Yellow Dragon
                   
Director: Tsutomu Kashima
Year: 2005
Rating: 5.0
I saw that a reviewer wrote that he watched this Japanese film but had no idea what was going on since it had no sub-titles. Well, I saw this with subs and it still was nearly incomprehensible. It made less sense than a cat taking SATs. The script is a jumbled mess making it difficult to understand who was who, who was on what side, who was on Yellow Dragon and why were they doing what they were doing. Just basics like setting up a scene or continuity were neglected. This was produced by Kurata Promotion and Yasuaki Kurata stars in it and you have to wonder if he bothered to look at the finished product before it was released and said ok.


 


Yellow Dragon is a drug formula that gives you enormous strength and wuxia like powers. It apparently has some negative side effects though such as bad acting, dull dialogue and poor wire work. Oh, and your head will eventually explode and blood will gush out. But great fun till that happens. The manufacturer is trying to sell it to representatives of Yakuza gangs and has a fighter take the drug and beat everyone by knocking them through walls. One of the potential clients sneaks a couple vials and drinks them. Then the fighter's head explodes. Oops. Sounds like a lawsuit in the making.

 



But wait, there is a girl who has the antidote in China and from that point on it rarely makes sense as gangs try to get her and Kurata and a few friends try and protect her. There is an even more confusing backstory and some of the fighters have taken YD and are waiting for their head to go off like a land mine. It is near gibberish. But then there is Kurata and Kurata means action. He may have been well past his prime in 2005, but he can still bring it. Director Tsutomu Kashima and Kurata save the budget for the final 25 minutes in which they deliver two solid set pieces of action; one with ninjas and one with machine guns. Until then it is like you are on a chain gang. It is a good way to end the film and takes the bad taste out of your mouth. Hong Kong action star, Michael Wai Chan shows up for a role slightly larger than a cameo and brings his gun with him.