Synopsis & Review

While dining at a high class restaurant with his buddies, Tiger Wong happens to see a triad group that is abusing a mother and her child for cash. Tiger intervenes and easily defeats the group of triads with his amazing martial arts skills. Unknowingly, he also kicked away the triad's most prized possession, a golden plaque, and his friend picks it up. The gold plaque turns out to be the Lousha Death Plaque, which is given by the leader of the Lousha Gate. The Lousha Gate is one of the biggest crime and martial arts syndicates in Asia, and whoever possesses the Lousha Death Plaque is granted the full cooperation of the Lousha Gate. In a restaurant sometime later, Tiger is ambushed by a group of gang members that want the plaque, and Dragon Wong, a hired bodyguard of the gangsters, saves him. Turbo Shek, who also happens to be in the restaurant, also helps Tiger Wong. Turbo Shek happens to be a master at the nunchakus. When Tiger sees that Dragon wears a jade pendant, he recognizes that Dragon is actually his older brother that he separated from as a child. Thus begins the story of three extraordinary martial artists as they seek their own destinies.

Note that this movie is based off a Hong Kong comic book of the same name, although some characters have been slightly altered. The story lacks a deep, interesting storyline, but easily makes up for it through the intense action sequences. The director tried to fill this movie with emotion at an attempt to create a more meaningful and dramatic movie, even including several deaths and touching scenes, but ultimately the movie fails at this, and it feels like the director is just trying too hard. It would've been a better idea just to give the audience what they want, and in the case of Donnie Yen fans, the viewers want action. Luckily, action is the highlight of this film.

Donnie Yen shines in his role as Dragon Wong. Donnie Yen was in charge of the choreography of this movie, and if you've seen any of his other movies, you'll know that he likes fighting at an incredibly fast and exciting speed. I haven't felt this much adrenaline pulsing through my veins in a long time; each and every fighting scene was performed perfectly, realistically, and with a flair that I haven't seen before in a kung fu movie. Nicholas Tse is just as incredible as Donnie, and shows off some lightning fast movements and actions (although some of it is CGI). While Shawn Yue is not known for Martial Arts, his use of the nunchaku as Turbo Shek was quite impressive. Among all three main characters, I liked Turbo's nunchaku skills the best. Like most kung fu films, Dragon Tiger Gate has some elements of the supernatural, and the main characters are all portrayed as superhuman.

The supporting cast is rather weak in this movie. I didn't find any of the secondary characters to be interesting or worth the screen time. Ma Xiaoling could have proven to be a good love interest, but this storyline ultimately did not develop. The main antagonist was barely given any screen time so there was little development to his character. Seemingly, the directors put the main focus on the storylines of the three main characters and forgot about the supporting cast.

Although some love interests are presented in this movie, this aspect of the movie took a backseat to the action. Truthfully, this movie has undeniably great choreography and breathtaking fight scenes. With the addition of some CGI, you get a movie that's quite a visual treat. Still, without any depth to the storyline, the movie can become inane when there's not a fight going on, and the plot is pretty uninteresting. Basically, you'll find that Dragon Tiger Gate is a one-dimensional film that is recommended for anyone looking for action and only action.

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