Dragon Inn (1992)

Simply Perfect

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Most of us try many things in our lives at the suggestions of others because we value their opinions or we want to play safe. First part is good but the latter part sometimes backfires on us. Same happened with this flick. I am a great fan of HK martial arts movies especially with the historical background. I saw the ratings on IMDb and saw couple of reviews who praised the movie and i decided to watch it.And it backfired on me. This movie is based on Wire Works. To present things in new style all the main fighting sequences are full of wire stunts. Nothing original and it does not co-relates with laws of physics. The story is though original like many other Chinese Legends we have witnessed in the past or present but the screenplay tries to attempt a lots of things differently or way too entertaining from the directors point of view that nothing sticks with a viewer with his head on his shoulders. My dear director wire works with a logical explanation works but too much dependency on them during fighting sequences is not a proof of your creativity. Your story might work but it is a action cinema where real martial arts has disappeared and it is a total failure.For me it doesn't deliver what other users are suggesting. A total waste of time. An average flick which we will forget (regret) as soon as we finish watching it.

It's hard for me to write a good review of this movie. On one hand, I love the martial art fighting scenes, they are very well choreographed, and I have seen a lot of Hong Kong martial art movies circa 1990. On the other hand, the plot is very weak.The movie feels like a bump absorber. The martial art scenes spice it up, then it drags on and on and gets bored, only to spice up again with the next fighting scene...The final fighting scene is one of the best I have seen. However, having the meat cleaver in the final moment feels more an inapt insertion than a fight enhancer.I still prefer the Swordsman series over Dragon Inn.

Everybody loves "Crouching Tiger", but this movie made more than 10 years ago is a much better martial arts movie. Instead of trying to be everything like "Crouching Tiger" did, it was just designed and implemented as a martial arts movie, and nothing else. This focus made it great to begin with. In addition to a stellar cast, great action scenes, its plot is solid and intriguing. The final fight is one of the greatest martial arts scenes ever made, especially to those who grew up reading Chinese martial arts novels. It is interesting that those who have a problem with the imagination of Chinese martial arts movies do not have any issue with that of "Matrix". In fact, the logic is very similar. "Matrix": with hi-tech, everything is possible, including dodging bullets; Chinese martial arts movies: with kongfu, everything is possible, including running on the roof. Having said that, I understand that those who have never read Chinese martial arts novels may have trouble with some of the scenes, especially if you are trying to find medical evidence to verify the possibility of some moves. However, this is just a movie based on a novel, so why don't you just relax and enjoy?

Superb reworking on the 1966 King Hu classic that pays greater homage to the old-fashioned swashbuckling epics of Hong Kong's yesteryear rather than a cash-in on the new wave crop: this is meatier than its contemporaries and offers expert choreography and top-notch performances throughout. Tsui Hark produces this historical affair, a costume drama detailing the plight of resistance fighter Zhou Huaian (Leung) and partner Qiu Moyan (Lin), relentlessly headhunted by evil eunuch Cao Shao-qiu (Yen), a powerful so-and-so and hottest contender for supreme control of the Imperial court. Zhou is his latest obstacle that deserves elimination and so he lures his orphan children into a trap, which summarily backfires and the resistance take up refuge at the isolated Dragon Gate Inn, situated in the middle of the desert. Cheung plays the delightful innkeeper in a light hearted and flirtatious manner, and truly shines in the role, however there are few comedic touches: the movie is dark and sinister due to its restrictions to the Inn, yet the action is lavish and radical, culminating in that legendary Gobi desert finale that'll just blow your socks clean off.