Where to start? This is an absolutely phenomenal martial arts movie. It is difficult to escape making comparisons with Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, so I won't bother. This film is much better. The martial arts are absolutely stunning. Donnie Yen as the big bad eunuch is unbelievably solid - watching the film it is difficult not to laugh at times because everybody is so ridiculously hard, but that's why we watch kung fu, right? Unlike Crouching Tiger this film focuses slightly more on ground work and less on the fly-by-wire kung fu that we see so much of in recent Hong Kong cinema, which is essentially a good thing because the martial arts are more realistic - however, the feats performed by the characters in this film are far from believable. I digress....... Kung Fu movies are not ALL about the fighting, though, and this film delivers the goods in all other departments as well. It is superbly directed (not just in the fight scenes), and actually has a compelling plot (very rare in kung fu) and superb performances from the actors, especially Maggie Cheung, of 'Police Story' fame. 'The New Dragon Gate Inn' has a great storyline, centred around rebel fighters trapped in an inn with evil officials in the room next door, and manages to switch from great intensity to comedy without missing a beat. Probably the best new school kung fu movie I have seen. The final fight scene is ABSOLUTELY INSANE. Watch it now.
Review of Dragon Inn
