Enter the Fat Dragon

Donnie Yen fan favourite, is the only reason to watch this. First 30-40 minutes are a good mix of action and comedy. Then the plot gets a bit out of focus and several things do not make much sense. Fat Donnie is too good in action scenes and too young in make up, but still enjoyable. Other than that, the movie lacks in character and you will only remember the good fights.

Okay movie for fun watching, it really has a potential to be a classic like old Jackie Chan Hong Kong action comedy movie....but it does not.

The movie sets out to be a comedy due to the design of the first scene. But there is no comedy in all the fights. The fatness just be there for the sake of fatness...there is not a single scene of Yen fighting with his fatness as a comedy point or disadvantage, (for an example, after he jump from one roof to another, the director actually can make it more fun and he can break the roof and fall through or stuck in the hole for further comedy effect) but after he got fat he fights exactly as he used to as agile as it can be even flying, cmon man....The Bruce Lee reference is also there for no relation...so whats the point ?

Enter the Fat Dragon is obviously a pun on the famous Bruce Lee film but completely unrelated to it. It's also unrelated to the movie of the same title starring Sammo Hung. This movie here is however a quirky return to Hong Kong action-comedy cinema of the late eighties and early nineties. The story follows a cop who destroys half his city while trying to arrest a group of robbers and gets transferred to a static desk job. His overambitious fiancée also leaves him and attempts to become a popular actress despite an obvious lack of talent. The protagonist starts feeling depressed and gaining lots of weight in the process. Many years later, he gets a chance to redeem himself as he is asked to escort a criminal to Japan. Things quickly spiral out of control when the criminal escapes during a rest stop. The protagonist gets some help from Chinese emigrants in Japan to fix the problem but he soon realizes that influential groups and even police force are in on the coup. Things take a turn for the worse, when his former girlfriend, who happens to be in Japan for a publicity stunt, gets kidnapped. The chubby cop must fight his powerful opponents with his grit of yore.

This movie obviously has a rather nonsensical plot with a few too many exaggerated coincidences. The idea to make fun of overweight people also seems somewhat old-fashioned these days. Despite those minor flaws, Enter the Fat Dragon is however a highly entertaining action-comedy revival film. The characters are unique, quirky and diversified. The plot has numerous unexpected twists and turns. The locations are splendid and especially the Japanese Chinatown has been crafted with much detail in the studio. The humorous elements are over the top. The action scenes are dynamic and find the right balance between amusing and gritty components. The fact that this action-comedy movie includes dramatic, romantic and suspenseful elements makes for a wild ride.

If you are craving for Hong Kong action-comedy cinema of the late eighties and early nineties with Jackie Chan and the likes, Enter the Fat Dragon will bring that golden era back to life in a nostalgic but quirky way. The movie won't win any awards for creativity but is entertaining from start to finish and will keep you on the edge of your seat. Invite your friends, grab your popcorn, pour a few drinks and enjoy this movie to the fullest over and over again.

Granted, this 2020 version of "Enter the Fat Dragon" (aka "Fei lung gwoh gong") from director Kenji Tanigaki wasn't as original as the 1978 movie starring Sammo Hung, it was still an entertaining enough movie for what it turned out to be.

If you haven't seen the 1978 original movie, then I am sure that you might enjoy this 2020 re-make or homage - whatever it is supposed to be - more than you will in comparison if you have seen the original.

Personally, I found it a nice that Donnie Yen would actually star in a movie such as this. While he does carry himself nicely and the prosthetics are good at making him obese, he is no Sammo Hung, and it wouldn't be much of a contest to put the two next to one another.

For an action comedy then "Enter the Fat Dragon" proved to be entertaining and enjoyable. And it definitely is worth a watch, although the storyline tends to be a bit dragged out at certain points through the movie. And the final showdown scene was just unnecessarily cluttered by putting the helicopter aspect into the equation - it simply made the movie dumber than it had to be.

Now, the movie doesn't really boast a lot of overly famous performers, but worry not. Because the cast actually performed quite well with their given roles and characters.

My rating of this 2020 movie is a six out of ten stars.

EtFD is a descent action/ comedy and Donnie Yen is pretty funny, he is a good actor for comedy too. Some pretty good fighting, it reminds me of Kung Fu Hustle. Worth a watch if you like action comedies and Donnie Yen!