Dragons Forever - Platinum Edition :: Hong Kong Legends
Originally posted by: Hussain on Jan 08, 2006 - 12:33 PM
Dragons Forever marks the last hurrah for the collaboration
between the three brothers, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao. HKL
finally released this action-comedy classic and manage to please fans
with their double-disc Platinum Edition containing over 5 hours of bonus
material.
Alternative Titles: Fei Lung Maang Cheung / Action Hunter (Germany)
Director: Sammo Hung
Main Stars: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Deannie Yip, Pauline Yeung, Crystal Kwok, James Tien, Yuen Wah, Roy Chiao, Billy Chow, Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez, Lee Ka Ding, Ko Fai, Dick Wei, Lam Wai, Wong Yu Man, Wu Man, Sam Wai, Wu Fung, Kong Lung, Chan Fu Kuen
Production Year: 1988
Studio: Hong Kong Legends (Contender Group)
Packaging: Amaray
Extras: Dragons Remembered: The Making of Dragons Forever with host Bey Logan and stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez, Crystal Kwok, Brett Ratner(?) and Yuen Wah; Thai Breaker featurette: Hong Kong celebrities join co-stars and Thai boxing champion Billy Chow, ringside for his latest exhibition bout in Hong Kong; Stunts Unlimited: 3 exclusive action-packed featurettes showcsing the remarkable skills of three of the brightest talents [past and present] from Jackie Chan's world-famous stunt-team: Double Jeopardy with Brad Allen, Beyond Gravity with Joe Eigo, Kick-fighter with Andy Cheng; 2 Deleted Scenes [Couch Potato and Mr. Kinetic]; Dragons Uncovered [A 12-minute music montage of never-before-seen-out-takes]; Trailer Gallery, Exclusive feature-length audio-commentary with Hong Kong film expert, Bey Logan
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio Tracks: Cantonese Mono & Dolby Digital 5.1, English dub Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary 2.0
Subtitles: English, Dutch
Regional Coding: Region 2 PAL
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rating / Certificate: 18
Release Date: June 27th 2005
Alternative Titles: Fei Lung Maang Cheung / Action Hunter (Germany)
Director: Sammo Hung
Main Stars: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Deannie Yip, Pauline Yeung, Crystal Kwok, James Tien, Yuen Wah, Roy Chiao, Billy Chow, Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez, Lee Ka Ding, Ko Fai, Dick Wei, Lam Wai, Wong Yu Man, Wu Man, Sam Wai, Wu Fung, Kong Lung, Chan Fu Kuen
Production Year: 1988
Studio: Hong Kong Legends (Contender Group)
Packaging: Amaray
Extras: Dragons Remembered: The Making of Dragons Forever with host Bey Logan and stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez, Crystal Kwok, Brett Ratner(?) and Yuen Wah; Thai Breaker featurette: Hong Kong celebrities join co-stars and Thai boxing champion Billy Chow, ringside for his latest exhibition bout in Hong Kong; Stunts Unlimited: 3 exclusive action-packed featurettes showcsing the remarkable skills of three of the brightest talents [past and present] from Jackie Chan's world-famous stunt-team: Double Jeopardy with Brad Allen, Beyond Gravity with Joe Eigo, Kick-fighter with Andy Cheng; 2 Deleted Scenes [Couch Potato and Mr. Kinetic]; Dragons Uncovered [A 12-minute music montage of never-before-seen-out-takes]; Trailer Gallery, Exclusive feature-length audio-commentary with Hong Kong film expert, Bey Logan
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio Tracks: Cantonese Mono & Dolby Digital 5.1, English dub Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary 2.0
Subtitles: English, Dutch
Regional Coding: Region 2 PAL
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rating / Certificate: 18
Release Date: June 27th 2005
The Film
Whenever I hear the title Dragons Forever I must think of the legendary trio that has been known as 'The Three Brothers'. I must think of my old uncut German video tape of this film carrying the title Action Hunter (it's even longer than the HK version). But it's not nostalgia why this film still works as one of the best HK action film from its era. It's rather the chemistry between the three of Hong Kong's movie icons and their sense for the perfect mixture between action and comedy that would (unlike other HK action comedies) even work internationally.Of the three, Sammo Hung is the better on- (and off-) screen fighter and Yuen Biao the better athlete, while Jackie Chan is very skilled at both sections. His real benefit though is that his charisma appealed best to audiences. That is probably the reason why he would always take the leading role in the films that actually starred the three brothers. After this film, they would never appear in a film together again. Yuen Biao would work with both Sammo and Jackie who have worked together as well, but after Dragons Forever they have never taken the three leading roles in the same movie again. According to Chan's autobiography, the reason why they split was because Sammo & Biao both felt they were standing in Jackie's shadow. If we take a look at the movies the three dragons did after Dragons Forever we can see that Sammo and Yuen Biao worked together on a lot more films than they each have with Jackie, so I take it that Jackie claimed correctly. Call it jealousy or lack of self-confidence, we are left with the fact that one of the greatest movie trio went lost ever since Dragons Forever.
Having explained all that, I can now safely say that I caught myself with wet eyes when the film was over and the credits started rolling. Both Sammo and Jackie take off with their cars and their girlfriends, leaving Yuen Biao behind. Back in the 80's, who would have thought that they would part. Now however, I have the feeling that this last scene kind of symbolised their future. Biao's career never really took off as much as Sammo's and Jackie's did, but I am sure Biao is totally fine with that fact as he is more of a humble person.
If you have read until here I must thank you. I hope I didn't bore you and I'll talk about the film now.
A chemical plant in Hong Kong pollutes the waters of a fish farm. Jackie Chan plays a smart lawyer who appears for the boss of the chemical plant (Yuen Wah). When he falls in love with the witness of the opposition, the whole situation escalates. He has to chose which side to stand on. He clearly opts for the girl, but this decision comes with a lot of trouble. Jackie hired the characters of Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao to spy on his new love. How is he going to explain his sudden love to them and more importantly the presence of them to her? The biggest problem however is that the boss of the factory gets really mad at Jackie for not appearing for him anymore. I don't need to tell you that the boss has a lot of thugs working for him, one of which is played by Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez with whom Jackie re-matches after their first on-screen fight in Wheels on Meals.
The DVD
Disc One:
Picture Quality
Well, what can I say. The print shines through and through due to the new high definition transfer from Fortune Star. Colour saturation has been handled quite well as have been the black levels. Grain is visible every now and then, but how would it not in such an old HK film. No ghosting, but a minimum of edge enhancement has been used.
Audio Quality
As with all new HKL releases the original Cantonese mono track has been included. It seems to be in synch as does the 5.1 Dolby Digital remix. Here, the dialogue is mainly front-based and ambient noise and music is divided onto the rear speakers.
There is also a 5.1 English dub.
Subtitles are available in English and Dutch. They are easy to read and I can say that the English subtitles are free of errors. The opening credits are subtitled and so are the songs featured in the film.
Strangely, this time the set of subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing is missing.
Special Features
Audio Commentary: Logan's revenge...! It's always a pleasure to listen to his commentaries, especially for Golden Harvest's Jackie Chan-films. This commentary isn't only packed with info about the three brothers and the other people appearing in the film. Bey also tells us that he has been criticised by the fans for mentioning The Medallion so much in his commentaries. So does he here, but then he also explains why.
The only other extras on the first disc are trailers for further HKL & Premier Asia releases.
Disc Two:
The second disc, packed with features is divided into four main sections. I will go through them one-by-one.
The Artists:
The first featurette in here is a documentary about the three brothers and Dragons Forever hosted by none other than Bey Logan. During a total running-time of almost 30 minutes, Logan visits shooting locations of the film and comments on certain aspects of the film. In-between this little journey, interview footage of Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, Benny Urquidez and Crystal Kwok is being shown. They all talk about the film and their experience of working on the film.
Next comes a featurette called 'Thai Breaker' running for 34 minutes. Here the HKL cameras follow Billy Chow, a great on-screen fighting legend, into the ring, where he recently fought a Thai-boxing match. Very well-known HK movie actors are watching the fight as well and they were also being interviewed. Among these are Ken Lo, Chin Kar-lok & Chin Siu-ho, Sammo Hung's son Timmy Hung. Billy's master is interviewed as well. After the 10-minute fight, Billy is interviewed on his own. He talks about himself and how he entered the movie business.
The Artists:
The first featurette in here is a documentary about the three brothers and Dragons Forever hosted by none other than Bey Logan. During a total running-time of almost 30 minutes, Logan visits shooting locations of the film and comments on certain aspects of the film. In-between this little journey, interview footage of Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, Benny Urquidez and Crystal Kwok is being shown. They all talk about the film and their experience of working on the film.
Next comes a featurette called 'Thai Breaker' running for 34 minutes. Here the HKL cameras follow Billy Chow, a great on-screen fighting legend, into the ring, where he recently fought a Thai-boxing match. Very well-known HK movie actors are watching the fight as well and they were also being interviewed. Among these are Ken Lo, Chin Kar-lok & Chin Siu-ho, Sammo Hung's son Timmy Hung. Billy's master is interviewed as well. After the 10-minute fight, Billy is interviewed on his own. He talks about himself and how he entered the movie business.
The Cutting Room Floor:
This section contains the two deleted scenes with Yuen Biao. They are in Cantonese and subtitled in English. To those who have never seen these scenes beofre or to Yuen Biao-fans, this extra must be very valuable. The German DVD has these scenes in the film, so they weren't new to me. What was new however was the 12-minute long outtake and behind-the-scenes montage. This footage has been restored and it features so many insights into the production of the film. Interviews with the makers and actors are one matter, but this footage speaks for itself and it makes you realize even more what kind of hard work has been put into the film. This footage is all-the-more precious due to the fact that only the rare Japanese Laserdisc features outtakes at the end of the film. And even if you have it, it does not feature all the footage of this 12-minute reel.
This section contains the two deleted scenes with Yuen Biao. They are in Cantonese and subtitled in English. To those who have never seen these scenes beofre or to Yuen Biao-fans, this extra must be very valuable. The German DVD has these scenes in the film, so they weren't new to me. What was new however was the 12-minute long outtake and behind-the-scenes montage. This footage has been restored and it features so many insights into the production of the film. Interviews with the makers and actors are one matter, but this footage speaks for itself and it makes you realize even more what kind of hard work has been put into the film. This footage is all-the-more precious due to the fact that only the rare Japanese Laserdisc features outtakes at the end of the film. And even if you have it, it does not feature all the footage of this 12-minute reel.
Stunts Unlimited:
The third main section is, as you can tell from its title, about stunts. Three of Jackie Chan's stunt team members are being interviewed here, including some footage of their showreels. These people are:
Joe Eigo - (13 minutes) - In the beginning he advises us not to try these moves at home... well, can we try them elsewhere? (ed. Are you being funny again?)
Brad Allen - (26 minutes) - Interesting to listen to, but damn, does he look worn out...
Andy Cheng - (39 minutes) - Definitely the most interesting interview of the three. Andy Cheng talks about his experience of working with each of the the three brothers, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. He has a lot of interesting anecdotes to share, like what he experienced with Yuen Biao on the set of Shanghai Noon.
The third main section is, as you can tell from its title, about stunts. Three of Jackie Chan's stunt team members are being interviewed here, including some footage of their showreels. These people are:
Joe Eigo - (13 minutes) - In the beginning he advises us not to try these moves at home... well, can we try them elsewhere? (ed. Are you being funny again?)
Brad Allen - (26 minutes) - Interesting to listen to, but damn, does he look worn out...
Andy Cheng - (39 minutes) - Definitely the most interesting interview of the three. Andy Cheng talks about his experience of working with each of the the three brothers, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. He has a lot of interesting anecdotes to share, like what he experienced with Yuen Biao on the set of Shanghai Noon.
Trailer Gallery:
Last but not least comes the trailer gallery. It contains the Original Theatrical Trailer, the UK Promotional Trailer and the UK Platinum Promo.
Last but not least comes the trailer gallery. It contains the Original Theatrical Trailer, the UK Promotional Trailer and the UK Platinum Promo.
Conclusion
Any HK movie fan should have at least watched this film for movie
historical reasons. It is the film that combines the talents of the
three brothers perfectly and which in my opinion mixes the action styles
of both the Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung stunt team to a great effect.
The HKL DVD is currently the best version to get and I can't see any better DVD release to come out anytime soon. Not only does it impress with a wonderful set of DVD extras, but also with a high quality DVD picture transfer and sound.
The HKL DVD is currently the best version to get and I can't see any better DVD release to come out anytime soon. Not only does it impress with a wonderful set of DVD extras, but also with a high quality DVD picture transfer and sound.
Film: 4/5
DVD Menus: 3.5/5
Picture: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Subtitles: 4.5/5
Special Features: 5/5
DVD Menus: 3.5/5
Picture: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Subtitles: 4.5/5
Special Features: 5/5
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