Plot Summary:Donnie Yen is living in a small village working for a paper mill. One day two notorious thieves show up to rob the place, and Donnie Yen ends up killing them. This prompts an investigation led by Kaneshiro, a detective whom doesn't emphasize with humanity and suppresses his feelings through acupuncture.After days of digging Kaneshiro dicovers Donnie Yen is from a family of assassins called 72 Dragons, and is wanted for the murder of a butcher's family. Donnie en has been in hiding for 10 years and has settled down with married life. But after rumors spread of his resurgance, the 72 Dragons want their son back.Because the Detective put both his family and the village in danger, he decides to help Donnie Yen capture the Dragons. They have a final showdown inside his village home when they both succeed in taking down the Dragon Leader, Papa Dragon. ---------------------------- Film pays homage to History of Violence, and The One-Armed Swordsman

Wu Xia (also known as Dragon) is an upbeat martial arts orientated, action/crime/drama film directed by Peter Chan. The plot is set in 1917 where a family man (Liu Jinxi) working in a paper mill defends himself by killing two bandits trying to steal money, or so it seems. Detective Xu Bai-Jiu unfolds the events and cleverly concludes Liu Jinxi is not who he says he is. The film has an fast paced entwining plot that develops as Xi Bai-Jiu figures out more about Liu. The strengths in the film are found in the script, the cinematography and the post-production editing. This review will critique and compliment these features. The target audience for this film is both the Chinese society or the Western society, someone interested in martial arts films or someone who follows the actor Donnie Yen. I (a female university student, in my twenties) am not the target audience but I thoroughly enjoyed Dragon (2011), particularly due to the cinematography, I would rate it an 8/10.I personally thought the the Kung-Fu scenes were very cleverly put together in post-production. The sounds were thoroughly thought out, with a mixture of both non-Diegetic and Diegetic ambiance filling noises. There is a ringing sound as Yan Dongsheng (one of the bandits) is hit in the head, this sound was put in the film during post-production to dramatize the action sequence. It is a successful convention in reflecting pain. The camera work in these scenes is also notable, the audience can see intensified depth of field with the focus drawn to the weapon (or in Liu's case, his hands), accompanied by extreme closeup shots in slow motion. These elements all add additional intensification to the scene. The music soundtrack manipulates the audience with a low base and upbeat rhythm. Finally, the replay of these scenes in slow motion and backwards is a successful technique as Xu tries to solve what happened.The script brought depth to each character. As a viewer I felt connected to these characters, particularly Detective Xu Bai-Jiu. Xu's character began the film with an outlook that fact and truth were greater than loyalty. This was reflected in his need and want to figure out Liu's real life story and to punish him for the past that he ran away from. However as the story progressed, Xu and Liu developed a connection that overcame Xu's desire to do the right thing (by law). The actors were well cast, Liu's father, son and himself all had a similar look. I also thought, Xu fit the roles of detective/acupuncturist/philosopher well with his lanky features and glasses. The actors all portray heavy emotion that is incredibly convincing, particularly Donnie Yen's performance.An intelligent cinematic feature added in post-production was the incorporated sketches of how Yan died with one single blow to his temple. The element added another texture to the straight footage, with the addition of a voice-over by Xu as he figured out the clues. I personally thought this inclusion was effective, it added a level of science making the storyline more believable and interesting. Paying close attention to a couple scenes I'd like to make a comment about another element I appreciated, one was during the introduction of the 72 Demons. The lighting in the background is dark and only the faces are lit, this gives the audience the impression that the people we are about to be introduced to are bad, they meet in hidden underground locations. I think it is a successful technique in reflecting this. The second scene which I thought was cleverly composed was during the Kung-Fu fighting scene between Liu and Ah Yu, they reenacted a scene inspired by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon of a chase across the rooftops. The only thing I feel I can criticize about this film is the soundtrack to one scene. Rock music plays in the last Kung-Fu scene between Liu Jinxi (Tang Long) and his father, I do not think this fits in well with the Mise-en-scene of the sequence, it is very out of place. If Peter Chan were to replace the rock music, I would suggest something more culturally traditional, this is due to the location of the fight (Liu Jinxi's rural Chinese house).After watching the film I was left with the impression that it was so much deeper than a typical Wuxia (martial arts) film. Despite following all the codes and conventions of having a hero who practices martial arts, the film is a step above. This was reflected in the clever cinematography and voice overs, as if the film was a story happening in the moment but being told from the perspective of Xu. It is clear that Dragon's potential was recognized and acknowledged with 8 film awards and 16 nominations.

This movie is very strange. Let me sum it up with few words.Mystery. Suspenseful. Funny. Unique. Turbulent. Fun.This movie has low and high moments. It is definitely strange and unique and unlike anything I have ever seen- which is both good and bad as you can imagine. SOME stuff is predictable and I have seen it before. Actually quite a few things I have seen done before....But never all stitched together for one story. So that is somewhat new.This movie is like an old-fashioned crime-detective novel, with some crappy fighting thrown in that later turns to be better. The fight scenes improve somewhat- but don't go in this watching it for the fights. It's more of an entertaining keep you guessing while you laugh at it and are intrigued by it with a family member or friend type movie. I had fun watching it. I enjoyed it. Don't think I would watch it a 2nd time, but I would consider recommending it for sure. 7 may be too low considering how I have seen worse martial arts/suspense movies with higher ratings. This movie does leave some unanswered questions, and a few things to be desired. I would have liked to have seen a few more details in it, or would have changed a few things myself, but overall it was fun to watch with my sister so I can't complain too much. 7 is too low or just right depending on how you look at it, but there are definitely worse movies than this out there so give it a shot will you?

One of the best modern Wu Xia movies with overwhelming combats and spectacular scenes . Being well set during China's Imperial dynasty , and spectacular and colorfully directed by Peter Chan . It deals with a sinful martial arts expert called Liu Jin-xi (Donnie Yen) wants to start a new tranquil life, only to be hunted by a determined Detective called Xu Bai-Jiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro of House of flying daggers) who investigates his dark past and his former master (Wang Yu) . Liu lives almost anonymous until two robbers enter their village to rob a provision store and defends himself and kill them . Later on , the village is attacked and in order to seek vengeance Liu uses his extraordinary martial art skills . This classic Wu Xia flick displays lots of violence , action filled , thrills and fierce combats . This luxurious martial arts film was marvelously filmed with good production design , colorful cinematography and breathtaking scenes . The flick displays lots of violence, action filled , thrills and fierce combats . This is a colourful, China set and quite budget movie ; leave no cliché untouched , though the fighting are magnificently staged . The picture is full of tumultuous sequences with frenetic action , surprises , fierce combats and groundbreaking struggles . Amid the grandeur of the scenarios and impressive fights is developed an intrigue about a villager who bears dark secrets and stubborn Detective exploring his hidden side using C.S.I methods . The picture is starred by three myths of Wu Xia and Chinese martial arts such as Donni Yen who starred "Seven Swords" , ¨Hero¨ , ¨Yip man¨ saga , Takeshi Kaneshiro who acted in ¨Warlord¨ ¨Chungking Express¨, ¨Red Cliff¨ and Wang Yu who starred classic Kung-fu movies for Shaw Brothers as "The Chinese Boxer" , the 1st real movie non-swords, only bare hand and kicks fighting, a new genre in HK action movies , he gained super stardom status as the "One-armed Swordsman" and ¨ Master of flying guillotine¨ ; Wang paved the way for the future Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan for such a genre.The motion picture was compellingly directed by the Chinese Peter Ho-Sun Chan who has established himself firmly as a distinguished filmmaker/producer whose last 4 films have generated millions in China box office . In as early as the nineties, Chan already scored a string of critically acclaimed box office hits, including his award-winning directorial debut ¨Between Hello and Goodbye¨ (1991) and following ¨He's a Women, She's a Man¨ (1994) and ¨Comrades, Almost a Love Story¨ (1997), those produced by his own United Filmmakers Organization (UFO), among which Comrades has won a record 9 Hong Kong Film Awards and was named one of the Ten Best Movies of 1997 by Time Magazine. In 1998, Chan directed his first Hollywood picture ¨The Love Letter¨ for Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks SKG and starred by Spielberg's wife : Kate Capshaw. In 2000, he established Applause Pictures dedicated to quality co-productions aimed at audiences across Asia. In 2005, foreseeing the ever-growing market in China and its fast expanding audiences, Chan decided to take on the China market with the musical extravagance Perhaps Love (2005), Shot entirely on location in Mainland China, it became one of the year's top-grossing films in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and received a record 29 awards. Chan next directed ¨The Warlords¨ (2007) with Takhesi Kaneshiro and produced Derek Yee's ¨Protégé¨ (2007). The two films were the two highest grossing Hong Kong-China co-productions of 2007. And of course , this successful ¨Wu Xia¨ (2011) . Rating : Above average . The motion picture will appeal to Donnie Yen fans , he's a complete show .