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Nice effects though.

Absolutely Fantastic

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Interpol agents assembled from all parts of the globe have built evidence against a criminal known for armed robbery and drug trafficking, Panther Duen(Doi-yung Ng), cooperating with the Hong Kong Police force, operating under Commander Hong Sun(Simon Yam). But, a criminal alliance desire payback towards Hong Kong mafioso Tiger Duen(Ken Tong) who runs the Duen Syndicate getting rich off of gambling, drugs and prostitution..Tiger killed a man named Dominick(..along with others who participated in an armed robbery)whose brother, Petros(Michael Biehn), a former Captain for the Colombian army, seeks revenge, aligning himself with former Korean colonel, Ko Tsung Yuon(Jun-ho Heo) and his intimidating staff of talented killers. Soon the agents will join forces with a transportation cop, Kong Long(Sammo Hung), a demoted former Sergeant on the police force who cost the lives of six officers disobeying orders in a shootout with Ko Tsung Yuon and his men during a bank robbery, in an attempt to stop the criminal alliance from getting their hands on a roll of film containing the bank account number and password for all the firearms and drug dealers in the possession of Tiger's ex-lover, Yau Ching(Bingbing Li), for whom Petros gets romantically involved(..he instigates the relationship, at first, to get his hands on the film, but soon actually falls in love with Ching).When I noticed this movie at a local Blockbuster, I was quite taken aback regarding the very eclectic cast in this movie. It seems to feature the who's-who of Asian cinema. And, this has a really great part for Michael Biehn, who is still in fine form as a difficult adversary for the young, green(..but impressively talented)agents out to get him and his gang of highly skilled assassins. Maggie Q has a nifty role as a silent(..and deadly) sniper, working for Ko, often exchanging gunfire with Yu Xia(..as the agents' ace marksman Luo Zai Jun), including one superb sequence in a cemetery as gravestones are blasted apart, not to mention the phenomenal action set piece where both teams partake in an epic shootout within an alley. Vanness Wu is the inexperienced, but courageous(..also brainy)Wang Sun Ho, who becomes Petros main foe, with their highlight shooting match featured during the climax of the film. Talking about exciting, Sammo Hung and Jun-ho Heo have two classic fights, one in a locker room, another in an abandoned warehouse..Heo carries a mean sword and how Hung combats him without one has got to be seen. Even though Hung might be overweight, smoking away on his cigars, this man has some very fast hands(..I think one can tell, thanks to clever camera techniques and editing that Hung, no matter how athletic he might be, used a stuntman sometimes)and his work opposite Heo is a marvel to experience.Rounding out the cast of Interpol agents are Shengyi Huang as the agents' lone female teammate Pak Yut Suet(..her fate is heartbreaking, bringing a lump to the throat), Lawrence Chou as James Lam, and Shawn Yue as Hung Kei Lok. Accompanying Ko's gang are the brutish, hulking former Navy Seal Joe Pearson(Mark Henderson)and martial arts(..and gunner)expert Lee Chen Pei(Philip Ng). There are splendid shootouts between rival groups with lots of ammunition wasted without anyone even hit(..kind of amusing in that both teams are so talented they know how to keep from getting killed), although the casualties that result in the alley set the stage for the spectacular mall sequence featuring Biehn's Petros making life very difficult for agents Sun Ho and Lok as they attempt to halt his recovery of the roll of film. Also, the film features an exhilarating entrapment of Commander Hang Sun's police force where Ko and Petros somehow eliminate their enemies, allowing Tiger Duen to escape. Director Daniel Lee also provides characters with backgrounds and stories, fleshing them out as human beings..particularly Kong Long(..whose estranged daughter wants nothing to do with him, and his guilt losing officers thanks to a hasty decision on his part), Petros(..his willingness to kill whoever it takes to get his revenge, yet having a code of honor in regards to lying to anyone), and the talented young cast have moments devoted to their roles. Lee also provides the characters with B&W vignettes dedicated to each one's particular skill along with a brief description of who they are. There are times where Lee allows the film to get carried away with hyper-kinetic camera work and quick-cut editing, but there are still some awe-inspiring moments of sheer genius, plus some stunningly developed set-pieces. A real heart-pounding, cold-blooded, ultra-violent actioner from Daniel Lee.

HK cinema, which has been very successfully keeping on and intensifying the good old traditions of entertainment with human heart, once ignited by Mr Charles Chaplin and Mr Buster Keaton, strikes again. Jokes are put aside this time though.The movie is a must-have for anybody who respects proper action. During my childhood I watched "Lethal Weapon" and thought that it was the best of the best. But now as I watch this HK production, all the memories of "Lethal Weapon" go blank. "Dragon Squad" is tough and stylish. The camera is very jerky sometimes and one should get accustomed to this. But when you get accustomed, you get a real modern action treat.When I bought the movie on DVD I had no info about it. I just noticed some strange title "Dragon Squad" on the shelf. I even could not trace the year of production on the box. Then I saw Mr Sammo Hung among the actors. It was "the final straw". Now I cannot believe my eyes - the rating for this movie on IMDb is ridiculous. If I tend to doze off during "Godfather", I have no such problem during "Dragon Squad". All through the movie the incredible action keeps me up even when I re-watch it and even when I'm dead tired. The original soundtrack plus the English subs is a perfect combination for this film. I am also more than just satisfied with the overall DVD quality: the sound, the picture, the animated menu, the synopsis, the impressive crew photo where every single actor is "showing his character off" - everything is slick.I've always been looking to enjoying a real HK serious modern action (not a comedy HK one, which are abundant with you-know-who starring), and now I have it. It is very unlike the Hollywood productions. It has very bitter oriental flavour (masks, knives, kung fu, very menacing attitude of the bad boys and girls, impressive looks, complicated set of heroes/villains, and I should also mention smoking and jogging at the same time - Mr Sammo Hung is as cool as a Chinese cucumber) and, damn, it has most disturbing violent scenes (artistically shot and reserved at the same time). I despise "Oldboy" kind of violence, when the torture scenes are prolonged, disgusting, and shown in detail. Here it is different - it's more like "BR" violence: quick, quirky, and unexpected (like a gully that all of a sudden pins some character to the wall). Remember the scene with the "mohawked" Chinese, when he was hanging on some hooks and Ku was coming up to him with his trademark knife? The camera just sails away saving the movie from turning into a blood-fest for maniacs. Brilliant. It's not a teen movie, definitely absolutely. It's a movie for those who are 20 and older. And I don't think that even 1% of females can sit through this insane action-packed experience. Well, in my humble opinion, of course. I cannot recall any action movie, which overdoes this one in "action density". The story of each squad member is shown in a few seconds and some episode is shown revealing his or her abilities. If you wink a couple of times, you miss the point. Everything goes cut, cut, and cut with colour scheme changing, titles appearing, etc., like in a newsreel.Last, but not least, this film makes a viewer (me to be sure) feel for the good characters. Their young age intensifies this feeling. The "Dragon Squad" look so young and slim and the sergeant Kong looks so old and depressed, but they work miracles and confront most ruthless villains in the streets of Hong Kong.I've been thinking that the time of perfect action passed long time ago and this action film has challenged my point of view. One scene at the cemetery alone is a treat but there are lots of others not worse than this. A pleasant surprise.The IMDb rating for this action makes me laugh.10 out of 10, HK keeps me wondering, how much more action treats those Chinese guys have. Almost forgot: the movie is free from sex scenes, stupid nakedness, and boring sentiments (modern action/crime flicks suck because of this and this movie rules without it). Thank you for attention.

The anticipation I had for this film sparked a major interest in Asian cinema and for that reason alone, I am glad this film exists. On finally seeing Dragon Squad, it is obvious that is not one the best written or best acted films but it is a highly entertaining, fast paced and well directed action piece. Perhaps for me, this film was a victim to my own expectations.Dragon Squad is immensely stylish and Daniel Lee does a tremendous job to grab the audience's attention via clever use of camera wizardry. In some scenes, he overdoes the slow motion and cut backs, but overall, he is extremely impressive. The way he integrates news report like flashes within the film is very clever in terms of pace as it saves on huge chunks of exposition to explain what is happening and characters' background. Whilst it is a fresh approach, I've always been in favour of setting the scene and character development. Lee would have done well to remember that these are the basics when it comes to a good plot.With the exception of Petros (Michael Biehn) and Ching's (Li Bing Bing) story, the character stories are somewhat neglected and rushed. Sammo Hung's relationship with his daughter could have been explored much more and would have given good contrast to the bloodshed that was occurring elsewhere in the film. There was an attempt at background explanations for the 'Dragon Squad' and although they were good and went to some length to explain the characters, there was hardly any closure on the issues. The plot as a whole however, is very good. The tale two groups chasing one man for different reasons is very compelling and the way the groups interact with each other is very good. To put it one way, Dragon Squad has a great body but not quite enough bones to hold it all together.Negativity aside, the action in the film is brilliant. Some of the best shootout scenes I've witnessed (and that's a lot!) are on this film; it is stunning to watch. Biehn, Shawn Yue and Maggie Q all really shine in these scenes. Their weapon handling is brilliant and they do a fantastic job of adding personality to the action scenes. The sniper battles are very good as they add tension and also means the action on the ground can flourish uninterrupted. Dragon Squad really sets itself above its peers with these scenes as it doesn't stray in to the realms of nonsense like Hard Boiled did and instead, tries to remain on a more realistic level.The cast is somewhat mixed. Shawn Yue is very good in all of his scenes, he is likable and the scenes with his paralysed brother are very touching. The rest of the 'Dragon Squad' however, are all pretty bad. Vanness Wu in particular was extremely wooden and definitely should have stuck to doing pop songs. Sammo Hung was a much needed cast member. His movement in the fight scenes was very good and he certainly shone when compared to the main characters. Michael Biehn as the lead villain was excellent. These are the kind of roles he loves and really took this one by the reigns. Biehn makes his villain a sympathetic and likable one but is also totally ruthless. This is one of Biehn's best roles in years and he was a joy to watch; definitely the stand out performance. Maggie Q was slightly underused in this film but her role was the silent but deadly sniper so she fitted perfectly in to the requirements of the character. Simon Yam was also good in his small role as the chief of police. He adds another dimension to Hung's character and gives a very generous performance.The music in the film is brilliant. The drum score is at the heart of Dragon Squad's atmosphere and it is so effective at putting the audience on edge. This is classic Hong Kong action music and the length of time this particular sound has lasted further shows how effective it is. There is extreme contrast within the music as on one hand there are these intense instrumentals and on the other, there are slow, emotional pop songs. Lee really uses music as part of the film and it is brilliant at heightening Dragon Squad's impact.Overall, this is a very good film despite its many flaws. With a little more attention to character development, this could have been one of the year's best films. The director, however, focused more on action set pieces and these alone take the film to a very good level. Dragon Squad has quality stamped all over it and deserves much more recognition than it's been given.

Film: Dragon Squad Year: 2005 Genre(s): Action/Drama Director: Daniel Lee Language(s): Cantonese, Madarin, English Running Time: 111 Mins Format: DVD(Hong Kong Release) Cast: Venness Wu, Shawn Yue, Xia Yu, Eva Haung, Lawrence Chou, Sammo Hung, Micheal Biehn, Simon Yam, Huh Joon Ho, Maggie QSynopsis: Five interpol agents are drafted into Hong Kong to keep watch over a witness in an important trial, while being transported the convoy is ambushed by a gang of masked gun man.The agents, come together to solve who attacked them and, while being mentored by an almost retired officer, decide to take out the gang before more people are killed.Review:So this film has been receiving a lot of negative press, both from fans living in Hong Kong and those who live in other countries, having seen the flick, i's easy to understand why, the pacing is chaotic and the camera work as extremely frantic during it's many action sequences, add in some awkward attempts at character development and some repetitive flashbacks and you'd have a stinker on your hands right?Well, I hate to break it to you guys but no, despite some of the films superficial flaws, it does not fail in being one of the finest films to come out of Hong Kong in 2005 and while it didn't get the box office reception it deserved, this reviewer felt refreshed to find some creativity among the watered down Rom-coms the local film industry have seem to be putting out this past year. So let's start with the plot.It's your typical by the numbers tried and tested plot, there's the bad guys and there's the good guys, they fight, bad guys win, good guys get mentored by wise senior, fight again, good guys win.So really the plot is an excuse for director Daniel Lee is experiment with some very Micheal Mann-esquire camera work, about that, the camera work for the most part does the job right, it creates excitement and tension which kept this reviewer glued o the screen throughout, as it suited the style of the action scene s very well.Now the action, well, the good news is, there's plenty of it, lots of gun play with the odd martial arts sequence thrown in for good measure, the fighting mostly being done by Huh Joon Ho and Sammo Hung who confront each other twice, the second encounter being the most bloody and brutal. The shootouts are very well put together.For a movie which could be considered a mainstream film in Hong Kong, it isn't afraid to be extremely violent when it wants to be, there's plenty of blood on offer here, so if the acting doesn't grab, the blood soaked action will.The acting ranges from sleepy to extremely good. Micheal Biehn, who's a familiar face to Hollywood movie fans as Kyle Reese in James Cameron's seminal classic The Termintor, stars as the lead villain, for a man who's been working in the film industry for so long, I thought he would have brought some much needed acting to the movie but really he seems to be almost sleep walking in his role but one may interpret Biehn's characterisation as a person who's so cold, he shows very little emotion.The actors who played the five interpol agents where all very good, although, really, I would have liked it if they had a little more personality, they all came off as a little bland in place. Eva Huang is extremely easy on the eyes, definitely a face to look out for in future movies. former pop star Vanness Wu gives a credible performance, while Shawn Yue gives his usual calibre of acting but this reviewer felt the best acting had to go to the one and only Sammo Hung, who plays a character reluctant to get involved but realises if he wants to leave the past behind him, he must confront his demons, it's also worth mentioning he has the best fight in the entire movie against Huh Joon Hoo, who plays a chillingly sociopathic villain.So, overall I really liked it, I think it's nowhere near as bad as everyone seems to be making it out to be and deserves at least one viewing by anyone who's a fan of Hong Kong cinema or Micheal Bay.