Revenge of the Green Dragons

The movie is based on true events, so the filmmakers had to walk on the thin line between integrity and artistic freedom, which may have effected the story being told, and made everything overall weak.

Andrew Lau, known best for Infernal Affairs, the movie that inspired Martian Scorsese's the Departed, with the help of Andrew Loo, takes his from of crime drama off the streets of Hong Kong, and place it on the streets of Queens, New York, which I thought was perfect.

It's starts out about a boy who gets caught up in the crime underworld in the 1980s and leads to unwinding The FBI's theory that the large amount of Immigration in the city is bringing crime into it.

The movie was just a jumble of events slab together by a story that did not feel really drawn out. I loved the fact that the movie is filled with Asian Actors not doing the stereotypical action Kung Fu genre but wish they had more to work with.

I went into it expecting to see a a great Asian Cinema Crime Drama set in New York which sounds amazing, and even though I liked the movie it was not anywhere as good what I would expect a collaboration between Scorsese and Lau.

I feel like the writer (Michael Di Jiacomo) created a solid art house film beginning with a dramatic true story from a newspaper article, about a Chinese gang in nyc during the 80's and 90's, but only uses this as a point of departure to tell another poetic and intricately woven meditation on immigration, race and class which could easily pertain to any immigrant group. But he really took the story to another level with his soulful shamanic protagonist, Sonny (Justin Chon), who oddly maintains his purity and innocence against a harsh tapestry of brutality and violence, as he tragically explores ideas of identity, family, and the universal mechanisms by which human alliances in society are built and broken.

But maybe the producers were a bit afraid Jiacomo's vision would not be marketable enough, and so they tried to thinly disguise this brilliant, complex, touching, and highly nuanced script, sometimes as a detective story, and at other times as a shoot em' up action flick, and occasionally even as a schlocky melodrama. None of these other genres quite worked out however, and it seems that viewers and critics walked away confused, and the film did not receive the recognition it deserves.

But who knows, the art film it was intended to be may never seen the light of day. It is interesting to note how movies are made through an intersection of artists, investors, marketing people, and public opinion and trends. In fact, any group in society forms organically in a similar way. We cling to one another first for survival, perhaps for love, then for defense and maybe later, domination, and then again for love.

If you squint while watching, maybe you can catch a glimpse of what this film was supposed to be. Yet you can certainly appreciate it for what it is. There are so many powerful nuances such as the role of the middle class Chinese detective (Jin Au-Yeung) constantly experiencing different forms of racism from the white detectives, who are petty enough to even steal his recognition to be named on the front page of the newspaper. At times he seems opportunistic and self serving but at other times you realize he is a mirror to the other characters (they are often seated face to face) and is also struggling for his identity in a society which does not welcome him for being Chinese. The way that Snakehead Mama (Eugenia Yuan) lives in an elegant home sipping from a European teacup while her gang of enforcers live in squalor slurping noodles. In another scene she calmly orders brutal murders of Chinese who have been disobedient to the "family." Later she snarls "I am the American the dream."

The peaceful and philosophical businessman, Paul (Harry Shum), politely bows to his victims before ordering their murder, and is described as not a leader, but a religion. At the bottom rung is Steven (Kevin Wu), who is so badly damaged he has become a psychopathic maniac. Yet, Steven's ruthless murderous inclinations are the source of power, privilege and prestige for the others in the hierarchy. Yet, he is hardly a cold, cruel and calculated killer -- his emotions are so intense they are constantly overflowing. He literally exclaims angrily in one scene, "you don't think I feel?" His killing is an uncontrollable mixture of intense rage and sadness, as if he has made the choice to personally bear the burden of the others' pain collectively, so they may be relieved of it and can have the luxury to behave civilly.

There are some difficult scenes involving torture and rape which are hard to watch. But from what I gather this is based on a true story and these scenes are necessary to provide insight into the reality of historic and cultural events. That being said, it is not anywhere near as bad as a Tarantino flick and about the same as Apocalypse Now or the Godfathers. Thankfully there was no gratuitous sex or exploitation of women. I felt the ending was a bit unsatisfying but not terrible. I feel this is an important film as there is virtually no media attention to these Chinese gangs and they are an overlooked part of history. Furthermore, I think this a very important film to watch for anyone interested in exploring immigration, race and imperialism.

The obvious take away is that the more we outlaw immigrants, marginalize them, and prohibit law enforcement from protecting their rights, we are turning our bank on innocent families and children who can easily become subject to slavery, abuse, rape, and murder. This is not just happening to the Chinese is New York in the 80's - this is happening now.

*What's the Hong Kong equivalent of Hollywood, eg "Bollywood" for India?

I read the story of the Green Dragons over 20 years ago, and have just recently heard of the movie adaptation. After watching this, I think this is another case of "the facts are more interesting than fiction". The original events were violent and raw. It ended with a sense of retribution. What the director did with the movie version was to partially "Hong Kong"ize the story. This really doesn't work unless you go all in and purposely try to suspend the audience's disbelief.

I don't mean to say Hong Kong action movies are bad, but they only fit in a style that shouldn't be done for non-fiction, even with a gangster movie. All the brooding, the slow moving gun mechanics, the improvised romance, etc. works great when the action is so gratuitous, you can shut your brain off and enjoy the flick for what it is. In Dragon, all the personalities, including the lead, just mesh into a stylized melodramatic comic character of their real counterparts. It's not the actor's fault, since their portrayals are closely reminiscent of Hong Kong action movies.

Again, I just think they should have gotten a more appropriate director and stay truer to the original events. For example, in Casino, I can believe it happened in real life as shown on the screen... not so much with Dragon.

That said, I enjoyed the movie, perhaps mostly because I enjoyed the story.

Traveling across an ocean or desert and into a new country, one becomes subject to different rules, and vulnerable to thugs who know the system better. Those unable or unwilling to control their own destinies in this new climate, invite others to do it for them. "Captain leads, sailor sails," is the saying, and some unsavory, yet deceptively wholesome looking, captains appear at the helm. The American dream depends more on one's luck, resources and strength of character, than on equal opportunity, liberty or other tenuous threads. Based on actual events from the 1980s, the film follows the lives of Chinese immigrants to New York City who are pressured into gangs, menial labor and violence. The main characters are two boys who become part of the notorious Green Dragon gang. Despite shaky acting and disjointed transitions, it is an intriguing and insightful glimpse into the underworld of U.S. immigration. Many scenes are predictable, yet there were some twists and turns, especially at the end, that I did not see coming. Seen at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Andrew Lau's "Infernal Affairs" trilogy became the best-known import in the early 2000s from the storied Hong Kong film industry, supplying Martin Scorsese with material for his Academy Award- winning film "The Departed". But while Mr. Lau's latest, "Revenge of the Green Dragons," leaps forth with a flurry of montage, attitude, and action, it loses its way as a drama.

This film — a crime yarn directed jointly by Lau and Andrew Loo, and set in Queens during the Chinese immigration wave of the 1980s — begins by sketching out the hungry desperation of the era, and how Chinese gangs took hold of two schoolmates, Sonny and Steven, and never let go. Violence and cynicism abound, as the story ratchets forward to track the hotheaded Steven and the more prudent Sonny through gangland intrigue, shootings, and blowbacks. The violence is savage and the torture, graphic. The victims are true-to-life: women, children and the elderly. There are also a few mind games - coupled with a neat albeit unconvincing twist at the end - as there are straight-up acts of brutality. Sadly, the rest of the mayhem that's fueled by drugs, human trafficking, and an unconvincing, supposedly ill-fated romance seem hurriedly patched together, and contribute little towards making this gangster flick as engaging and fresh as it's ruthless and stylish.

Inspired by a 1992 article in The New Yorker, "Green Dragons" gets a certain vigor out of it's prideful battles for power, turf control, and respect in a world where only the murders of whites seem to matter. Yet the busy plotting shoves past the characters, and Justin Chon as Sonny, and Kevin Wu as Steven, can't keep up. A smuggler's speech about America's basis in hatred won't find many buyers, nor will a frozen-faced Ray Liotta referentially cast as a detective benefiting from the efforts of a Chinese-American colleague (Jin Auyeung).

"Revenge of the Green Dragons" starts with promise, but soon becomes predictable, filled with clichés that do little in terms of engagement or spinning a novel, fresh story from an interesting, untouched plot. What initially feels like brash energy peters out until what's left mainly evokes some pretty run-off-the-mill gangster lore.