Dragon / Wu Xia - You can't always escape your past.

Review
Film: Dragon/Wu Xia

Director: Peter Chan

Country: China

A bit of context first, I have seen very few martial arts films, so I can't really judge Dragon on that basis, but I found it an entertaining film.

What I can say is that the martial arts were highly spectacular and the film gave room for some excellent performances, especially from Wei Tang as Ayu.  The character development was really interesting and it was never black and white who was hero or villain (except nearer the end) or who was right or wrong.  There was also a compelling sense of foreboding throughout.

The film dealt with some interesting concepts around redemption, the ability to escape from your past catching up with you and the nature of the law, but it didn't have the space to deal with them in a deep enough way to make them truly engaging. This isn't a major criticism, as there was an obvious constraint in keeping the plot and the action rolling, but it did mean the film wasn't as fulfilling as it could have been.  I have to say I was not hugely keen on the score as I found it a bit over the top, but this wouldn't have been the first time this has annoyed me more than most people!

The use of slow-mo generally worked (I'm not always the biggest fan) and I did enjoy the retelling of the opening fight as the detective worked out his own interpretation.  Some of that, along with the approach of the detective, did make me remember the two recent Sherlock Holmes adaptations (both BBC and Guy Ritchie). I'm not making this comparison in either a negative or positive way, just putting it out there!

Overall, Dragon/Wu Xia is definitely an entertaining watch, but it perhaps missed an opportunity to be an even more interesting film.