Today’s quick review: Dragon Tiger Gate. After years of separation, Tiger Wong (Nicholas Tse) finds his older brother Dragon (Donnie Yen) working as a bodyguard for Ma Kun (Chan Koon Tai), a Hong Kong crime boss. Tiger implores Dragon to return home to Dragon Tiger Gate, the martial arts school their father founded, in spite of his criminal ties. But the situation turns dangerous when Ma’s boss Shibumi (Yu Kang) takes an interest in the brothers.
Dragon Tiger Gate is a martial arts action movie about a pair of brothers on opposite sides of the law. As a disciple of Dragon Tiger Gate, Tiger uses his kung fu to fight for justice against criminals like his brother’s gang. This explicit moral conflict gives Dragon Tiger Gate something of a superhero vibe, especially when combined with the film’s light tone, colorful visuals, inventive camerawork, and lax approach to physics.
But Dragon Tiger Gate doesn’t live up to its promise. The plot loses its way as it tries to escalate the conflict. The tensions set up in the first half of the film peter out limply in the second, and the film’s attempts to reclaim the drama are slapdash and forced. More generally, Dragon Tiger Gate doesn’t know what to do with its leads. The film builds to a reconciliation that never quite happens, making much of the build-up moot.
The fights suffer from a similar decay. The early fight scenes are flashy brawls whose average stunt work is buoyed by plenty of enthusiasm. There’s no pretense at realism, but their energy and creativity make them fun to watch. The later fights tend to be one-on-one, so the defecits in choreography and realism are more keenly felt. The fights in the second half of the film rely less on creativity than special effects that aren’t up to the task.
Dragon Tiger Gate is worth a peek for action fans who are interested in the colorful, the energetic, and the offbeat. It holds some value as an unfettered romp set in a universe tailor-made for adventure. But neither its writing nor its action is up to the challenge, leaving it a mediocre watch even for fans of its vision. For action films that play in a similar space, try Bunraku, The Warrior’s Way, or The Man with the Iron Fists.
6.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for energy and style let down by flawed execution.