The Dragon from Russia (Hong chang fei long): Special Collector's Edition (1990)

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General		Extras
Category	Martial Arts	Audio Commentary-Clarence Ford (Director) & Jude Poyer (Hong Kong Stuntman) Theatrical Trailer-2 Interviews-Crew-Master Magician - An Interview With Clarence Ford (Director) Deleted Scenes-The Cutting Room . . . The night before. Featurette-The Talent Team- a retrospective with Maggie Q & Bey Logan Trailer-Hong Kong Legends trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	90:34
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Clarence Ford
Studio Distributor	Cinema City Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Sam Hui Maggie Cheung Nina Li-chi Carrie Ng Loletta Lee Dean Shek
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Lam Man Yee

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Dragon from Russia is adapted from the popular Japanese manga comic Crying Freeman, predating the Mark Dacascos film of that name by a few years. Dragon from Russia features good locations in Russia, Hong Kong and Macao, the wonderful Maggie Cheung and some exciting and inventive wire action sequences but, to put it bluntly, the script is a mess. The reasons for this are varied and some are discussed by director Clarence Ford in the frank audio commentary included on the DVD. Despite the troubles, however, Dragon from Russia is an entertaining film and well worth a look.

     Yiu Lung (Sam Hui) and Yip Mou Mei (Maggie Cheung) are orphans in love living with Kau Cheuk (Dean Shek) and his daughter in Russia. But Kau has dangerous knowledge and a dangerous past; he was once a member of a secret society of assassins called the 800 Dragons controlled by Lung Lui Chat (Yuen Tak), the Master of the Dead. Now the Master has two aims - he wants Kau dead and Yiu kidnapped and trained to become the ultimate assassin. In a sequence on a Russian train he succeeds; Yiu is captured and taken to a rural camp where his memory is erased and his training commenced in company with young girl Ji Yim Ju (Loletta Lee). During his training in various kinds of martial arts and weapons the camp is attacked by mysterious assailants and Ji Yim Ju killed. But Yiu survives; he is assigned a beautiful controller, Fu Fung Ling (Nina Li-chi), and a first target and he becomes the Crying Freeman. Later, during one hit, he is seen by Yip Mou Mei. As a result she becomes a target for elimination but when Yiu comes to kill her she rekindles his lost memories. Memories, assassins and mayhem result as Yiu and Yip become targets themselves until the final showdown between Yiu and the Master who trained him.

     This makes the plot of the film sound simple; it is anything but. The reasons are varied. First, there are a number of characters who appear, have a fight and then disappear, sometimes never to be seen again. As a result it is hard to know just who is fighting who, or why. Second, characters change sides frequently, one moment trying to kill Yiu, the next moment helping. So while the fights are good there is little emotional attachment. Third is some unexplained chronology. In one scene Yip is shot twice and rushed to hospital; shortly after in a shower scene she has a healed bullet wound. How long has passed? Fourth are side plots such as that involving Hong Kong Detective San Tin and the widow and ex-assassin Fu Gong Gwan (Carrie Ng) that goes nowhere.

     Also an issue is the varied tone of the film. Much of the film is very dark in tone with murders and assassinations, but in the first third of the film Yiu's training sequence is more a physical comedy routine, and a fart joke, that would be more at home in a Jacky Chan kung fu comedy. Chan's kung fu comedies were very popular in Hong Kong at the time (for example, Winners and Sinners (1983) or Project A and Project A:Part 2 (1984 / 1987)) which may have influenced the studio to pressure director Clarence Ford to include similar material. Ford in the extras on this DVD does discuss the studio interference that resulted in the comedy section but does not really explain why the plot, especially in the final half of the film, is so incoherent.

     As the hero, Sam Hui is not believable as the cold blooded killer. He is too humorous with a cheeky smile; he is better in the Jacky Chan style physical comedy. Maggie Cheung, however, is in a class by herself; she is beautiful and brings so much charisma and belief to her role that it highlights Sam Hui's shortcomings. Nina Li-chi is also very good, although Carrie Ng is underutilised.

     It is the fight scenes, stunts and locations that are the reason to see Dragon from Russia. They are inventive and exciting and involve a lot of impressive wire work as the characters fly off and around real locations in Russia, Macao and Hong Kong. There is also a car chase which, although superfluous to the plot, is handled well and ends in some decent gunfire and explosions. These scenes make Dragon from Russia an entertaining film that is worth a look. But don't try to follow the plot; just enjoy the action.

Video

    The aspect ratio of Dragon from Russia is 1.75:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced. The original ratio was 1.85:1. Sharpness varies. The indoor scenes especially are very sharp with crystal clear colours. A great example is the indoor fight scene between 43:33 and 44:46 when the colours are positively vibrant. Outdoor scenes in Russia and Macao have less clarity and the colours are far more muted but this does not spoil the viewing experience. Blacks are solid, shadow detail good. There is some grain but I did not see any obvious artefacts.

English subtitles are in a clear white font. There are occasional minor spelling errors and sometimes they flash past too quickly to read properly.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Dragon from Russia offers both Cantonese & English Dolby Digital 5.1. The Cantonese audio is fine; the dialogue is clear and while there is nothing by way of directional cues in the surrounds they do support continuous sounds and music. The subwoofer is not really utilised, even for the explosions. The lip synchronisation, as was normal in Hong Kong films of the time, is indifferent. The English dub is as cheesy as usual.

The score is Chinese techno-pop with a couple of songs which is appropriate for the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Audio Commentary with Clarence Ford (Director) and Jude Poyer (Stuntman).

Trailer Gallery.

Master Magician - an interview with Director Clarence Ford, 15:11 minutes.

The Cutting Room . . . The night before.

The Talent Team - a retrospective with Maggie Q & Bey Logan, 15:45 minutes.

Hong Kong Legends Trailers.

   There does not seem to be a release of Dragon from Russia in Region 1. There are various Region 0 NTSC versions that are nothing special and a Region 2 release that is the same as our Region 4. As such, there is no reason to go past the Region 4 release.

    Dragon from Russia is an entertaining film that features good locations, the wonderful Maggie Cheung and some exciting and inventive wire action sequences on a DVD with acceptable audio and video and reasonable extra features. But don't try to follow the plot; just enjoy the action.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall