Legend of the Red Dragon (1994)

Is it just me? Or does Jet Li do WAY too many of these time period films. I love Jet Li, and many of his movies, but I do notice he chooses to do time period films a lot. I didn't particularly care for this martial arts epic. It's never boring, and it does have some decent action scenes, but it's quite stupid at times. It has some atrocious dubbing, to the point where it annoyed me beyond belief. It takes away some of the enjoyment from the film. It alternates from being deadly serious to comedic at times. It felt very uneven and jumbled. It's like it was trying to have the cake and eat it too. You can't have both, and the attempt failed in my opinion. The thing that keeps this movie watchable is the relationship between Jet & his son. The kid has some ridiculously good abilities and had great screen presence for his age. They had a tangible chemistry with each other that felt real. I also enjoyed the comedic bits with Deannie Yip & Chigmay Yau as the Mother & Daughter. It felt out of place at times, but they were amusing as thieves. It has an OTT villain with burn scars all over his face. His "invincible" act got rather grating to my nerves, and I had trouble buying into him as a threat. The finale is disappointingly routine, but it does have a cool moment where Jet dives through a clock to save his son. I didn't care for this movie, but it does have its moments. I just think Jet is capable of much better than this stuff. 5.2/10

Well this movie is another Hong Kong action movie staring the kungfu legend Jet Li. There is nothing deep about this movie, all it is is an action packed romp with strange enemies, unreal fighting maneuvers, and a dash of the Hong Kong spice that make these movies more exciting than those one sees in America.The New Shoalin is about Hung and his son. He is betrayed by a brother Shoalin who kills his family and then tries to kill him. Hung defeats him and then wonders the land to deal with the new oppressive regime. Seven years on, Hung is still following is quest and his son has become a very competent martial artists. In a city he is betrayed again, but as he has no money, he is forced to bodyguard an unscrupulous rich man. At the same time, two thieves, the notorious mother and notorious daughter, have latched onto him. Hung knows these thieves' intention, but he cannot convince his master of it.When the Shoalin Temple is destroyed they believe that he is be dead so his brother attempts to find the location of a large treasure horde, the map of which is tattooed on the back of five children. These children wind up in the same place as Hung, and when his nemesis, now known as the poison man, appears, he must protect the kids and the two thieves, the younger of which has fallen for him.As I previously said, there is not much depth in this movie, but one watches it for the action. Things are quite predictable, but the stunts, or rather the moves, are quite extraordinary, especially since they are performed quite unrealistically. This does not matter because Hong Kong cinema generally does not want to be purely correct. They appreciate a bit of fantasy in their movies.

Great, fun martial arts flick. Very tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted. Excellent chemistry and performances from all the main actors.Jet Li plays a serious, heroic character like something out of a comic book - this is one of the earliest movies I've seen using this comic-book technique. His son is simply amazing and funny as a very disciplined young martial artist. On their journey they come across a couple of con-artists (mother and daughter) with the most hilarious results. A hero's quest with a range of other fantastic characters thrown in make for a great comic, action-adventure story.Also great for all the family. It explores themes of loyalty and traditional Chinese father-son, mother-daughter, peer, and romantic relationships in a silly but highly enjoyable manner.Make sure you see the full, subtitled version though. Not the cut-down version or the poor dubbed version.

I believe Jet Li to be a terrific martial artist. However, I thought this movie was probably the worst I have seen him do. Legend of Red Dragon is about a man whose family was murdered by people related to the government, because he was a bandit. His friend ratted out on him for money and it ended in a fight to the death for the friend. Little did Jet Li's character know that the man would come back as an evil creature on revenge. The only survivor was his own son, and now the two team journey on their own. Eight years after the tragic event, their past comes back to them.On a side story, five little Shaolin monk children were tattooed a piece of a map that would lead to a valuable item: The Red Dragon. The "Friend" from eight years ago and the government team together to find the kids and get the map. As they try to get children, they stumble upon the father and son. Now them and the five children, along with a few other characters try to put a stop to the government from getting a hold of the Red Dragon.What makes this a disappointment was how it was directed, as well as the storyline. You were able to see strings from most of the flying scenes, you could tell that most of the scenes were taken in a studio. Secondly, the Red Dragon was never found and it pretty much died out when Jet Li's character had a bounty on his head. Personally, I think it could have been better. Stick with the storyline, and work on the strings.