Dragon Tiger Gate (Long Fu Moon)

After watching that tripe called X-Men: The Last Stand, I was really looking forward to catch Dragon Tiger Gate, kinda hoping it would restore my faith in comic book flicks...




Unfortunately, Dragon Tiger Gate didn't really do it for me. Overall, it's a mixed bag. How so? I've sorted out the good stuff from the crap pile below:

Good stuff:
1) Action scenes are amazing - outrageous, over-the-top, fast-paced duels. Stylish...

2) Special effects & CG are very well produced. No cheesy 70s, 80s wire-fu, only the good shit here...

3) This comic book adaptation is done in classic HK style (reminiscent of The Storm Raiders & A Man Called Hero). The scenes are very comic-book, manga-like feel

4) Donnie Yuen! His star is on the rise! Iron Monkey! HERO! Seven Swords! SPL! Give me more Donnie!

Yucky stuff:
1) Plot & characters are very 2-dimensional - I've never read Dragon Tiger Gate comics (mostly becos I dun read chinese) but the whole movie seems too condensed.

Dragon Tiger Gate is touted as the classic, must-read HK manga but the movie didn't do it justice. I expected much deeper storylines & fleshier characters. Eg. it was never revealed why the main villian, Shibumi & his crime syndicate, Lousha Gang are the bad guys. Just becos the dude wears an ugly mask & a caped costume doesn't mean he's a baddie... Maybe he kena rejected by X-Men leh...

2) Nokia's product placement deal - In the Dragon Tiger Gate universe, everybody uses Nokia phones...

I dun normally complain about product placement as the funding from these corporate sponsors are one of the reasons we get to watch the movies at all. The only time I get pissed about product placement is how blatant & obvious it is done.

In the movie, Dragon, Tiger & Turbo all had close-up scenes of them "using" Nokia phones. Of course, "using" here means teaching the public how different Nokia model works. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

3) Err... too much Donnie Yuen can be a bad thing also - Seems like the whole movie is made for him to pose in cool, stylish kung fu moves...

Trivia:
I thought it was kinda cool that the comic's creator Wong Yuk Long cameo-ed as Master Qi. How apt was it that only Master Qi can "heal" the badly injured Tiger & Turbo and Master Qi "taught" them their new finishing moves for their final duel with Shibumi...

++++++++++++++++++++

On a totally unrelated note:

NEVER... Never ever doubt the power of the MAT vote...

Hady Mirza is the new Singaporean Idol!

X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand sucks...

If you dunno the characters and your only introduction to them and their stories was the 1st 2 movies, this 3rd instalment delivers a pretty entertaining, action-packed time...

If you are like me and legions of fan-boys all over the world, then you will be bitterly disappointed...

Unbeknownst to many, back in my secondary school days (SJI, circa 1991 - 1993), I collected comics. Every week, after school, a bunch of us, geeky & nerdy SJI boys, would make our way to the nearest comic book shop, Comics Mart @ Serene Center, for the latest shipment of comics from the States. For that 2.5 years of my life, the Marvel Universe provided me an avenue to escape reality - the distress & pressures from school, family & puberty...

Which is probably why I take these comic-adaptated movies very seriously...

I loved the Spider-Man movies... excellent adaptations of the comics, I thought the storylines & the concepts were handled brilliantly. Hulk was ok... Didn't care for Fantastic Four, Daredevil & Elektra...

The 1st X-Men movie was ok; I thought the sequel, X2, was excellent...

So.... how exactly do I feel about X-Men: The Last Stand?
I gonna be lazy (it's 5.45am) and direct y'all to this review by Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News. Mr. Knowles' review eloquently describes my disgust and displeasure at the movie and its makers.

Sure, there were some cool parts in the movie and the action is fast and frenetic but it's just not the X-Men that I know and read about in the comics that cost my 80% of my pocket money every week back in SJI.

My only consolation is that I watched a DVDrip so I didn't pay good money for it... But wait, I wasted 2 hrs of my precious time watching that piece of shit... damn...