Legend of the Red Dragon (1994)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Great Film overall

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Review: I quite enjoyed this movie, mainly because of the little Shaolin boys and there great martial art techniques. After Jet Li finds his village completely destroyed, he goes on a quest with his son to the find the killers. Its quite a basic storyline but it's easy to loose the plot. I liked the old lady in the movie but I didn't get the pizza looking guy who looked like he had bits of kebab all over his face. The film seemed cheaply made and some of the jokes weren't that funny but the kids were great and fun to watch. Average!Round-Up: Although this movie was made in 1994, it seemed very dated and the camera work was shoddy. That's not a total bad thing because some of the greatest Kung Fu movies were made in the 70's, but this movie should have looked better for that period. With that aside, you can't help enjoying the kiddie monks, especially when there battling each other. It won't go down as an all time classic, but it's a watchable Kung Fu movie which is authentic and amusing in parts.I recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a man who travels with his son to find out who destroy,ed his village and brutally killed his wife. 4/10

Is it just me? Or does Jet Li do WAY too many of these time period films. I love Jet Li, and many of his movies, but I do notice he chooses to do time period films a lot. I didn't particularly care for this martial arts epic. It's never boring, and it does have some decent action scenes, but it's quite stupid at times. It has some atrocious dubbing, to the point where it annoyed me beyond belief. It takes away some of the enjoyment from the film. It alternates from being deadly serious to comedic at times. It felt very uneven and jumbled. It's like it was trying to have the cake and eat it too. You can't have both, and the attempt failed in my opinion. The thing that keeps this movie watchable is the relationship between Jet & his son. The kid has some ridiculously good abilities and had great screen presence for his age. They had a tangible chemistry with each other that felt real. I also enjoyed the comedic bits with Deannie Yip & Chigmay Yau as the Mother & Daughter. It felt out of place at times, but they were amusing as thieves. It has an OTT villain with burn scars all over his face. His "invincible" act got rather grating to my nerves, and I had trouble buying into him as a threat. The finale is disappointingly routine, but it does have a cool moment where Jet dives through a clock to save his son. I didn't care for this movie, but it does have its moments. I just think Jet is capable of much better than this stuff. 5.2/10

Well this movie is another Hong Kong action movie staring the kungfu legend Jet Li. There is nothing deep about this movie, all it is is an action packed romp with strange enemies, unreal fighting maneuvers, and a dash of the Hong Kong spice that make these movies more exciting than those one sees in America.The New Shoalin is about Hung and his son. He is betrayed by a brother Shoalin who kills his family and then tries to kill him. Hung defeats him and then wonders the land to deal with the new oppressive regime. Seven years on, Hung is still following is quest and his son has become a very competent martial artists. In a city he is betrayed again, but as he has no money, he is forced to bodyguard an unscrupulous rich man. At the same time, two thieves, the notorious mother and notorious daughter, have latched onto him. Hung knows these thieves' intention, but he cannot convince his master of it.When the Shoalin Temple is destroyed they believe that he is be dead so his brother attempts to find the location of a large treasure horde, the map of which is tattooed on the back of five children. These children wind up in the same place as Hung, and when his nemesis, now known as the poison man, appears, he must protect the kids and the two thieves, the younger of which has fallen for him.As I previously said, there is not much depth in this movie, but one watches it for the action. Things are quite predictable, but the stunts, or rather the moves, are quite extraordinary, especially since they are performed quite unrealistically. This does not matter because Hong Kong cinema generally does not want to be purely correct. They appreciate a bit of fantasy in their movies.

There is nothing that compares to a Jet Li movie when you want martial arts action. He is the best there is, and I cannot understand why they tried to make something that I would expect of Jackie Chan.The government is looking for maps to rebel treasure, and Jet Li is in hiding with his son Ting (Miu Tse), who gives a great performance for a 10-year-old. It is almost a Chinese version of Star Wars and features plenty of action scenes, as you would expect.They even come into contact with a couple of con artists, played by the lovely Chingmy Yau, and Deannie Yip as her mother. They both added tremendously to the movie.Everything about the movie was great with the exception of the dialog. The constant effort to be funny just detracted from a good story. Jet Li doesn't need Jackie Chan dialog to be good; he is great as he is.