User Reviews

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.

Sure it wasn't the greatest film of all time. But it sure as hell wasn't as bad as everybody says it is.

I enjoyed it, with its twists and turns. A lot of well shot scenes. And come on its a gangster movie how could you go wrong.

The ending was good and might have left you wanting a little more but overall I think it will make a good watch on a rainy night. Let me know what you think after watching it because I definitely recommend it. Especially since it is a Scorsese and has Ray Liota in it. The fact that it is based on a true story is a bonus.

You have to keep in mind that this as a movie that you need to watch to appreciate. Don't let the reviews fool you, perhaps people see Martin Scorsese's name and have different expectations.

A collaboration between Wai-Keung Lau (Infernal Affairs trilogy) and Martin Scorsese (The Departed) about Chinese gangs in New York at the end of the 1980s. One would expect fireworks, right? Not so much. This movie is entertaining but misses a bigger impact. It's not surprising the film didn't get a wider release in the US... The rather conventional story is embellished with different kind of colorful gangs from the (Asian) underworld, some pretty gruesome torture scenes and an attempt to make a huge plot twist at the end, but finally fails due to ordinariness. It needed more "cool" and a more interesting angle storywise. Fans of Asian-centered mob movies should give it a try though.

Despite Martin Scorsese being the executive producer and Ray Liotta having a role, "Revenge of the Green Dragons" doesn't seem to have received much of a theatrical release (if any) in North America. It doesn't take long to figure out why - the movie simply isn't very good. I'm not saying there isn't any merit to be found. Some of the acting by the largely no-name cast is fine, and directors Wai-Keung Lau and Andrew Loo do manage to inject a little stylishness despite their low budget. But for the most part, the movie's low budget does show, particularly with the extremely tight direction - I almost suffered from a case of claustrophobia with everything so closely filmed. But the movie also suffers script problems. None of the characters are fleshed out enough to give us a good idea as to their backgrounds or what they are thinking or feeling. I simply didn't care one way or another about these guys. As a result, the movie becomes extremely tiresome very quickly, and you'll be impatiently waiting for it to come to its end.

Revenge of the Green Dragons marks the English language debut of Hong Kong's most highly respected director, Wai-keung Lau. With classics such as Infernal Affairs among his heavy filmography, Revenge of the Green Dragons will be a stain on an otherwise awesome and talented career. Yes, Revenge of the Green Dragons is an awful film and catches me at my most disappointed. Seeing the name Martin Scorsese on anything makes it look appealing but after the first five minutes, it all goes downhill from there and crashes and burns before the forty minute mark. By then I began to wonder what a genius like him ever saw in a script so baseless and lacking in humanity. The film follows Sonny, a young Chinese immigrant who becomes involved with the Triads in 1980s New York City. While the film tries to put an eastern spin on the American crime drama, it amounts to nothing new and almost all of this we've seen done before in better films. Lau tries to translate the way of Hong Kong cinema into an American cinema but it ends up being just a rehash of American crime films such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and even American Gangster. By no means am I comparing this film to those classics, quite the contrary, this film takes what good its inspirations have done and put them in a nonsensical plot with terrible pacing and cheesy dialog . This feels more and more like a big budget student film by the end of it, made by a guy who simply has seen WAY too many crime films. While I know this is far from the case, it still feels that way and has left a sour taste in my mouth because of it. Lau is SO much better than this garbage. This comes as a devastating shock, considering the hype that this film has been garnering for quiet sometime. Don't be fooled by the trailer, which by the way, most of what we see in the trailer DOES NOT even wind up in the final film. This leads me to believe that maybe there is some saving grace behind the film that was simply left on the cutting room floor, for reasons I'd love to know. Overall, this is a really disappointing film with too many problems to count. And as much as I would love to find a saving grace in this film, I simply can't. It is THAT bad.

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.

This has to be hands down one of the most awful movies which I have seen - sitting down in anticipation of a movie in the mould of a Scorcese or Infernal Affairs has left me bitter bitterly disappointed, the storyline is embellished with fabrications and half-lies of events occurring throughout that age as to taint the history of the time. many of the plot lines and screenplay is either blatantly false or laughably implausible as to push the envelope of truth as far as possible - do not watch this as it will also leave you feeling as hollow as the acting.

do NOT bother with this movie

"This is a story about coming to America, only it's not that story, the one where everyone lives happily ever after." This is the true story of Sonny (Chon) and his best friend Steven (Wu), two Chinese immigrants living in New York in the 1980's. The join a gang called the Green Dragons and quickly become main players in the gang. After drugs and a woman get involved the two are pitted against each other and things become deadly. I am a huge Scorsese fan and even though he only produced this I was looking forward to it. This did have a very Scorsese like feel to it and in some ways really reminded me of The Departed. The tension between the friends and the peripheral players really adds to the movie and the overall story. The fact that this is true really gives everything more of an edge and sucks you in deeper to the movie. Overall, a movie that had the feel of a Scorsese movie that was good but I was hoping for a little better. I did like and do recommend though. I give this a B.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

In the early 80s, a swathe of Chinese immigrants arrived on Ellis Island, eager for a new life. Seeing no other way to pursue their slice of 'the American dream', and gain the status and respect they crave, brothers Sonny (Justin Chan) and Steven (Kevin Wu) become part of the titular 'Green Dragons' street gang, who are locked in a turf war with other similarly named Oriental gang members in their area. Detective Michael Bloom (Ray Liotta) follows a lead, tying them to narcotics activities and becomes determined to bring them down. But when one of their members behaviour crosses a line, it plunges the whole group into a deadly spiral of destruction.

Adapting a true story, and seeing it's potential for an electrifying action flick, after exhuming some brief history that serves as the backdrop, this biopic of the Green Dragons quickly shifts gear into a high energy, full on action flick, with an Oriental flavour and some brutal, unflinching violence and set pieces. The big draw, though, is Martin Scorsese as executive producer, and after a while it seems he's trying to forge a Goodfellas lite kind of thing, charting how the two central characters became involved in the gang and how their rivalries with each other formed. It's even more down this ark with Ray Liotta as the main star, but even in the lead, this seems like another of his recent 'barely there' parts, with minimal screen time compared to the central protagonists.

It's relentlessly flashy, and brutally head on, but it's all completely lacking in coherence, and as a result all seems like a bit of something over nothing, a little too sure of itself without much in the way of genuine substance to keep it going. It makes the mistake of being impetuous when it should have been considered. **

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.

While watching this film I could not believe that it was made by the same director responsible for the excellent Young and Dangerous and Infernal Affairs sagas. What went wrong here? I suppose its the director's inability to understand American culture which I find rather surprising since this is not the first time he makes a film outside Hong Kong. It is obvious he doesn't know very well the society he wants to talk about therefore the film fails both as a crime film and a study of the life of Chinese living abroad. It's more Tokyo Drift than Once Upon A Time in America, the casting and accents are terrible, there is no third act, and a couple of decent actors get entirely wasted in this cliché ridden mishmash. It's not even worth watching for the violence. Even though there is a certain amount of bloodshed there is nothing memorable or too shocking. I'm sure that the director will continue to make good films in the future but this effort falls flat on its face.

The plot is good and the direction is also alright. But the weakest link of the movie are the actors of the main characters.

Justin is just too skinny and little to make a credible gangster. If he threatened me I think I woukd laugh. In reality is just difficult to picture it.

The film could be more darker, with more character development. For example, Steven is the crazy one, but sometimes he just doesn't seem that crazy, just plain retarded.

Sonny and Steven could have talked more to give the viewer the sense of bonding, instead the movie is just plain simple. The movie evolves way too fast and the all triad gets arrested too soon. It made them (gangsters) look careless.

It kind reminds you the senseless gang banger movies of Hong Kong

As a Chinese American, I grew up watching HK mob and Andy Lau movies. Because of this, I recognize some of common threads, loyalty, betrayal, over reaching, and redemption. The thing that kills this movie for me is the poor acting. Chon as a main character and "bad boy" is a joke. To be fair, all the characters that Chon played previously, a feminine insecure kid in the Twilight Series and a party boy in 21 were a flop. This may contribute to my poor perception of him as a male lead in this movie. The movie's topic was interesting and had potential as my wife grew up in flushing and can attest to the violence. But.....This movie felt like a slap in the face of HK style movies, so much so that I was compelled to create an account and voice my opinion. It was poorly executed by the actors. A low point in Andrew and Martin's repertoire.

I read a lot of negative comments about this movie and I wonder why? Because honestly I was entertained during the whole movie. It changes from the usual Italian or Irish gangster stuff. This time it's about the Chinese Mafia with different gangs trying to recruit new members from the illegal immigrants circuit. The story is about two young friends that are made gangsters and you can follow their life when they are grown up. The fact that Martin Scorsese produced this movie also tells you that the story won't be bad otherwise he would not be interested in producing this. Seeing how New Yorks Chinatown took over like almost the whole Little Italy streets tells you also something about that you shouldn't mess with the Chinese triads. Glad they made a movie about those gangs instead of the usual Mafiosi stuff.

Generic, Cluttered, and Confusing, this Under Developed and Utterly Exploitive Examining tries to be too many things. But it is too Short and Unrealized and it Comes Off as Slick B-Movie Badness so often seen.

It's a Mad World, the Setting that the Illegal Immigrants Find Themselves, where Human Trafficking, Torture, Guns, Drugs and Money are all in Plain Sight and Little is Offered to Them that is Not a Daily Drudge of Lost Hope and Dreams.

This is a Story of Two Youngsters Flushed down the toilet of Humanity and End Up at the End of the Line that is Presented as a Way Out of Ordinariness.

"A fisherman in China will always be a fisherman in China, but in America even a dishwasher has hope.".

At the End of this over Indulgent of Everything in the Melting Pot is Familiar Stories since Forever, You will Find Nothing New or Nothing Worth Knowing that isn't already a Common Thread that is on going Weaving Fabric of America's Crazy Quilt to this Day. Not Much has Changed in well over a Hundred Years Except the Countries of Origin.

This is based on true events that happened in America. You may look at it, as either glorifying violence to a degree or making immigrants look bad, but that would be beside the point. I don't believe this to be a propaganda either way. I do believe that the story is interesting and while it probably is heighten for movie purposes it deserved to be told in a way like this.

Acting is OK, the setting is decent and the action scenes deliver mostly (though they are not too heightened/fancy). There still is blood, not many women involved (other than to look pretty) and everything else you'd expect (for better or worse) from a B-movie, even without it being based on true life.

Another movie should be made that is based on Fredric Dannen's article which is titled "revenge of the green dragons" (published by The New Yorker, Nov, 16, 1992). The problem with this movie is that it is often too gory (or semi-gory depending on your definition) and violent. Instead of depicting a more realistic story it shows an overly sensationalized image of the gang. Sure, some of these events might have happened, however that doesn't mean that you have to show it in the way that they did. This would have been a decent fictional gory/overly violent gang movie if it was not based on the article that appeared in The New Yorker. Moreover, on numerous occasions i thought that the scenes were totally unrealistic, which prevented me from having that immersed film experience. You know, those moments where one is like "really?!?!". Additionally, there where scenes in which the acting - from certain secondary cast members - was unconvincing. Overall, i give it a 4/10.

This movie is entirely about shock value. Senselessly brutal violence worse than that in most horror films. You will have to watch children get severely beaten (and when I say severely, I mean way more than you are probably imagining right now). Torture. Gang rape. Everything that you don't want to see.

And that's just about it. That's all this movie is about. It's got no real substance to it. Nothing worth watching. I'm giving it a 4 because of the fact that its based on a true story, otherwise I'd give it much less.

Justin was brilliant I know that he is an under rated actor people need to recognize him more

I watched this with my wife who is from Hong Kong (while I am a whitey who grew up in Australia).

This movie, while based on true events, has a very similar and predictable feel to many of the Hong Kong gang films in Cantonese that we've seen together. The main difference being, despite having dozens of Chinese actors, nearly all the dialog is in English and the film is set in New York.

Anyway, my wife gave it 6/10 because she knew what was going to happen before it happened as she's watched more of these movies than me. I give it 7/10.

However, while the film had this feeling of predictability for the most part, the ending has a plot twist that neither of us saw coming.

There is strong violence in this movie and a torture scene that I found a bit disturbing, so stay clear if you don't like that sort of stuff.

One of many films about Chinese illegality and racism. Too much repetitive violence and few ideas.