This martial arts film follows two half-brothers, Dragon and Tiger Wong; sons of one of the Dragon Tiger Gate martial arts schools. When they were young Dragon's mother left the school and was later killed in a fire, after which he is taken under the wing of local crime boss Ma Kun and grows up to become his bodyguard. Years later Kun's top people are in a restaurant celebrating being awarded the 'Luocha Plaque' which gives them a local monopoly under the powerful Luocha Cult. By coincidence Tiger and his friends are there too and he gets involved when another gang turns up and starts causing trouble; in the ensuing fight one of Tiger's friends takes the plaque. Dragon goes to retrieve the plaque but Scaly, one of his rivals in the gang, has got there first and drugged Tiger's friends. A fight ensues between Dragon and Scaly. With the help of Turbo Shek, Dragon gets the plaque. Dragon returns the plaque to Kun and the latter states his intention to return it to Shibumi, the leader of the Luocha, and retire
something that is taken as an insult. Kun is murdered by Shibumi's men; Dragon gets to the scene too late to save his master but defeats the attackers.
Inevitably one thing leads to another and ultimately Dragon is reunited with Tiger and along their new friend Turbo they confront the evil Shibumi.
This martial arts film has a decent enough plot but ultimately it isn't about the plot it is about the martial arts action; in this department it delivers the goods. There is lots of fighting; some hand-to-hand and some involving typical martial arts weapons; most notably the nunchaku wielded by Turbo. These fights are delightfully over the top, with characters thrown so hard they shatter walls and a fair amount of CGI. Normally I'd prefer traditional wire-work to obvious CGI but here it fits the films comic book origins. Obviously this is mostly about the fighting but there are also some good humorous moments and decent character development. The cast does a fine job making us believe in their characters even during the more fantastic moments. Overall I'd recommend this to anybody wanting undemanding martial arts action.
These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.
Inevitably one thing leads to another and ultimately Dragon is reunited with Tiger and along their new friend Turbo they confront the evil Shibumi.
This martial arts film has a decent enough plot but ultimately it isn't about the plot it is about the martial arts action; in this department it delivers the goods. There is lots of fighting; some hand-to-hand and some involving typical martial arts weapons; most notably the nunchaku wielded by Turbo. These fights are delightfully over the top, with characters thrown so hard they shatter walls and a fair amount of CGI. Normally I'd prefer traditional wire-work to obvious CGI but here it fits the films comic book origins. Obviously this is mostly about the fighting but there are also some good humorous moments and decent character development. The cast does a fine job making us believe in their characters even during the more fantastic moments. Overall I'd recommend this to anybody wanting undemanding martial arts action.
These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.