DRAGON TIGER GATE

(a.k.a. LUNG FU MOON; LONG HU MEN)

An attractive, slightly exhilarating credits sequence made up of comic-book animations clues in to the nature of DRAGON - the movie is based on Wong Yuk-Long's celebrated comic series, Dragon And Tiger Heros.

Once the film begins proper, we meet Rosa, a pretty young thing who has procured a plaque from the all-powerful crimelords, the Luosha Gang. Whichever gangsters hold the plaque in their possession, get to deal with the Luosha Gang directly - meaning they have authority to essentially the crime in Hong Kong.

After a brief introduction to the movie's hero where he has a confused meeting with a stranger called Xiaoling (Lie Dong, 2046), the innocent Tiger (Nicholas Tse, SHAOLIN SOCCER) goes to a local restaurant to dine with friends.

His meal is interrupted when he implicates himself in a dispute between two rival mobs - the White Lions and Ma Kun's (Kuan Tai Chen, SHADOW COP) gang. Kun has the plaque, and the Lions want it to boost their share of ill-gotten gains.

Tiger starts a scrap unwittingly with Kun's bodyguards, and in the ensuing chaos one of his friends makes off with the plaque - not even knowing what it is.

Kun appoints his top bodyguard, Dragon (Donnie Yen, HERO) to retrieve the plaque - unaware that Dragon is the estranged brother of Tiger.

It turns out (as illustrated through gorgeous flashbacks) that Dragon and Tiger where separated as children due to unfortunate circumstances. Dragon was taken in by Kun when his mother died, and has felt obliged to serve him loyally ever since.

But he compromises this when he helps Tiger survive an attack from Kun's homicidal right-hand-man Scaly, and Kun's daughter - the aforementioned Xiaoling - befriends both brothers, intent on bringing them back together.

The quest for ownership of the plaque dominates much of the film's first half, but gears shift as we are introduced to the titular gate - a school for kids training in martial arts to combat crime, ran by Dragon and Tiger's uncle.

Then there's the re-ignition of the brothers' relationship, which adds resonance to the plot - and, an unexpected death that inspires a third-act revenge plot ...

DRAGON TIGER GATE is beautifully crafted. The fight scenes are literally jaw-dropping - meticulously choreographed exercises in skill, speed and insane stunts. Many are silly, to be honest, but it hardly matters ... they're that amazing.

The use of colour is impossible not to mention. Primary colours, in particular, are blended flawlessly to make each scene visually arresting, making this film the martial arts equivalent of SUSPIRIA.

Production values on the film seem high, and it's all gone into the look of the film. You can't help but be bowled over by the sheer visual panache of each and every set-piece.

All the characters are endearing, living up to their broadly-written comic-book origins. Performances are solid and convincing throughout, the entire cast capturing the mood of this insane yet mannered odyssey perfectly.

All that's left to mention really are the set designs, which surely do deserve a special mention as they contribute to the wow-factor spectacle massively.

And, of course, the action ... did I mention there's LOADS of action on offer?!

The violence is tame, aimed at young teenagers most likely. But the humour, thankfully, is reigned in and DRAGON never falls into that dodgy slapstick routine that spoils far too many contemporary Asian efforts of this ilk.

A very impressive offering.

This excellent 2-disc special edition serves the film extremely well.

Disc 1 houses the film, in a gloriously bright and radiant anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer. It looks incredible, those all-important colours jumping off the TV screen in rich, sharp detail.

The original Mandarin audio is available in 2.0 and 5.1 mixes, both of which offer soundtracks that balance the equilibrium between dialogue and music extremely well, enhancing the experience ten-fold.

English subtitles are forced, which may be considered as a minus point - but then, how many people will watch this R2 release without the benefit of these?

The film can be accessed via 21 chapters.

Extras on disc 1 consist of a trailer for the main feature, a teaser, 3 TV spots plus trailers for WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL, DEAD MAN'S CARDS and FEED.

Disc 2 kicks in with impressively attractive animated menu pages and affords some excellent extra features.

There's an interesting 18-minute Making Of, that mixes new cast and crew interviews with rehearsal footage and clips from the completed film.

Next are 14 minutes of "Pre-Production and Shooting Diaries" - essentially 4 short featurettes consisting of montages of behind-the-scenes footage, onset trivia and storyboards, set to funky music.

"Locations" is another 4 featurettes looking at key locations used in the film (the restaurant etc). These are 10 minutes in total length.

There's 7 deleted scenes on offer to, running a total of 7 minutes in length.

Finally we get a whopping 84 minutes of interviews - with Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Dong Jie, Li Xiaoran and director Wilson Yip(BIO ZOMBIE). An incredible amount of background information is derived from these slickly produced featurettes.

All extras in disc 2 come in their original language with forced English subtitles.

Perhaps too tame for some tastes, and for an all-action film it may lack the explosive spectacles of Hollywood's counter-offerings, but I doubt anything mainstream America can produce will be this beautiful.

A very enjoyable film, given an excellent 2-disc special edition.

Review by Stu Willis