Dragon From Russia, The (1990, dir. Clarence Ford)

[Toge]

Dragon From Russia, The
AKA Hung Cheung Fei Lung (Original Cantonese title)
Starring: Sam Hui, Maggie Cheung, Carrie Ng, Yuen Tak, Yuen Wah, Dean Shek, Nina Li Chi, Rachel Li
Directed by Clarence Ford (Fok Yiu Leung)
Produced by Catherine Lau, Dean Shek & Clarence Ford
Action Chorography by Yuen Tak
DVD distributed by Medusa
DVD digitally re-mastered & restored by Hong Kong Legends

THE SYNOPSIS:

Yiu Lung, (Sam Hui from Aces Go Places), and Yip Mou Man, (Maggie Cheung from Hero), are orphans raised by guy called Cheuk Kau (Dean Shek from Drunken Master). Little so they know that he used to work for a underground sect called the '800 Dragons' headed by Lui Chat Lung (Yuen Wah from Eastern Condors). Lui Chat Lung decides to find Cheuk Kau, but also finds out about Yiu Lung and his abilities. Lui decides to kill Cheuk Kau for being a traitor, and kidnap Yiu Lung to train him to become the best assassin the '800 Dragons' have ever had. He gets assigned to kill other '800 Dragon' traitors, until Yip Mou Man finally finds Yiu Lung. They fall in love again and are forced to be on the run by the '800 Dragons' as well as the Japanese Yakuza....

Based on the original Japanese manga comic The Crying Freeman, by Kazuyo Koyiki, was, and probably still is, one of the most famous manga comics of all time in Japan, and indeed all Asia. In this film by Clarence Ford, (Director of Naked Killer, Naked Weapon), we are treated to a film version of the manga, considered to be the closest one to the original manga. Here, I will review the film, the disc, and of course, everything else. ;-)

THE FILM:

Director Clarence Ford normally directs Category 3, breast-filled films with no plot whatsoever, and just a film you would watch for the nice flesh. Clarence, however, filming for Cinema City, tries to break into the kung-fu market with this action packed film, starring Sam Hui and Maggie Cheung, two of Hong Kong's most famous celebrities.

Ford, as a veteran director, will know his shots, and here he uses a lots of types shots, such as panned out shots, panoramic shots, close ups and one he uses a lot in this film, and is very noticeable, is the from 'down below' shot, looking up to the character. This is an easy way of showing atmosphere, and it does indeed work effectively, especially when done with dark backgrounds, (which this film does very much consist of). Also, one type of shot which I particularly liked and is underused by everyone is the one where there is some scenery out of focus in front of the people who are speaking, (the library scene for example). Makes you think you were actually there spying on them. Very effective and very atmospheric.
Ford also injects some of the dark Cantonese into this film, (involving Hui's character running away scene plus in numerous other places), does but a break for those people who like their dark humour. As for actual slapstick humour that Jackie Chan himself pioneered into action films, there is none is this film whatsoever.
I was very impressed with how the 'on the run' action sequence was made - camera was well placed, an equal amount panned out/mid shots with the mid shots showing Hui spray machine gun fire everywhere, and the explosions were very good; even slow-mo was used, and huge explosions. Very John Woo like scenes, very good.
One flaw I found in one of the action scenes - I don't know who filmed it, (whether it was Yuen Tak or Ford), but is was incredibly flawed, it had a very panned out shot of the action, I didn't see what was going on, just lots of movement. I think it was to fit in all 4 characters into one screen, but I would have preferred interspersed shots of the action rather then just a panned out shot. But, overall, a very good effort from Ford. Lots of atmosphere, lots of angles, and very, very fluid.

Oh, and one more thing - the token 'gwai lo' gets killed off by his master, which is quite an entertaining killing too. And if you don't know what a 'gwai lo' is, bow your head down in shame.

Sam Hui, better known for a his comedy roles and his singing career, plays orphan Yiu Lung in this film. He's very muscular in this film, very fit, and does fit into the action scenes well, even though he was doubled most of the time by stuntman John Cheung, (Hui was reaching into his 50s when this was shot!). The comedy that he did in this film is very dark and very 'adult'. But, in one of the funny scenes paid a very, very funny homage to the late, great Bruce Lee, which I won't spoil for you, but was very funny, and something you won't see Sam Hui doing in his other films. He does play the character well though, and with depth.

Ahh, Maggie Cheung, the lovely Maggie Cheung. She's playing a similar role to the one she played in Police Story series, playing the stereotypical girlfriend of the main guy, but this time, with a twist - it's not the bloke looking for his gal, but, the other way around; interesting, no? One thing I forgot to mention, was the romance between Yiu Lung & Yip Mou Man, very touching, and a well deserved break from all the non-stop action. In general, not groundbreaking acting from Cheung, but still in all, she's doing what she does best, and that's that.

Yuen Tak. That's not a name you'll see everyday will you, eh? Well, as you may well know, he was part of 'Seven Little Fortunes', (Tut Siu Fok), with others like Yuen Wah, Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung being the other most famous ones, when they were young. Anyways, enough about the past, and on with this.

Starting with the action chorography - it's fast fluid, and a change from the Jackie Chan films. Not much wirework has been used in this film, it's all been fast groundwork type fighting. No stunts here. Not many flashy jump kicks either. But, nothing groundbreaking, like the chorography in Jackie Chan's Drunken Master 2, or Gordon Chan's Fist of Legend. Just lots of non-stop, fluid action. Not much else to say really.

Now, on to the his role in the film. Tak plays Wong Dak Yuen, Yiu Lung's trusty right-hand man when he has turned into an assassin and as the stand in for Yuen Wah character when Wah isn't there. He plays his roles well, getting some humourous Cantonese lines in there, as well, as keeping a straight face when all goes hectic and he has to break out the gun.

Tak also doubles everyone that needs doubling, from Carrie Ng's backflips and forward rolls, to fight scenes which were suppose to have Yuen Wah in it but has to leave out due to him working for Sammo Hung in another film.

By and large, Tak does very well in this film, and you can see all his hard work in the action chorography shine through in this film.

This film, generally, is very much a entertaining, no-brainer of a popcorn film, with some romance and comedy chucked in. You'll either like it or loathe it.

THE DISC:

The film is presented in a very respectable and original ratio 1:85:1 print. Everything is smooth, clean with no noticeable grain or dirt or scratches. One scene did seem to have grain, but I think the scene was shot like that artistically. I did see a horizontal line to the left of scene somewhere, but its virtually unnoticeable and you'd have to be very picky to have notice it. Basically something that's a little disappointing from a film only made 13 years ago at the time of writing, but you'd have to be VERY picky.

The disc comes with 3 soundtracks, the original Cantonese DD5.1 soundtrack, English Dub DD5.1 & a commentary by Director Clarence Ford himself and Hong Kong Stuntman Jude Poyer. I listened to both Cantonese and English soundtracks, and both are clear as crystal, no hissing, and no sound drops outs. Very good by Hong Kong Legends.

The commentary, by director Ford and Jude Poyer, is very informative, and very interesting. Ford tells us some very interesting things about the film, such as the NG shot he used and later re-dubbed, and the locations of each scenes, as well as some background and behind the scenes information. Jude is there to ask him questions, correct Ford's English as well as putting some humourous antidotes to the commentary. Overall, a very entertaining, funny & informative commentary that could well rival Bey Logan's commentaries on the other Hong Kong Legends disc.

The disc also comes with English subtitles, English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing & Dutch subtitles. I can really say that the dialogue is very well translated (being a Cantonese speaker), and there are practically no problems whatsoever with the spelling or grammar. There is no westernisation either!

Special features include a trailer gallery of The Dragon from Russia, which include both the Hong Kong Legends trailer as well as the original Hong Kong theatre trailer, a Dragon From Russia retrospective with Bey Logan and the oh so gorgeous Maggie Q, (Star of Naked Weapon), which just basically features 15 minutes of them talking about the film, Maggie Q idolising Maggie Cheung, and Bey flirting with Maggie. The last 3 minutes are just outtakes of the 'Maggie Wink' & Bey practising his 'Hung Gar' kung fu. It's entertaining and funny while it laughs, especially with Bey doing his kung fu on screen!

Also included in the special features section is a 10 minute scene which was cut from the final print. It was cut due to confusion between characters, and it was cut rightly so.

There are also six trailer promoting future and already released Hong Kong Legends discs. The trailers include ones for Bichunmoo, The Swordsman, Crime Story, The Avenging Fist, Project A 2 & The Young Master.