Dragon
(2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)
Picture:
A+ Sound: B+ Extras: C Film: B+
Jin-xi is
your everyday simple village craftsman, that us until two vicious
killers/thieves arrives to rob the village general store and not only saves the
shop and shopkeeper but ends up defeating the two killers. While he says it was pure luck, Detective
Bai-jiu is not as convinced; he believes Jin-xi is actually is a martial arts
master hiding in the village, and that he has some hidden past. Convinced he is a former killer, Bai-jiu
launches an investigation, which unfortunately that attracts and leads others
to discover Jin-xi's past and current location.... and brings the 72 Demons in
Peter Chan’s Dragon.
Jin-xi
was a former 'garbage-man' for the underworld. After seeing enough bloodshed, he quit ten
years ago living a normal life and starting a family, but when two ruffians
enter town, he is forced to use his form trade skills to stop a crime. And when
the local magistrate/detective feels like Jin-xi is hiding more that he says,
he doesn't believe a former killer can be reformed and has plans to collect
evidence to arrest Jin-xi and Jin-xi has larger problems when his former
syndicate which he belonged to comes looking for him. Can a tiger change his stripes just as a man
change his past? Is Jin-xi truly
reformed, or is he just denying his true nature?
This is
another Donnie Yen-lead star film, like IP
Man it is filled with martial arts and stylized fighting. What is unique is
the detective character, he is able to reconstruct the crime by looking at the
crime scene, sort of like how the Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes
see and then reconstruct what happened at a crime scene. At first, the film was almost comical, but
then its tone became even more serious in the second half of the movie. It went from fooling the detective, to man
fighting home and family. And like all
typical mafia stories, man who tries to leave the syndicate, he usually has to
fight the entire mafia if he wishes to leave.
Shot in
the Super 35mm format in the latest Kodak Vision 3 film stocks, the 1080p 2.35
X 1 image is terrific throughout with all kinds of fine shots, demo images and
is one of the bets-looking Blu-rays now on the market, while the DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) Mandarin lossless 5.1 mix is just fine with a full soundfield al
the way. Extras include making of the
movie featurette, featurette with Donnie Yen, music video and trailers.
- Ricky Chiang
