Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Vanness Wu, Shawn Yue, Xia Yu, Eva Huang, Lawrence Chou, Sammo Hung, Michael Biehn, Li Bingbing, Huh Joon Ho, Maggie Q
Director: Daniel Lee
DRAGON HEAT is a martial arts thriller set in Hong Kong. A team of Interpol agents arrive in the city to testify against a local crime lord. However on the way to court the vehicle carrying the Triad boss is attacked and the crime lord snatched, not by his own people but by another foe.
This is a difficult film to describe. It’s not a great movie but its not a bad one either. Much of the film is shot using a handheld camera and at first the camera work is so shaky it’s difficult to watch.
The shots seem to steady down as the movie progresses, which is a relief to the viewer. The real problem however comes down to the confused way a relatively simple storyline is presented on screen.
On the plus side the martial arts and general action scenes are very well done and the final battle between two of the main characters using machetes is absolutely excellent.
The DVD is presented with the original Cantonese soundtrack as well as an alternate dubbed English version. It’s your choice but the original soundtrack with English subtitles switched on is probably the best way to view this picture for English only speakers… just concentrate harder on the action scenes!
