Cao, a power-hungry eunuch, is attempting to create his own evil regime beyond the gaze of the Emporor. When Minister of Defence Yang threatens to reveal Cao's plans, he is executed; his two children are spared so that they can be used as bait to lure Yang's allies into a trap.A band of brave rebels manage to rescue the children, and ride out to The Dragon Gate Inn, a refuge in the desert which is run by brigands. Here they plan their next move, aware that Cao and his followers are hot on their trail...Having seen some clips of this film on TV and been impressed with the sheer craziness of what I had witnessed, I laid down my hard earned cash for what I hoped would be a prime slice of mad Wuxia action; with Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin all starring in this Tsui Hark produced epic, I figured this was going to be something special. But an hour in and I was starting to wonder if I had got the wrong film.Fight fans will be sorely disappointed since the martial arts scenes are so poorly edited that they become confusing and once the characters reach the inn there is next to no action for quite a while; in the meantime we get to watch some rubbish about visitors to the inn being turned into pork buns (a la The Untold Story) and Maggie Cheung unsuccessfully tries it on with Tony Leung.The crazy action eventually kicks in when Cao's army arrive at the inn. There is a brief fight in the inn which results in a nice bit where someone gets crushed between two mill stones and a gratuitously gory battle in the desert in which everyone gets injured or killed. If the whole affair had been as deliriously barmy as the final 20 minutes then Dragon Gate Inn would have been a classic rather than just another average kung-fu movie.

Everybody loves "Crouching Tiger", but this movie made more than 10 years ago is a much better martial arts movie. Instead of trying to be everything like "Crouching Tiger" did, it was just designed and implemented as a martial arts movie, and nothing else. This focus made it great to begin with. In addition to a stellar cast, great action scenes, its plot is solid and intriguing. The final fight is one of the greatest martial arts scenes ever made, especially to those who grew up reading Chinese martial arts novels. It is interesting that those who have a problem with the imagination of Chinese martial arts movies do not have any issue with that of "Matrix". In fact, the logic is very similar. "Matrix": with hi-tech, everything is possible, including dodging bullets; Chinese martial arts movies: with kongfu, everything is possible, including running on the roof. Having said that, I understand that those who have never read Chinese martial arts novels may have trouble with some of the scenes, especially if you are trying to find medical evidence to verify the possibility of some moves. However, this is just a movie based on a novel, so why don't you just relax and enjoy?

DRAGON INN exibits the same great production values of every Tsui Hark film. It's a good movie all around, with some truly enjoyable performances by a stellar cast.What both makes and breaks it is the shaky balance between the bulk of the film and its climax. The first 95% is rock solid. The last 5% goes off the deep end, in a crazy, supernatural gorefest fight between Donnie Yen and the varied protagonists. Film school diehards will want their money back. HK film fanatics will sit there in astonishment for a few moments -- then start laughing and cheering. It's truly insane, and I love it.My only knock: not enough Donnie Yen.But there are other films for that.

When I saw this in my local video store, I new I had to have it for two reasons. 1, because my favirote martial artist Donnie Yen (Highlander Endgame, Iron Monkey) was in it and 2, because it involved swords.Seeing Donnie Yen's work in the likes of Highlander Endgame and Iron Monkey, I was curious to see this movie. I was slightly disappointed that Donnie Yen wasn't in this movie much, apart from start and the rather bizarre fight scene towards the end of the movie.Overall, New Dragon Gate Inn is a great movie, but there are better martial arts movies out there.8/10