Chasing the Dragon

Obviously, the movie "Chasing the Dragon" is not a remake of the 1991 movies "Lee Rock" and "To be Number One". Instead, it borrows their main protagonists and antagonists, and tells a completely different story. In some sense, "Chasing the Dragon" is a reboot of the gangster epics.

The production design, music score, action sequences and acting performances are most notably brilliant. The action sequences are unexpectedly brutal and bloody, and really stun me from time to time. Donnie Yen has long established himself as one of the best martial artists of all time, and here in "Chasing the Dragon" he gives an almost career-best emotional performance, even better than that in "Rogue One". The acting of Andy Lau, Kent Tong, Kent Cheng, and Ben Ng is fantastic as always.

On the other hand, the plot and the editing are not satisfying. Wong Jing is not a talented filmmaker. Some scenes simply lack consistency and credibility.

In a nutshell, the rating for this movie is 7/10.

With a script this complex, spanning the rise and life of the main character from poor street fighter to druglord, it almost felt like they were going for a Scarface-level epic. but instead of developing realistic characters they used caricatures - the British villain felt particularly bogus - and unrealistic scenarios, such as large groups of people brawling in the streets with sticks and saucepans, who all happen to be amazing at martial arts. Perhaps having a main character who is too good at martial arts distracts from the biographical, historical tale. Tries to walk a balance between a heartfelt historical drama and an action movie. Didn't really work for me

6/10/18. It's a gangsta movie, Hong Kong style. Interesting backstory - not the type of story the current Chinese regime would allow, given the violence portrayed. However, because the time period when all this was going on was during the British colonial times, and then it was ok because such violence was inspired by colonialism. Whatever. Lots of shooting and violence of all kinds.

A good drama of wonderful collaboration of Yen and Lau. Telling the fans about mafia and corrupt cops back then in Hong Kong is something.

But definitely we may not find Yen's usual fighting scenes. As rumbles are here and there, we have seen how it is supposed to be by The Raid, so from that on, audience expect same thrill. But it is not. Yes this is not Yen's martial art film, but a brawl is always a brawl, should be depicted as real as possible. Using multi cameras and many takes like Hollywood does, would be better, to deliver the violence.

I also have no idea, why smoking scenes have to be the way to show the brotherhood. It is too much. Sharing one cigarette is weird for all the wealth they possess eventually. Unless it has been a habit since they were zero. Sharing weed makes sense more, but I guess there is certain reason, just a cigarette not weed.

My compliment is also for the western actors, they act so natural.

One more thing, the reunion of actors from TVB Hong Kong 1980's, "Kwee Cheng", "Ho Tu", "Oey Yok Soe" and of course, "Yo Ko" himself, is quite a fun.

Andy Lau in this film continued to play the role of Lee Rock, portraying his early rise in Hong Kong's police system under the colonial sovereign governing governing. Donnie Yen played a role as new comer and a new input of this Hong Kong generic and stereotyped underworld gangster who later associated himself and was manipulated by Lee Rock.

What I don't like too much of this film are the usual fatal flaws that almost every Chinese movie would always be unavoidable:

• Lousy screenplay with horrible dialog, making this film so painful to swallow.
• Bad acting that included Any Lau and Donnie Yen. The overly weight control

diet has deformed Lau into a skinny physical body with gaunt skeleton face, resulted him as a non-outstanding ordinary little guy without any special dominant aura to support his upper-echelon status in any job title, police or gangster organization. Any GREAT or POWERFUL role he played only gave me an impression that movie needed to make him being that role. There's not enough believability to convince me he could be that great or powerful person in that movie so far.

Donnie Yen is no exception in this movie with very bad acting with his bloated facial condition. He was also deeply affected by the bad screenplay to play a convincing enough character.

• Bad casting with many unnecessary clowns and jerks roles, such as Kent

Cheng, who played the sidekick and yes-man of Lee Rock. But in Chinese movie industries, returning favors or special relationship always needed to be considered from the cash-cow production groups behind the scene. So manuscripts would always have to be revised, added more unnecessary roles, thus unavoidably messed up the films. This trend and must-do is a tumor, an appendix that Chinese movie industries could never cut off clearly.

• Poor make-ups with funny wigs that included Donnie Yen's cosmetic extra

eye-lid liner surgeries and moving Botox on his face.

• Status-quo no brainer trademark directing. Jing Wong has produced and

directed so many similar genre film like this one. He never improved or evovled his directing technique and skill at all. Every film he directed or produced was almost the same, no new ground was ever broken.

This film, in my opinion, is just another shallow farce with lot of back alley fights typically in Hong Kong gangster films. Donnie Yen has been trying very hard to make him not just a martial-art fighting machine in his films but an actor with more depth, but with only such lousy screenplays lying around, with his aging process, the only choice he could do is making money first with his fighting skills whenever big payloads throwing his way like Jackie Chan.