imdb - "three young martial arts masters emerge from the back streets of hong kong to help the powerless fight injustice" - well, it's a rubbish synopsis, but then again, it is a rubbish film, so who cares?

attempting to bring this 1970s manga, of the same name, to the big screen must have seemed like a good idea but, in reality (or should that be, with the benefit of hindsight?), it clearly wasn't. luckily 'flashpoint', which was jolly good fun and a highly enjoyable little movie was just around the corner, as this film had started to sully the good name that 'spl' - the previous effort from director wilson yip and star / choreographer donnie yen - had garnered.

nicholas tse, who i usually like, unless he's been cast as a genuine adult, with a sense of responsibility - something he just can't carry off - is not performing at his best. i blame the weight of his ridiculous fringe. shawn yue who, with a shaved head, is pretty great in 'invisible target', alongside the youthfully irresponsible and hell-bent on revenge nicholas tse, is also weighed down with bleached blonde locks of an even more outlandish crop of hair. still, both of these two must be thankful that they're not donnie yen, who has not only the worst hair of the trio, but has to also attempt to be a character who is half his age. he fails...

so, having to deal with three leads who have been stylised within an inch of their lives, stumbling through a script which mixes trite kung-fu philosophy with a pretty lame narrative about an accidentally stolen marker, which allows various gangland characters the ability to conduct their business, we end up with a pretty poor film.

what makes it worse, is that the action which the yip / yen partnership spewed fourth in 'spl' is watered down and made wishy-washy here, with over stylised and sillified feats of cgi enhanced crappery. bah...

pants.