Dragon Gate INN (HONG KONG. 1992)

Leftovers for everyone! It's a big day for me tommorow so all I can promise is two review (Yup. TWO!) tomorrow for your reading pleasure. This is back in the days when grammar, sentence structure and flow completely eluded me. They still elude me, but now at least I'll admit to it. Mhuahahaha

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WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

Slipping through the fine lines of political symbolism and exploitation is a hard task to master. While writer/director/producer extraordinaire Tsui Hark has done it before. Dragonn INN can’t seem to decide which subject it wants to stay focused on. Which in the end gives the viewer a overly confident message of what really lies behind the film’s tale.

Is this a bad thing?

You can dig down into the gut of any film and always come up empty. The messages always change from one person to the next. Unless you one day capture Hark and torture him until you discover “exactly” what he meant to in “this certain scene” the viewers will never pin-point exactly why the characters were created in the context of the story …Except to be entertained.

Bridget Lin and Maggie Cheung, the main stars here, each of take on a role that defined their career. Bridget playsthe cold man/woman she always plays, and Maggie is an iron-hearted hooker (Will this surprise anyone?) Tony Leung (Tall Tony) also comes into play, as does Donnie Yen. Yen once again proves he's a master of the blade, but fans will be disappointed to only participate g in one fight…But what a knock em out desert duel!

Chin-Sin-Tung proves once again that he’s a master when it comes to flying swordsmen/women. Every scene is brilliantly filmed (Kudos must also go to co-director Raymond Lee) but the action scenes are what really gets the pulse racing. Each of them intricately choreographed with the classic defiance of gravity and specialty weapons included. The action never overshadows the story, but only adds to it when the time calls for it.

This is a definitely must have for any HK film enthusiasts. Every thing is tweaked to its breaking point and as long as you set your mind off it’ll be a fun ride through it all.

DVD:

Nice presentation by Tai-Seng overall. The picture was as nice as your going to get it, with the sound thankfully being presented in it’s original form with the added extra of a dub track. (TAKE THAT MIRAMAX!) The audio-commentary track by Rick Meyers was quite enjoyable, even if it was from a third-party (Someone who didn’t participate in the making of the film.) At a retail of 15.95 US this is a steal!