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| DRAGONS FOREVER. Starring - Jackie Chan - Yuen Biao - Sammo Hung - Yuen Wah - And many, many more. Director - Sammo Hung / Corey Yuen. Miss Yeh of the Yeh fish ponds has discovered toxins pumped out by the nearby Hua chemical works are killing her fish. After negotiations with Mr. Hua fail to resolve the problem Miss Yeh decides her final option is to gain an injunction against the company to cease production. Hua fearing the worst hires the talented Lung, a renowned lawyer to prevent this case from going to court. Hua also fails to reach a resolve with Miss Yeh, so he decides to call upon his friends Wang Fei-Hsing and Tung Te-Piao to help him end this case quickly. The trio are soon trying every method at their disposal to prevent Miss Yeh from gaining the injunction. Initially this is like any other Jackie Chan movie, standard family fodder with a firm focus on comedy, romance and action, no swearing allowed. But unlike other JC movies Dragons forever takes an uncharacteristically dark swing towards the latter stages. I know for the most part this is fairly tongue in cheek, but witnessing a smacked up Sammo Hung is frankly disturbing. Imagine seeing the Easter bunny hit by an 18-wheel truck and you kind of get the idea. Not a moment to share with a loved one shortly before bed that’s for sure. Dragons forever wont win any awards for story telling but let’s be honest here, if you want to see a well scripted and intelligent movie then go see ‘Shawshank redemption’ or something similarly depressing and unhinged. If however you just want to be entertained without ever having to force your brain out of its sleeping bag then Dragons forever is for you. Dragons forever is one of my favourite martial arts movies of all time, and it is easy to see why. Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, Dick Wei, Billy Chow and the awesome Benny ‘The jet’ Urquidez. Need I say more? If you have never seen the 3 little miracles get it on together before then you will be amazed, I still am and I have seen this movie over a dozen times now. Sammo Hung and Corey Yuen have done a fantastic job directing and choreographing these industry giants. The action is extremely fast and the stunts hard and severe. Nothing is sacred as stunt men are thrown like unwanted puppies through glass, against walls and girders; in fact any inanimate object within spitting distance is a nice cushion for a stuntman’s neck. Oh it must be so much fun for a stuntman working on a Sammo Hung movie. You can just imagine the conversation before a scene is filmed. Sammo Hung “Right, okay then. Just let Jackie kick you really hard in the throat then fall headfirst through this glass window and down to the floor 30 ft below” Stuntman “Okay boss, anything else?” SH “Now you come to mention it, would you mind hitting that solid iron girder on the way down, and then land awkwardly on your back on those stairs down there” SM “Sure boss, anything else?” SH “No that should be fine, but don’t mess it up as you have the suicidal Bengal Tiger fight scene to complete straight after this”. I can’t stress enough just how good this movie is, marred only by the shoddy plot that too often intervenes on the breathtaking fight sequences. Make sure you have a spare supply of batteries at hand, as Dragons forever is going to work your remote harder than a crack fuelled hooker at a New York police convention. 8********stars. |
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