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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inns, Deserts, and Kung Fu!, September 12, 2002
This review is from: Dragon Inn (DVD)
I purchased Dragon Inn because I liked Brigette Lin's performnace in The Bride with White Hair. She does an excellent job in this film too.
Dragon Inn follows the plight of a group of freedom fighters trying to rescue the fugitive children of an executed official. The childeren are really nothing more than bait to lure Brigette Lin and her band into a trap where a power hungry unich (Donnie Yen) tries to kill them. When the ambush fails the group escapes to the dry desert where they stop at Maggie Chun's Inn. While at the Inn there are several power struggles between the freedom fighters and the evil unichs until the finale. Maggie Chun plays the opportunistic owner of the Inn and puts an interesting twist into the story. I don't want to give the whole story away, but I will say that there is both kung fu and swordplay in this film. Both are done well.
All in all Dragon Inn is an excellent balance between action and a good story line. The action scenes actually have purpose and make sense to the story.
I'd also like to mention that the English dubbed version on the DVD in done well, if you don't like subtitles, and there's also a Mandrian and Cantonese audio version. Ric Meyers also includes an audio commentay which sheds some interesting light on the satire of the film. Apparently most of the characters and situations were a partial satire on the pre mainland China take over of Hong Kong. If you listen to the commentary you'll see what I mean.
Dragon Inn is one of the best Kung Fu films available on DVD. If you're a martial arts fan, or you just want to expirement, add Dragon Inn to your collection. Everyone who's watched my copy has enjoyed it so far, including my wife.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic, September 10, 2001
Dragon Inn is under the background of the Ming dynasty, when the eunuches dominated in the state affairs. The opposing vassals were purged and the reign was corrupt. After a loyal vassal, who was to eliminate the interference of the eunuches, was persecuted by the eunuches, his underlings (played by Tony Leung and Brigitte Lin) tried to preserve his heirs. But the eunuches' secret police are everywhere within the pale, therefore they had to take the children towards the west deep into the desert, beyond the eunuches' reach. Before they could go through the last pass at the border, they stayed in the dragon inn to seek the help from the inn keeper to get through the pass while the enouches were pursuing. The keeper, Jin Xiang Yu (played by Maggie Cheung) was an opportunist woman, killing the lodgers and after the money, but able to get information and having close connections with both local officals and gangs. While the fugitives were waiting in the inn, the van of the eunouches arrived. The desert storm arrived to prevent anyone from leaving the inn, the strengths of both sides are equal and held with each other tightly with intrigue psychological battles. The tension here is extremely well portraited within the lonely inn in the stormy night of the desolate desert. When the main force of the eunuches came and thrashed the inn, the keeper decided to help the fugitives to escape...... This movie is no doubt a classic with so much to commend. The peerless cinematography set in the broad desert is just desolately charming. Maggie Cheung's performance as the inn keeper with multi-dimensional character is absolutely exquisite. The love between Tony Leung and Brigitte Lin, who became fugitives to protect the children, though not the main theme of the movie, was just touching. I am a big fan of this type of movies and I am sure dragon is among the finest in its genre. I usually do not want to push others to watch a movie, but with an exception this time, I would like to heartfully recommend this movie to everyone.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good movie, bad DVD, April 30, 2001
This review is from: Dragon Inn (DVD)
Dragon Inn ranks high among costume martial arts films, and anyone who enjoys kooky, gravity-defying action scenes will enjoy it. The middle sags and the cannibalism subplot doesn't add much, but the battle at the end during a sandstorm is a must-see, as well as a beautifully balletic scene in which Brigette Lin and Maggie Cheung spar. Unfortunately, this "remastered" DVD is really just another Tai Seng rush job with a really grainy picture. It doesn't look much better than VHS. This movie deserves better.
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