anhedonia At the end of "Dragon Heat," all I could think of was why I bothered sitting through the whole thing.The film's premise is interesting and that - as well as Maggie Q - is what attracted me to the film in the first place. But was I ever disappointed. Writer-director Daniel Lee can't hold a candle to the likes of John Woo, Ringo Lam and Corey Yuen.This has to be one of the most annoyingly-directed films I have ever seen. Lee is so wrapped up in his visual style - and I use that phrase incredibly loosely - that he fills the film with completely needless black-and-white stills, freeze frames, slow-motion, fast-motion and other visual nonsense. I suppose he did all that to make up for the lack of a good story or dialogue.The action scenes are nothing special and play out like some hopped-up music video more than anything else. There is little to care about any of the characters - including two supposedly professional snipers who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside! - who are then laden with some of the cheesiest dialogue I have seen in one of these Hong Kong actioners.The plot is devoid of any twists and turns - from the initial set-up, everything unfolds in predictable fashion - and Lee feels the need to keep reminding us of the characters' back stories in case we didn't get it the first several times. This is awfully amateurish writing and film-making and wastes the talents of Sammo Hung, Michael Biehn and Maggie Q. Though, to be frank, I am hard-pressed to remember Biehn being in any good film that was not directed by James Cameron.If you really are in the mood for a great Hong Kong actioner, you are much better off sticking to some of the staples - John Woo's "The Killer" (1989) and "Hard-Boiled" (1992), Ringo Lam's "City on Fire" (1987) - which Quentin Tarantino stole for "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) - or his "Point Blank" (1967) remake, "Full Contact" (1992). Or, even check out Yuen's "So Close" (2002), a supremely entertaining, yet preposterous, popcorn flick. And there's always the terrific French police actioner, "The Nest" (2002).True, most, if not all, are a bit over-the-top, but they were films that remain exciting, thrilling and even suspenseful. They have characters we care about and mind-blowing action sequences."Dragon Heat," on the other hand, is just terribly mediocre. The trouble is that Lee has not made a bad action film, he has made a dull one.

Andrei Pavlov HK cinema, which has been very successfully keeping on and intensifying the good old traditions of entertainment with human heart, once ignited by Mr Charles Chaplin and Mr Buster Keaton, strikes again. Jokes are put aside this time though.The movie is a must-have for anybody who respects proper action. During my childhood I watched "Lethal Weapon" and thought that it was the best of the best. But now as I watch this HK production, all the memories of "Lethal Weapon" go blank. "Dragon Squad" is tough and stylish. The camera is very jerky sometimes and one should get accustomed to this. But when you get accustomed, you get a real modern action treat.When I bought the movie on DVD I had no info about it. I just noticed some strange title "Dragon Squad" on the shelf. I even could not trace the year of production on the box. Then I saw Mr Sammo Hung among the actors. It was "the final straw". Now I cannot believe my eyes - the rating for this movie on IMDb is ridiculous. If I tend to doze off during "Godfather", I have no such problem during "Dragon Squad". All through the movie the incredible action keeps me up even when I re-watch it and even when I'm dead tired. The original soundtrack plus the English subs is a perfect combination for this film. I am also more than just satisfied with the overall DVD quality: the sound, the picture, the animated menu, the synopsis, the impressive crew photo where every single actor is "showing his character off" - everything is slick.I've always been looking to enjoying a real HK serious modern action (not a comedy HK one, which are abundant with you-know-who starring), and now I have it. It is very unlike the Hollywood productions. It has very bitter oriental flavour (masks, knives, kung fu, very menacing attitude of the bad boys and girls, impressive looks, complicated set of heroes/villains, and I should also mention smoking and jogging at the same time - Mr Sammo Hung is as cool as a Chinese cucumber) and, damn, it has most disturbing violent scenes (artistically shot and reserved at the same time). I despise "Oldboy" kind of violence, when the torture scenes are prolonged, disgusting, and shown in detail. Here it is different - it's more like "BR" violence: quick, quirky, and unexpected (like a gully that all of a sudden pins some character to the wall). Remember the scene with the "mohawked" Chinese, when he was hanging on some hooks and Ku was coming up to him with his trademark knife? The camera just sails away saving the movie from turning into a blood-fest for maniacs. Brilliant. It's not a teen movie, definitely absolutely. It's a movie for those who are 20 and older. And I don't think that even 1% of females can sit through this insane action-packed experience. Well, in my humble opinion, of course. I cannot recall any action movie, which overdoes this one in "action density". The story of each squad member is shown in a few seconds and some episode is shown revealing his or her abilities. If you wink a couple of times, you miss the point. Everything goes cut, cut, and cut with colour scheme changing, titles appearing, etc., like in a newsreel.Last, but not least, this film makes a viewer (me to be sure) feel for the good characters. Their young age intensifies this feeling. The "Dragon Squad" look so young and slim and the sergeant Kong looks so old and depressed, but they work miracles and confront most ruthless villains in the streets of Hong Kong.I've been thinking that the time of perfect action passed long time ago and this action film has challenged my point of view. One scene at the cemetery alone is a treat but there are lots of others not worse than this. A pleasant surprise.The IMDb rating for this action makes me laugh.10 out of 10, HK keeps me wondering, how much more action treats those Chinese guys have. Almost forgot: the movie is free from sex scenes, stupid nakedness, and boring sentiments (modern action/crime flicks suck because of this and this movie rules without it). Thank you for attention.

Lt_Coffey_182 The anticipation I had for this film sparked a major interest in Asian cinema and for that reason alone, I am glad this film exists. On finally seeing Dragon Squad, it is obvious that is not one the best written or best acted films but it is a highly entertaining, fast paced and well directed action piece. Perhaps for me, this film was a victim to my own expectations.Dragon Squad is immensely stylish and Daniel Lee does a tremendous job to grab the audience's attention via clever use of camera wizardry. In some scenes, he overdoes the slow motion and cut backs, but overall, he is extremely impressive. The way he integrates news report like flashes within the film is very clever in terms of pace as it saves on huge chunks of exposition to explain what is happening and characters' background. Whilst it is a fresh approach, I've always been in favour of setting the scene and character development. Lee would have done well to remember that these are the basics when it comes to a good plot.With the exception of Petros (Michael Biehn) and Ching's (Li Bing Bing) story, the character stories are somewhat neglected and rushed. Sammo Hung's relationship with his daughter could have been explored much more and would have given good contrast to the bloodshed that was occurring elsewhere in the film. There was an attempt at background explanations for the 'Dragon Squad' and although they were good and went to some length to explain the characters, there was hardly any closure on the issues. The plot as a whole however, is very good. The tale two groups chasing one man for different reasons is very compelling and the way the groups interact with each other is very good. To put it one way, Dragon Squad has a great body but not quite enough bones to hold it all together.Negativity aside, the action in the film is brilliant. Some of the best shootout scenes I've witnessed (and that's a lot!) are on this film; it is stunning to watch. Biehn, Shawn Yue and Maggie Q all really shine in these scenes. Their weapon handling is brilliant and they do a fantastic job of adding personality to the action scenes. The sniper battles are very good as they add tension and also means the action on the ground can flourish uninterrupted. Dragon Squad really sets itself above its peers with these scenes as it doesn't stray in to the realms of nonsense like Hard Boiled did and instead, tries to remain on a more realistic level.The cast is somewhat mixed. Shawn Yue is very good in all of his scenes, he is likable and the scenes with his paralysed brother are very touching. The rest of the 'Dragon Squad' however, are all pretty bad. Vanness Wu in particular was extremely wooden and definitely should have stuck to doing pop songs. Sammo Hung was a much needed cast member. His movement in the fight scenes was very good and he certainly shone when compared to the main characters. Michael Biehn as the lead villain was excellent. These are the kind of roles he loves and really took this one by the reigns. Biehn makes his villain a sympathetic and likable one but is also totally ruthless. This is one of Biehn's best roles in years and he was a joy to watch; definitely the stand out performance. Maggie Q was slightly underused in this film but her role was the silent but deadly sniper so she fitted perfectly in to the requirements of the character. Simon Yam was also good in his small role as the chief of police. He adds another dimension to Hung's character and gives a very generous performance.The music in the film is brilliant. The drum score is at the heart of Dragon Squad's atmosphere and it is so effective at putting the audience on edge. This is classic Hong Kong action music and the length of time this particular sound has lasted further shows how effective it is. There is extreme contrast within the music as on one hand there are these intense instrumentals and on the other, there are slow, emotional pop songs. Lee really uses music as part of the film and it is brilliant at heightening Dragon Squad's impact.Overall, this is a very good film despite its many flaws. With a little more attention to character development, this could have been one of the year's best films. The director, however, focused more on action set pieces and these alone take the film to a very good level. Dragon Squad has quality stamped all over it and deserves much more recognition than it's been given.

zv300 There have been quite a few people that did not like this film and expected some sort of deep meaning from it and the characters, well that ain't gonna happen! Know why? It was not DESIGNED to be that way! It's a big budget shoot-em-up fest with an international cast, and it FAR and away succeeds at that! Most Asian film buffs are used to "Fireworks" or "JSA" or something with a solid story line and emotions, this film ain't it, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying it partway into it. Everybody is right, the characters are disposable for the most part, except strangely for the bad guys, they seemed to have all the personality which of course was not explored at any length, especially the female sniper. So why do I recommend a movie with stiff characters, a lame plot and little story? Because the action was so kinetic and fast-paced FUNNN! The gun battles were AMAZING and the concept of pitting two evenly matched Special Forces teams against each other was so strong almost anybody could have played the parts. I, like others were actually rooting for the bad-guys as they were more interesting and actually seemed to have some sort of motive to what they were doing. People complained about the stylish nature of the film, uh HELLO, we are talking Hong Kong here! And Mr. Biehn made for a good, believable villain, very convincing acting, he should get more credit for not phoning-it-in as some actors do when they are not on an A-List movie. In conclusion no, this movie is not "Masterpiece" and nor should it be judged as such, but for a HK shooter, it's at the top of it's class. Recommended.