Dragons Forever

Buy This Item Dragons Forever by Tai Seng  Available from Amazon  $19.98  on 11-27-2008     A fitfully amazing, frequently disheartening hodgepodge of action, farce, and romance, slapped together as a costarring vehicle for three of Hong Kong's major movie stars: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung (who also directed), and Yuen Biao. Its light-footed, try-anything spirit makes it consistently enjoyable, but these wonderful performers are working (to put it kindly) beneath their gifts. Chan plays a womanizing attorney who recruits arms-dealer Hung and madcap inventor Biao to dig up dirt on the corporate sleaze balls he's supposedly defending--industrial polluters (and heroin smugglers) whose effluents threaten the bucolic fish farm of a handsome widow woman. The trio doesn't have many collective scenes, so their Three Musketeers act never really gets off the ground. As always, the fights and stunt work are mind-boggling; the jaunty details are fun: Chan's flick-of-the-wrist trick with a fancy briefcase; Hung's deft run- through of a few choice Cantonese opera moves; and Yuen Biao's Olympic-level acrobatics on, around, and within an industrial steel-tube staircase. <i>--David Chute</I> Reader Reviews I finally got around to watching this, and boy have I been missing out. If you enjoyed the famous H.K. trio (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Bio) from Wheels on Meals and Project A, then you will undoubtedly love this film. Dragons Forever has more of a Wheels on Meals feel to it then Project A for sure, especially with Benny Urquidez returning for a dream matchup against Chan once again. Dragons is a difficult film to aquire, and is pricey on dvd. In addition, I have not seen any English dubbed version availbale either (not that that is a bad thing) but some people, like myself, don't do well with subtitles. The option I chose was to record it off of Spike TV. To my surprise - subtitles. Who'd ever thought. It actually wasn't that bad, I really got into this film. The trio is simply amazing, and though they don't have too many scenes where all 3 are on the screen at once, you can feel a chemistry anyways as a viewer (especially if you have seen Meals on Wheels). I would say there are not an overabundance of action scenes, but in between the story still captured my attention well. Its not everyday you get to see some fun love stories unfold in martial arts films, and I have to admit, though a bit silly and maybe cheesy, I enjoyed Chan and Hung's never-ending scenes of winning over their loves. The action again is limited, but the scenes themselves are not. Dragons has some of the best martial arts choreogrpahy I have ever seen. Everything is so fluid and acrobatic, well timed, and just eye-poping. Chan's fight against Urquidez is a huge treat, though not as long as their fight in Wheels on Meals, it is still a solid 4 minutes of intense excitemnet. Benny gets barely any screen time before his fight, but he just looks evil in this one (in a cool way). And if that wasn't enough, Yuen Bio fights Billy Chow (bad boy in Fist of Legend) too. Billy Chow gets some more screen time, but I think he only has one line in the whole film. This is one of his earlier film appearances too. Dragons is easily one of the best Chan movies created, and perhaps one of the greatest H.K. martial arts cast every assembled. If you were like me and haven't seen this yet, you are missing out. It's a shame its hard to find and expensive, but it just might be worth it. This is a film that Dragon Dynasty should consider re-releasing.

Dragons Forever Available from Amazon Price: $19.98 Updated on 11-27-2008.

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