Dragons Forever (1988)

A lot of fun.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In Dragons Forever, Jackie Chan plays a rather scuzzy lawyer who teams up with two friends to help mobsters destroy some lady's pond. No, he doesn't know they are mobsters, but he also doesn't care, and overall I found Jackie's character less likable than usual.The story is mildly amusing at first, but it gets progressively more tedious. By the halfway point, at which the romance elements came to the fore, I found it pretty intolerable and starting skipping forward to get to the action.Of course, the action is always the main reason to watch Jackie, and there's some good stuff here, most notably when he and his friends all fight one another simultaneously. But while there are some of Jackie's usual slapstick stunts and prop comedy, there is less than in my favorite Chan films. The final scene is a long, pretty straightforward martial arts fight that is fine for that but isn't the sort of Keaton-esque action I watch Jackie for. Very dumb, not very funny, some decent action but even there disappointing for a Chan film.

Defence lawyer Jackie Lung (Jackie Chan) represents shady businessman Hua Hsien-Wu, who is accused of polluting a local fish farm owned by Miss Yip (Deannie Yip). To help him win the case, Jackie enlists two friends from the criminal fraternity, arms dealer Luke Wong Fei-hung (Sammo Hung) and cat burglar Timothy Tung Tak-Biao (Yuen Baio). Jackie also romances Miss Yip's pretty cousin Nancy (Pauline Yeung) in order to get inside information, but finds himself falling in love for real, resulting in a change of heart that pits him and his friends against Hua Hsien-Wu and his cronies.For twelve incredible minutes, Dragons Forever shows Chan, Biao and Hung at their very best, in a blistering finale that sees the trio battling numerous bad guys in a chemical factory: our heroes perform amazing feats of acrobatics, punch and kick at jaw-dropping speed, bodies falls from gangways onto hard surfaces, and lots of glass is smashed. It's just a shame that to get there one must endure well over an hour of mediocre comedy and dull romance, interspersed by the occasional spot of less memorable martial arts to retain the attention of fight fans until the final showdown.As a whole, the film really only warrants an average rating, but I'm happy to bump it up a bit for the main bad guys, the excellent Yuen Wah (who also played the memorable villain from another fave of mine, Eastern Condors), and the awesome Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez—never has eyeliner been so macho! 6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Another crazy comedy/action flick to combine the star talents of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao; this is their last production together but by no means their least. Once again the familiar formula of the tale involves our heroes getting up to all kinds of shenanigans when they become involved in the legal case between a woman who claims her lake is being polluted by a factory and the factory owner. Chan stars as a rather unlikely lawyer who ends up falling in love with the beautiful witness on the other side whilst Sammo Hung turns up as an arms dealer who also falls in love with the woman's sister (or friend, it doesn't really matter). Best of all is Yuen Biao as Chan's friend, an eccentric burglar who has frequent visits to the shrink to try and cure him of his insanity. Lots of comedy antics ensue between the threesome, especially Biao and Hung who take an instant dislike to each other and always seem to be fighting at inopportune times.The film offers plenty of comedy and also a double romance, which is focused on a great deal. I'm pleased to say that the romances are handled sensitively and with great passion, and its enjoyable to watch the martial artists doing something other than fighting all of the time. The comic interplay and slapstick humour is handled superbly and mixes well with the action. As for the fights, well once again they're phenomenal and have a real edge to them. Watch out for a meal on a boat which is interrupted by hired thugs, watching Chan wipe them all out is a delight and wonderful stuff. The three stars are on top form, especially Yuen Biao who stars in what may be his greatest role as the consistently funny and not to mention crazy thief. Chan is solid in the leading part although has less screen time than usual whilst Hung is excellent throughout, especially in the scarily realistic scenes in which he gets injected by heroin which gave the film an 18 certificate here in the UK. His direction is above-par too.As usual for these collaborations, the finale is the most memorable thing about the film, this time offering an extended action sequence set in a factory full of railings, poles and bubbling pools of evil. The acrobatic martial arts which take place amid the glass-smashing, bone-snapping mayhem are truly incredible and a wonder to behold. The chief villain, played by the inimitable Yuen Wah, is an amusing cigar-chomping caricature who gets his just desserts. But the best thing about the film is the reappearance of Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez, who turns up as a thug to fight Chan at the end just like he did in WHEELS ON MEALS. Complete with heavy eye-liner and a ponytail, Benny has never looked scarier than he does here and he proves to be a mean menace. The fight sequence is phenomenal and a fitting end to a quality production. Use of slow-motion in the various stunts also heightens the enjoyment, helping to make this one of the best action/comedies out there.

This movie is pure! It is like a remake to wheels on meals. Sadly however, this movie was did not do well in the box office and the HKL DVD is cropped to 1:85:1 from its original aspect ratio.Dragons Forever stars Jackie Chan (Police Story), Sammo Hung (Martial Law) and Yuen Baio (The Prodigal Son).If you own a DVD of Dragons Forever, hit the fast-forward button and watch the end fight scene, It shows Jackie Chan fight Benny Urquidez and is literally the Jackie Chan equivalent of the Matrix!The main problems with this movie is it was a little rushed and has a lot of editing flaws.