Legend of the Dragon
Reviewed by YTSL
In many ways, this 1991 film is your average Stephen
Chow vehicle. For one thing, the role given to Hong Kong's king of
comedy is that of the kind of innocent, naive and hayseed-ish anti-hero that
many of his fans seem to love for him to essay (and allows him to mug and
act goofy to his heart's content). For another, its story is one in
which the winsome looking boy-man and his equally righteous allies get into
a situation where he -- as the chief representative of the underdogs -- has
to wage an uphill battle against sophisticated as well as bad people.
Then there is his predictably -- hence my not considering its disclosure to
be a major "spoiler" -- as well as ultimately prevailing by deriving strength
from traditional sources and the goodwill of others.
Alternatively, LEGEND OF THE DRAGON is not the kind of filmic offering that
one would immediately associate with Danny Lee (the director), Leung Kar
Yan, Yuen Wah and Shing Fui-On. Yet the latter three have parts in
this good humored work -- as the main character's not entirely scrupulous
"uncle", upstanding village elder father (it was a real shock to see Yuen
play a good guy for a change since I have come to think of him as having
the archetypal face of a Hong Kong movie villain) and a flash urban thug,
respectively -- while the actor who I tend to think of as the funny man's
usually ubiquitous sidekick, Ng Man Tat, is missing from the production.
At the risk of drawing attention away from the lead actor, I have to say
that I consider the support casting -- which also Teresa Mo as the one female
who has significant screen time, or maybe even any actual lines to utter
-- to be one of the more refreshing aspects of a rather formulaic film (which
does have its share of pleasantly light-hearted moments and amusing visuals
-- I particularly enjoyed the post-ride-in-the-convertible hair styles of
Chow, Yuen and Mo -- but whose Prodigal Son meets "country bumpkins versus
city slickers" storyline is hardly the world's most original). It is
very much to his credit though that even while Stephen Chow furnishes the
bulk of this piece's highlights, he really does seem inclined to ensure that
quite a few of the named others get at least one chance to individually shine.
LEGEND OF THE DRAGON makes allusions to Bruce Lee by having the chief character
be named Siu Lung (Chinese for Little Dragon) -- like that martial arts and
movie legend -- and his kung fu sifu father having been a friend and colleague
of the man whose cinematic efforts included those entitled "Enter the Dragon"
and "Way of the Dragon". The small amount of kung fu that one sees
in this unabashed comic piece is generally played for laughs though (even
during the all too short sequence in which Chow stylishly wields an umbrella
as a weapon in a manner that Jet Li might be proud to do); this despite the
film's boasting two respected action choreographers in Yuen Wah and another
of the Seven Fortunes, Corey Yuen Kwai (the director of "Yes Madam!" and
"Fong Sai Yuk", among other impressive action works and has a small cameo
as a rural policeman).
Instead, the skills that are most lovingly showcased in LEGEND OF THE DRAGON
are that which belong to champion pool players (including those of a genuine
master of the game in Jimmy White as well as that which Stephen Chow surely
only can possess by way of some kind of cinematic trickery). Although
some might scoff at this idea, the result is actually positive. If
nothing else, this focus on that which is not often featured in Hong Kong
movies endows an otherwise standard offering -- which never once succeeded
in making me laugh out loud -- with some rather unique as well as downright
cool scenes that make for amazing along with fun viewing.
My rating for the film: 7.
Just as a note to all the Amy Yip fans out there,
I wanted to mention that she has a small cameo (if you can call anything the
Yipster does small) that lasts for about a minute - but it is one in which
her assets are very prominent.
