China
is a big country. In 1917, a man could
get lost there if he had a reason to. A
court investigator suspects an unassuming paper-mill worker is such a person in
Peter Ho-sun Chan’s martial arts historical-procedural Dragon (a.k.a. Wu Xia, trailer here), which opens
this Friday in New York.
One
day, Liu Jin-xi wandered into town, catching the eye of Ayu, a single mother deserted
by her husband. Liu married her,
adopting her clan name and providing the sort of stability she yearned
for. Then one day, two escaped convicts
start terrorizing the community. Liu
dispatches them with a series of “lucky shots” in an unlikely melee that could
have been choreographed by one of the great silent film comedians. Or perhaps not.
Xu
Bai-jiu is not buying it. Highly skilled
in arcane knowledge, the investigator can practically see Liu radiating
chi. Putting two and two together, Xu
deduces Liu is actually Tang Long, the presumptive heir of the ruthless 72
Demons criminal clan. Unfortunately,
Xu’s efforts with the corrupt judiciary attract the attention of the 72 Demons,
who come reclaim their turncoat brother, one way or another.
Considering
Wu Xia (as it was then known) broke
Michael Jackson’s record for largest public billboard, one might expect it to
be a big sprawling epic. Yet, Dragon is a moody character driven
piece, dominated by the cat-and-mouse game played by Donnie Yen’s Liu and
Takeshi Kaneshiro’s Xu. Of course,
action director Yen does his thing when the Demons show up, including late
1970’s Shaw Brothers superstar Kara Hui, appearing as the Demon Master’s lethal
wife. Fans will be happy to hear he
stages some great smack-down action, including a super finale smartly
incorporating the film’s holistic themes.
Yen
has the right mix of affability and earnestness for Tang-trying-to-be-Liu. Yet, it is Xu who emerges as the film’s truly
tragic figure. Cerebral and intense to
the point of snapping, Kaneshiro makes a great movie anti-hero. A man who uses acupuncture to deaden his
emotions and holds regular dialogues with his subconscious, Xu’s unyielding fealty
to the letter of the law bears bitter fruit for everyone, most definitely
including himself. Tang Wei is also
right on the money as the sensitive Ayu, still struggling with abandonment
issues.
