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Cast:
Vanness
Wu
Shawn
Yue
Li
Bing Bing
Xia
Yu
Eva
Huang
Lawrence
Chou
Sammo
Hung
Michael
Biehn
Huh
Joon-Ho
Maggie
Q
Andy
On
Huang
Sheng Yi
Simon
Yam
Action:
Chin
Kar Lok
Writer:
Lau
Ho Leung
Daniel
Lee
Producer:
Catherine
Hun
Steven
Seagal
Lin
Xi Ping
He
Ze Ming
Director:
Daniel
Lee
Score:
  
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DRAGON
SQUAD
AKA:
N/A
Year:
2005 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
In
2005, action fans were thrilled at the prospect of not one,
but two new "big" action films to emerge from Hong
Kong. 'Dragon Squad' and 'Sha Po Lang' both boasted all
star casts and were hailed as state of the art action films
that would breathe new life into a tired genre. As it
turned out, only one of these films delivered in the action
department and offered a good account of it's leading stars...
sadly, it wasn't 'Dragon Squad'!
When
big-league triad boss Tiger Duen is arrested and put on trial, a
team of young Interpol agents from around the globe (as well
as a couple of local rookies) are assigned to give testimonies
for the
case. On its way to the courthouse, the convoy transporting Tiger
is attacked by a well equipped terrorist team and Tiger
escapes at the cost of numerous cop's lives. Seeing as
how they witnessed the ambush, the Interpol team are keen to
try and track the men responsible but the local authorities
don't want them involved so they are placed in the care of
veteran cop, Kong Long (Hung). As the case unfolds, it
turns out that the gang are made up of international
terrorists known to Long but due to personal issues, he
is reluctant to get involved. However, as the body count
rises and the Interpol agents continue to harass Long, he
decides to strap on his guns for one last time and lead his
newly assembled team into the thick of the action.
'Dragon
Squad' is one of those bizarrely concocted films
that attempts to target both Eastern and Western audiences by
utilising languages, stars and a crew from both sides of the
globe. In the past, this combination
has normally proven to be a recipe for disaster and sadly, 'Dragon Squad' is
not the film to buck that trend. On this occasion, most of the
angry finger pointing and filthy stares can clearly be aimed
towards director Daniel
Lee who is the main culprit responsible for spoiling the film's real potential. First and foremost,
this is due to his awful approach towards shooting and editing
techniques that range
from the shaky handheld camera to an over reliance on the supposedly stylish black and white slow motion
shots.
Used in moderation, these effects can give a movie an edge
but Lee never allows the camera to stay still long enough for
the audience to settle in and the overall look of the film is nothing but a distraction
from the very beginning. As if this wasn't bad enough
though, Lee also spoils the films quintessential gunplay sequences by
concentrating on close ups of the actor's faces rather than
show where the bullets are
flying. This might
be okay if the scenes were short lived but in this world it
would appear that no one is able to shoot straight and the
action drags on
for long periods of time so it ultimately becomes tiresome.
However,
we can't let Mr. Lee suffer alone on this one as the assembled cast
of actors must also shield some of the blame. In
particular, I'm going to single out Vanness Wu here (and at the same
time, face the
wrath of a thousand screaming teenage girls) as he truly is a
terrible choice for the leading hero. Beyond his pretty
boy looks and grasp of the English language, the man brings
absolutely nothing to the acting arena and his line delivery is
so bad that even an extra on
'Baywatch' would be blushing. Fans of Wu will be
pleased to hear he is not alone though as every single one of
the leading characters manages to put in a bland and totally
uninspiring performance whilst even the supposedly
established Western star, Michael Biehn, looks nothing but old
and tired throughout. The award for "worst
lines" though must surely be given to Li Bing Bing and
Xia Yu for their cringe inducing romantic banter that is
nothing but unintentionally amusing and if the filmmakers
expect the audience to buy this forced dialogue, they are
kidding themselves. Talking of which, the script and
storyline cannot
sneak by unmentioned here as not
only is it heavily clichéd but it also opts to give every
single character a background that is littered with plight (brother killed in action, mother
shot by criminals etc etc) and this removes any hope
of realism that the film ever possessed.
Okay,
now here is the really strange and nonsensical part of my
entire analysis of this film that will have you all scratching
your heads - there is still something about
'Dragon Squad' that made me enjoy it! Call me crazy or
just a desperate action junkie but somehow I still managed to
come away
from this train wreck of a film thinking to myself "well, it wasn't all
that bad" so now I have to try and justify that. My
first reasoning is a simple one and that is the presence of
the legendary Sammo Hung who really
can do
no wrong in my eyes. This year, with the aid of this film
and 'Sha Po Lang', Hung really has returned with a vengeance and proven once again that he can
still cut the mustard in both the action and acting
departments. Alongside him, credit must also be given to
Huang
Sheng Yi for her brief yet moving appearance and the excellent Maggie Q who, despite a distinct lack of actual lines to
deliver, is probably
one of the most convincing characters in the entire film.
It also has to be said that Chin
Kar Lok does do an admirable job with the
action (even if the camera angles do manage to spoil it) and the knife
duel between Sammo and Huh Joon-Ho along with
some of the slickly produced gunplay proves this.
In
summary, I feel I can't give 'Dragon Squad' the complete thumbs down
as even though it is a heavily flawed production, it is one
of those films that could easily pass for a guilty
pleasure. Whether or not you should take a chance on it
depends on your tolerance for motion sickness inducing camera
angles and pop stars pretending to be actors. Or in
simpler terms, if its cheap then get it but if 'Sha Po Lang' is
available, then opt for that instead.
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