User Reviews

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

*Plot analyzed*

Dragon Inn (1967) is a highly overrated film. There's a few things to like in it, such as the cast of weird characters, the desert of the setting, and the lush color. Other than that, it rambles on with too much tedious monologue.

There is also an annoying female who chops up swordsmen with ease. The fight choreography is average, inviting scrutiny. It doesn't sit well that they defeat an entourage of guards.

Still, it's worth a look. But don't expect a good classic like it is played out to be.

"Long men kezhan", internationally known as "Dragon Inn" is a co-production between Taiwan and Hong Kong from 1967, so this one is already over half a century old and it is in the Mandarin language. The director is King Hu, who was still in his 30s when he made this one, also wrote it, and I read he is considered as one of the defining directors nowadays when it comes to old Eastern films. It needs to be said that this is a color film, not too uncommon for Asian movies from that time, probably more common than for most other regions in the world. And if you look at the film's rating, the number of votes, and also how much it is appreciated on other websites and how remakes and sequels have been made or just new films inspired by this one, you can see that it is very popular today, almost considered a mini classic. It runs for 110 minutes and takes place several centuries in the past. The story is relatively simple you could say. It is a fairly political movie, even if it may not seem like that to the untrained eye. We have the two children of an influential dead general and they are told to pass by the location in the (English) title and this is where a big group of soldiers/assassins awaits them in order to execute them. However, it won't be a piece of cake mission because a ruthless (seems so kind and friendly) martial artist arrives before the two children and add to that a sibling duo that is not too unskilled either also awaits there and all three of them have in mind to lead the two sons to safety and exile before they can get killed. Also the innkeeper is part of the resistance team, so it is these 4 people basically against the rest you could say. Good enough for close to two hours? Very much so I would say. I enjoyed the watch for sure. I must say it did take me a little while to get interested, but the moment the guy in white enters the inn/movie, it is pretty fun most of the time, also had me occasionally on the edge of my seat. I mean the outcome is slightly predictable and there are little to no shades in the characters in terms of good and evil, but that rarely feels like a problem. My guess early on was that the young sister and the guy in white would be the only two surviving from this quartet and it turns out I wasn't entirely wrong. But it is somewhat good and realistic that sacrifices had to be made. With these two surviving ones, I also felt it was to include a minor love story that is really only just referenced extremely vaguely.

Okay, when at some point the bad guys from the inn are all killed, the action moves forward to the headquarter of the eastern forces, the bad guys. And one bad guy in particular of course, the one with the very light blonde hair. Usually it is not a good sign if several fighters approach one for the several guys (and we saw that with everybody who tried to kill the guy in white earlier), but here it is the spectacular end fight sequence in which we learn that the super bad guy is capable of a very unique fighting technique that he uses to fight (and kill) some of the good guys near the end. I liked it. It was almost a bit of a pity that he had no screen time before that really. He sure was interesting enough to be featured in other scenes. I would also like to say that the eunuch references about him are the only attempts at comedy really. And I am not even sure if they should be seen as that. Of course, they were gigantic degrees of humiliation for the bad guy and maybe completely unfunny int he 1960s. Also a bit edgy for the guy in white to constantly mock his opponent with the general's kids who went through the same painful measure and clearly it is still very much in their heads. But for the audience it was entertaining, no denying. Stuff like you need to watch what you got up there if you have nothing down there. Very vague quote from me now. Other (considered today) slightly funny sequences include some of the earlier martial artis fight in the Dragon Inn and how quickly the guy in white fights back at those trying to kill him and how precise he is. Yeah well it does not feel too realistic, but it is pretty cool and funny and that is why the film is probably getting away with it. The characters are all interesting, which is really important here, as even if the story and fight sequences are key, this would not have been a good film without strong casting and decent performances. And boy, Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan is a cutie easily showing that there are no extremely beautiful Asian women outside Japan is nonsense. Am I even allowed to say this? She was like 17 when this film was made, but seemed a bit older for sure. With that very heterosexual statement I am almost done. Another kinda memorable aspect here is the ending, which even if the fight is over after a very memorable way of suicide and somebody losing his head in the truest sense of the word felt a bit surprising with how quickly it happened and very abrupt. But I think that was not uncommon for Asian martial arts films from that era at all and as we see the victors wander off, the credits roll in. It somehow fits. Go watch this one. I can somehow see how many people include this in their Top10 films from this genre. The beginning was a bit slow, but then it moved back and forth between good and great, so no hesitation for me in giving this one a thumbs-up. Go check it out.

The movie first came to my attention because Grady Hendrix did a commentary track on the Criterion release, and Mr. Hendrix is a friend of a friend of mine. I've met him a couple of times, read most of his books, and find him quite the entertaining fellow. So, when I found out that he had gone so far as to record his appreciation for the film on such a prestige label as Criterion, I just had to check out King Hu's film.

Which I, of course, did. And I was left a bit perplexed. I found the film okay, but nothing particularly special. I suppose it was about the time of Xiao's big scene where he shows off how much of a badass that he is that I kind of tuned out a bit. It's not that badassery disinterests me, it's that badassery on its own feels boring to me. Yeah, he's awesome at everything he does. These days, that could be referred to as a Mary Sue. And Xiao isn't the only one. He gets paired up with a brother and sister team and an old Chinese general, and they're all just awesome badasses. And the bad guys are awesome badasses. There didn't seem to be a real character amongst them.

So, confused at the perceived disconnect between my own opinion and those obvious from the critics listed on the movie's Metacritic page, I found the essay commissioned by Criterion written by Andrew Chan for their disc release of the film. And in that essay, the author admits fully that the characters are thin, the plot threadbare, and themes almost nonexistent. Instead, the film is meant to be appreciated from a purely aesthetic level. And, I'll admit it, the movie looks good (the print itself is fantastically restored). Hu obviously has a strong eye and can fill a frame artfully, but it all felt so artificial to me.

On top of that, the action felt, at times, to be rather amateurish. I don't think it reflects on the skill of the choreographers involved, but simply on the reality that it's hard to convincingly create fights where one person successfully takes on 5 or 6 others. Surrounded, someone should be able to stab the lone individual in the back easily, and I kept seeing opportunities for it, which took me out of the moment. Take, for instance, the long sequence that introduces Xiao's badassery. There's a moment where he takes his full bowl of noodles and flings them across the room where they land without having spilt a drop right in front of someone else. The idea is kind of cool, but the execution doesn't really convince me of the moment's reality. It's cut too quickly from Xiao throwing the bowl to it sailing in the air to it spinning into place. I don't get the sense that the character of Xiao actually did the deed because of how quickly it's thrown together. I would have been more convinced with a long shot that held through the whole action.

I don't know, but I just felt like the movie is akin to a B-movie well done instead of something that deserves high praise.

I watched this film at a university club for foreign students in 1970, more-or-less by accident. I was awestruck, and the people who saw it with me discussed it for days after. Decades later, when I joined a group to see the acclaimed new film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," I confounded my friends by muttering "Seen that," "Old hat," and "I thought this film was supposed to be ground-breaking?" at intervals throughout. I'd kill to have a DVD of the 1966 film. It was a great introduction to Chinese martial arts movies and their conventions (e.g., the traditional inn-wrecking scene). The humor of the scene where all these tough, hard-bitten warriors suddenly hold an impromptu psychoanalytical intervention for their most introverted member still makes me grin. If you get a chance, see it!