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The invincible dragon5/6/2023 With Fruit Chan at the helm, it should have been apparent that The Invincible Dragon would not have been a straightforward action movie. Saying this, there are aspects of The Invincible Dragon that still make it a worthwhile viewing experience, notably a charismatic leading performance from Max Zhang and some well-done fight scenes. Unfortunately, this is not the case with The Invincible Dragon, with these inconsistencies being a major detriment to the overall flow of the movie. On many occasions this can work to a film’s advantage, being one of the contributing factors in many Hong Kong classics that set them apart from typical movie fare. Sadly, The Invincible Dragon is one of the poorer films to come from both Chan and Zhang, at times blackly comic, brutally violent and tonally inconsistent. Originally titled The Man with the Dragon Tattoo, it is clear upon viewing the completed product that a retitle was not the only issue facing the action thriller. If ‘The Invincible Dragon’ had just embraced its barmier B-movie aspects (it has a 9-headed CGI dragon in it for crying out loud!) and run with them, then this could have been a fun throwback to action films of yesteryear.Fruit Chan’s long delayed The Invincible Dragon finally makes its ways to cinema screens, released on the coattails of Chan’s recent Three Husband’s (2019) and leading man Max Zhang’s Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2019). ‘Made in Hong Kong’ and ‘Dumplings’ director Fruit Chan doesn’t quite make a successful leap to action films, his flick see-sawing too much between dire drama and ridiculous CGI-tinged action and never finding a cohesive balance between the two. Some bite is added via JuJu Chan Szeto’s bad girl (she should have been the main antagonist!) who also gets a decent scrap but it’s not enough to save the film. Max Zhang (who was so good in ‘SPL 2’ and ‘Masater Z: The Ip Man Legacy’) comes across as a melancholic bore though certainly cuts loose when the action finally arrives: getting a decent one-on-one with UFC fighter Anderson Silva in a deserted police station. This does eventually arrive around the hour mark and the choreography by Stephen Tung Wai (‘The Blade’, ‘Hero’) and Jack Wong (‘Wolf Warrior 2’) is decent but often rendered average due to the dreaded over reliance on CGI “enhancement”. Alas, despite the cast’s best efforts, it’s not and one will soon find themselves wishing for more of the silly action that opened the film. However, this set-up for silly awesomeness is soon jettisoned in favour of drama, redemption tropes, something about living dragon tattoos (!) and training montages, which would all be fine if it was at all engaging. The opening five minutes feature a nifty escape from capture, over-the-top gunplay, Lam Suet getting his arm blown off and a 9-headed CGI dragon (yep, that’s right!): all before the title rolls. What at first seems like a throwback to the crazy antics of 80s Hong Kong actioners, quickly dissolves into a melodramatic drudge. A year later the murders begin again in Macau and Kwoloon is sought out to help in the investigation, giving him a chance at redemption. When his antics again get him into trouble leaving his policewoman fiancé dead and him injured, Kowloon disappears into self-imposed exile. Upon relocation he takes up the case of local policewomen being murdered by an unknown assailant. Impulsive cop Kowloon (Max Zhang) is relocated to a nowhere police station after his over-the-top antics prove him to be more of a danger than a bonus to the big city police force. Which is a shame as ‘The Invincible Dragon’ had a promising premise. Schlocky but takes itself oh so serious would-be actioner that isn’t silly and soaked with action enough to make it fun instead drowning under lots of unnecessary tedious drama.
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