Year of the Dragon (1985)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fantastic!

As Good As It Gets

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Deep in the heart of New York City's Chinatown lives a ruthless group of evil masterminds who's legacy's been dated thousands of years. There motives are focused on greed, corruption and power. The kingpin behind this organization is a hardened criminal named Joey Tai (John Lone) as its his mission to wage war on the fortified interests in both the Asian and Italian communities in the profitable drug trade. The streets are drenched in blood. That is until dedicated Police Detective Stanley White (Mickey Rourke) steps in and takes over Chinatown. Joining forces along with a news journalist by his side, white engages in a confrontation against the mayhem on this turf. The fight that's coming at both enemies is quite inevitable. It's all in the matter of who will survive.When I see Mickey Rourke perform in this movie, it gives me a lighter feeling in my head. He is a walking demonstration of method acting if you ever would find the definition of it. His acting, his clothing and his physical appearance truly is what I expected from in the character of Stanley White (based on the best selling novel by Robert Daley). Rourke was custom made to play the role of Stanley white. I just could not see any other performer capable of pulling off this very complex character. John Lone was also impressive as the evil kingpin Joey Tai as he proves to be a fierce competitor for Det. White. Lone, who is one of the most talented performers in the Asian goes beyond the parameters of just being a one-dimensional sneering villain. There are plenty of diabolical incidents he accomplishes in this movie that will even make the audience cheer for him. He can even make Chow Yun-Fat green with envy. After a five year sabbatical from the disaster "Heaven's Gate", director Michael Cimino did indeed make a winner here. This is one film that deserves the purchase and should never be left on the shelves unwatched. If you are a fan of underworld Hong Kong films, look no further. You may even be impressed by the soundtrack. It adds flavour to every scene, very similar to "The Deer Hunter".Granted people totally dismiss me when tell them that Mickey Rourke is in this movie. Sure back in the 1990's Rourke has been in trouble with the law and walked off sets for unjustifiable reasons, and has lacked in bravado over the years. But back in the 1980's he rocked. Today with the exception of "The Wrestler", he has been lowered to making direct-to-DVD films and his once handsome face looks like it has been molded like soft clay (thanks to some botched up plastic surgery). But don't let his downward spiral get the best out of everyone, you must see Rourke in his glory days when he was a hungry young thespian who wanted a little action.If I was to pick any sore thumbs about this movie, for me it was the performance from Ariane, a model trying to release her acting chops as love interest to the married Stanley white, Tracy Tzu. She can't seem to act her way out of a paper bag. Many times it feels as though she's just memorizing and reading off lines off script. she really is that unconvincing. She does have her moments, but it's very few and far between.For all those people who hated the way we dressed in the 1980's, well too bad. The Triad dresses exactly like the way punks used to dress like back in the Dark Ages; complete with baggy pants, Members Only Jackets, spikes and exotic coloured hair spray. I mean what do expect. It was released in 1985, duh. What more do you want?

I'm tending to agree with the more literate "hated it" reviews; 3,4,5 stars or so. They've all commented correctly on the acting and dialogue, and his one-guy-against-the-world thing (and succeeding!) is pretty clichéd, and always leads to the Big Showdown, the shootout resolution. But on a different note, the thing that really almost had me turn off the TV was the soundtrack! The "love theme" or whatever it was called, was dreadful. The same sappy song repeated 4 or 5 times at great length. Long, tragic, drippy, and often played at weird inappropriate times. Strip that thing, and I could give Year one more star.

I'm quite dumbfounded at the user rating. This is a great film, not perfect but great. It's one of those electrifying films from the eighties, I'm eternally grateful at having the privilege of having seeing up on the big screen, where as Rourke's character, Stanley White, says, the streets are gonna run red with blood, or words to that effect. If watching Rourke's performance here, and other films around that 1986-1990 time, looking back, you can see just what a remarkable actor this guy was, but not so now. This film was back in the day, when he had a much lighter and polite voice. He's top form here as an unstoppable ex Vietnam cop, determined to take a silky smooth talking kingpin (the excellent John Lone) down. At first we think Lone is one of the good guys, where soon he becomes Rourke's worst enemy. You want so much for Rourke to take this guy. On one side I loved Rourke's character, his mettle and determination, but on the other side, I found him detestable, his pushiness and arrogance, and being a thankless fu..er. Also he's a pig when it comes to treating women, which kind of stayed with him as he went onto to do that weird out sex flick, 9 and a half weeks. There are some shockingly violent moments, some in the starting of the flick, where life doesn't mean anything to these Asian badasses. Rourke's wife getting killed was an explosive and impactful moment, I'll never forget, and there was some others. You'll never guess how Lone buys it, that too has dramatic affect. Also the films is a little educational as in regards to the Triads. Arianne adds beauty as a relentless Asian reporter, not half bad in the role. When she confronts Rourke, after taking a raping, Rourke's reaction is comical. He's the one true anti-vermin, cop who's gonna make a difference, and it's admirable. This is compulsive viewing all the way, with some tough violent moments, but this is one of those films that comes along every so ofter that leaves a lasting impression, as does Rourke's performance, staying true to the end, his character one tenacious son of a bi.ch.

I am COMPLETELY dumbfounded that Michael Cimino never really was given any decent films after this. Even after he made this EXTREMELY powerful one, how the hell could that even be possible? You would think after making this one, he would have easily gone on to make many more.Oh well... One of life's (and Hollywood's) many completely senseless mysteries I guess...I DO love a good Crime Thriller and this little baby put such a permanent stamp on me when I first saw it 30 years ago, I have truly never forgotten it. I just watched a nice HD rip of it this evening for the first time in many years, and YES, it still packs every bit of the powerful punch that it did almost 30 years ago when I first saw it.Where do I start...? Mickey Rourke's amazing performance? John Lone's wonderful and SMOOOOOOOOOOTHE role? The way the story is beautifully laid out and built up to it's great ending? The fascinating 'behind the scenes' view of the Chinese Mafia? The gripping Suspense? The frigg'n EDGE of your frigg'n seat Action? The gritty portrayal by Rourke as a self-obsessed, VERY flawed, but tenacious and ultimately deeply caring cop?Those were just SOME of the first things that came to mind. SERIOUSLY, I am really NOT one to get very worked up about Action films per se, but this one was done SO damn well that it honestly holds a place forever in my personal list of best films ever made!Oh, and just to say too that I COMPLETELY agree with 'Cracker's review here that you compare it to the HUGE amount of cinematic sludge floating around out there, and this baby holds it's own quite well. Take a very similar film made by the GREAT Ridley Scott, who I TOTALLY revere (can you say 'BLADERUNNER' anyone?) called 'BLACK RAIN', is a lot like this one, but was more visually stylish, and also was quite a good film. So, if a director like Michael Cimino can hold his own compared to one of the absolute GREATS like Scott and make a film that is possibly even MORE powerful, then what's the deal anyway with not giving him any more films...??? (BTW I thought that Mickey Rourke's performance categorically BLEW Michael Douglas's out of the water, for what it's worth. And I LIKE Michael Douglas...)So, if you like good film making, a tense, gripping Crime Story, VERY involving characters, and GREAT acting, then YES, you will indeed like this film...