Customer Reviews

Dreadnaught

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dreadnaught is really a film to remember and perhaps a piece worthy and notable in any collection. As a martial arts enthusiast I looked for impressive fight sequences, great technical choreography, and of course, originality. This film employs all these qualities. Yuen Biao is in top form as well as the legendary Kwan Tak Hing. The story line actually has more substance than the vanguard of films in this genre, and it embodies typical chinese humor and culture. The film marks one of the more notable ones in Yuen Biao's career, and the footage no doubt proves it. In respect to the previous reviews, I agree with Mr. Ryan and disagree with Phil. Perhaps he is right with his analysis of a different type of martial arts film in mind. This is a classic film, traditional, or rather, old school. For the enthusiasts out there or even the ones with questions-I emplore you, watch the film. My first image of it was a preview from a film I can't remember. That drove me to watch it and I consider it to be one of the greatest films of its type. By type I specifically mean traditional wu shu, no wire work, Chinese settings and time period, etc. If you enjoy, I recommend Drunken Master, Magnificent Butcher, and Young Master. Thanks for listening to one man's words.

This is not your average kung fu classic, more of a comedy chase caper. Yuen Biao does his normal share of amazing stunts but what makes this film cool is the unique fighting styles and the endearing relationships between the bumbling protagonist and those around him. Not as hard hitting as YOUNG MASTER or MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER, this film is still a gem worth having in the finest of kung fu collections.

Yuen Biao stars as a young man who does not know kung fu, but he wants to become a disciple of Wong Fei Hung. His friend Foon (played by Leung Kar Yan) wants to help him out. Leung Kar Yan is just great in this movie. Phillip Ko stars, and wants to get rid of Wong Fei Hung's school. He hires a crazy killer played by Yuen Shun Yi to help him with his evil deeds. It's not a great story or anything, but it's passable. I was a bit disappointed with this movie, but with such a great cast and plenty of good fights, I can't really complain. I just wish the final fight was done differently. Having Yuen Biao not know kung fu hurt the movie, especially in the final fight. I had a good time watching this, but I would put Knockabout, Prodigal Son and at least a couple others far ahead of it as Yuen Biao's best movie.

3.5/5

I have the Megastar version and the picture quality is good.

This is a star-packed occasion, and when that happens, no matter what the genre, the end product is usually dissappointing. "Dreadnaught" is no exception. If I were rating this movie on kung fu alone - and if you are looking to add to an "old school" collection, this movie is not worthy - a single star(I beg to differ with an earlier reviewers). If you are looking for a decent movie with good acting (for a kung fu film)then this is not too bad. I will breakdown my rating a bit more:

Original Chinese: gives one star
Old Wang Fei Hong: Great job - would've like to see him in more fight scenes. The same actor plays Wang Fei Hong in another movie (I wish I could remember the name here) and is much more active and creative. (star number 2)
Decent Story: 1 star

Remember: If you are buying this as a gong fu flick - DO NOT BUY. Yuen Biao and Lueng Ka Yan have much, much better movies (Knockabout, The Victim)... you can actually buy both for the price tag on this film!

I have to say, I'm no expert on Kung Fu movies, but I have been exposing myself to a wide variety of kung fu films in the past 5 years.. One of the movies that got me into Kung Fu films was this one.

I mean, you have to watch it and enjoy the fight scenes. They employ "fantasy" attacks like killer sleeves, etc.. but they don't rely on the wire-fu techniques that are so overdone.

Just a sidenote RE: Wire-fu: I'm not a crouching tiger fan, because I don't think that the movie deserves the praise that it is such a great movie. The only reason I don't completely vomit when they gave it a bloody oscar is that maybe the ignorant bloated american conciousness will see that there are great movies overseas.

But I digress. Dreadnaught was a very funny movie, and I have ordered the DVD version, as the only copy I have now was a used copy from a bankrupt video rental store.. and this one is worth owning! Until I actually came to Amazon looking for Kung Fu movies, I didn't think that this one would be available on DVD, because I've never seen it on the shelf anywhere. I consider this a treasure, and am overjoyed that I can get this in a high quality version.

I am in general, always diasagreeing with 'Phillie'. My views on martial arts films seem to be the opposite. This film shows technically astute and well choreographed scenes, featuring some of the best names in Hong Kong, in portrayal of one of China's Legends, Wong Fei Hung. I like all martial arts films with good, technical, impressive fights and choreography, and sometimes a few laughs along the way, whereas mr phillie seems to like cheesy comedy more than the art forms we are supposed to be watching! This as with all Sammo, or Yuen Biao films impresses with its mastery of Martial Arts. Lets take thos film for what it is, not put down fight scenes if you don't understand them.

i had the prevelige of seeing this film at a cinema in birmingham when it first came out and i was speechless its a top draw film in my opinion

I didn't like this movie at all....I thought it would be a good movie , because it had Yuen Biao and "Beardy" in it..but they don't show off any skills...the fightscenes are really pathetic...better skip this one!