With brilliant fight scenes has Donnie Yen’s time in the spotlight finally come?…
There’s a moment in Highlander: Endgame when it almost becomes a credible action film. That’s not to say it stops becoming a terrible movie by any means - whether it features both members of the ‘clan MacLeod’ or not. That moment involves Donnie Yen - once again playing villain-for-hire as he had a habit of doing in the early Noughties (see Blade II for more) - taking centre stage against one of our leads in one-on-one combat in a sequence he so obviously choreographed himself. Suddenly the pace picks up several notches and the fight looks almost believable. More than that, it’s actually exciting and thrilling to watch.
All of which goes to show you that taking terrible bit parts, with little dialogue and less presence, are never going to break you in the States. Even though, having grown up in Boston, Yen speaks perfect (American) English, and therefore would have no problem there at all.
It also proves just how talented Donnie Yen is, not just in his own martial arts, but in choreographing others and how it’s shown on the big screen - even when it’s in a third-rate US produced film. All he needs is a vehicle to truly propel him in to the mainstream, but is this it?
Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse, The Promise, New Police Story, Time and Tide) doesn’t know what he’s letting himself in for when the triads talisman accidentally drops into his hands at a restaurant and he refuses to give it back. The bodyguard for one of the gangs’ bosses proves a pretty formidable opponent, but also just so happens to his estranged brother Dragon (Yen).
Running into each other at another restaurant Dragon finally manages to return the talisman to his boss, but not without meeting the American raised, nunchuck wielding Turbo Shek (Shawn Yue Internal Affairs II, Initial D, in a ridiculous looking blonde wig). But by then it’s too late, Dragon’s boss has been embarrassed, and the mysterious masked kingpin Shibumi (Louis Koo, voice over only) wants him dead.
Soon Dragon and Tiger are together again, defending the community spirited martial arts academy run by Wong XiangLong (Yuen Wah, Kung Fu Hustle, Swordsman, The Iceman Cometh) - where the brothers learnt their fighting talents - from Shibumi. But can the combined power of our heroes stop him?
In a seemingly conscious reference to the ‘one take’ scene in Warrior King, the restaurant-based fight scene in the first few minutes sets the pace for quick cutting, well choreographed and directed sequences. Donnie Yen began his career as a protégée of Yuen Woo-ping, the legendary martial arts choreographer who helped shape Jackie Chan’s stardom with the Eagle’s Shadow/Drunken Monkey movies, and later made such an impact in the west with his choreography for The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill.
Now it seems that Yen’s time has come, the disciple is ready to surpass his master - no one makes martial arts combat look better on screen. The quality of Yen’s work has been steadily increasing, choreographing some incredible scenes for otherwise disappointing movies like The Twins Effect.
All of which should be good news, but somehow that talent doesn’t seem to hook itself onto a great, fully rounded product. Sure, Yen’s acting talents are pretty limited, but you could say the same of Jet Li and definitely of Tony Jaa. Ultimately, it’s Yen’s choice of project that calls all that hard work into question, and Dragon Tiger Gate is no exception.
The simplicity of the story, a big screen version of Wong Yuk Long’s manga (who appears in the film himself as Master Qi) rather in the style of Andrew Lau’s series of Ma Wing Shing adaptations, The Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero, is all rather predictable. It’s also reminiscent of a less messy version of that Lau and Corey Yuen collaboration, The Avenging Fist, itself an unofficial version of Tekken.
No that the film isn’t enjoyable, there’s a fantastic turn by Yuen Wah as uncle Wong, particularly when he effortlessly teaches the arrogant Turbo Shek a lesson, but director Wilson Yip (The White Dragon, Bullets Over Summer, Sha po lang - S.P.L.) seems to confuse the action between a post-apocalyptic Hong Kong, and the one we recognise as now. It also has far too much of that ever-present sentimentality that threatens to overwhelm so many Hong Kong movies nowadays.
The masked arch-villain Shibumi suddenly appears halfway through the movie from nowhere, almost as if a subplot uncovering his identity was cut from the final film. And the climatic fights themselves owe a little too much to CGI, both slowing down the action and undoing all Donnie’s good work earlier on.
Definitely worth catching for the fight scenes alone, viewers requiring a bit more substance to their stories are going to be left dissatisfied…
