Third_Person2 Year of the Dragon (1985) is a film about A police detective cracks down on organized crime in Chinatown after the murders of Triad and Mafia leaders. I thought this film was great an absolute underrated gem. The film is Based on the novel of the same name by Robert Daley, the screenplay was written by Michael Cimino & Oliver Stone, The Direction by Michael Cimino was good the film was made after his box office disaster Heavens Gate (1980) when everybody probably doubted him he really brought it he really created something new and it's nothing like his other works. The film is a Neo-Noir thriller and has everything Action, Drama, and Crime and has themes of ethnicity, racism, and stereotypes. The film stars Mickey Rourke as Stanley White a Vietnam veteran, John Lone as Joey Tai, and Ariane as Tracy Tzu, Mickey Rourke was good in this role he is a complex character who in order to arrest Joey Tai Stanley White blurs the line between right and wrong and it's very interesting to see, like Michael Cimino's film The Deer Hunter (1978) he gives a dash of the psyche of the Vietnam vet in this film. John Lone is good as Joey Tai he really had an awesome presence on screen sinister and smooth who is not all completely evil he has a code of honor which makes him the perfect foil to Stanley White who is a very flawed man who wants to do the right thing. The main criticisms of the film are the performance of Ariane a first- time actress as Tracy Tzu I didn't think she was that bad I like every time she interacted with Mickey Rourke I thought they had an interesting relationship. The film portrayed Chinatown in a negative light which at The time was met with protests by some Chinese Americans which led to some people not wanting to see The film or giving the film a negative reaction but if you watch it today all that is completely irrelevant and you can just enjoy this good film. The film had good cinematography and good action scenes that really make the film, the film goes where you don't expect it to go twists and turns and adrenaline. The ending will have you on the edge of your seat it ends in a way you won't expect and it's awesome. All and all this is a great under- appreciated film and should be talked about more. 10/10

videorama-759-859391 I'm quite dumbfounded at the user rating. This is a great film, not perfect but great. It's one of those electrifying films from the eighties, I'm eternally grateful at having the privilege of having seeing up on the big screen, where as Rourke's character, Stanley White, says, the streets are gonna run red with blood, or words to that effect. If watching Rourke's performance here, and other films around that 1986-1990 time, looking back, you can see just what a remarkable actor this guy was, but not so now. This film was back in the day, when he had a much lighter and polite voice. He's top form here as an unstoppable ex Vietnam cop, determined to take a silky smooth talking kingpin (the excellent John Lone) down. At first we think Lone is one of the good guys, where soon he becomes Rourke's worst enemy. You want so much for Rourke to take this guy. On one side I loved Rourke's character, his mettle and determination, but on the other side, I found him detestable, his pushiness and arrogance, and being a thankless fu..er. Also he's a pig when it comes to treating women, which kind of stayed with him as he went onto to do that weird out sex flick, 9 and a half weeks. There are some shockingly violent moments, some in the starting of the flick, where life doesn't mean anything to these Asian badasses. Rourke's wife getting killed was an explosive and impactful moment, I'll never forget, and there was some others. You'll never guess how Lone buys it, that too has dramatic affect. Also the films is a little educational as in regards to the Triads. Arianne adds beauty as a relentless Asian reporter, not half bad in the role. When she confronts Rourke, after taking a raping, Rourke's reaction is comical. He's the one true anti-vermin, cop who's gonna make a difference, and it's admirable. This is compulsive viewing all the way, with some tough violent moments, but this is one of those films that comes along every so ofter that leaves a lasting impression, as does Rourke's performance, staying true to the end, his character one tenacious son of a bi.ch.

Leofwine_draca Quite a few of these east-meets-west thrillers have been made over the years, from the good (the likes of THE YAKUZA and RISING SUN) to the bad (Ridley Scott's ridiculously over-stylised BLACK RAIN). YEAR OF THE DRAGON is a particularly unknown one, despite being a lengthy, sometimes epic-feeling production starring one of the decade's hottest stars, written by Oliver Stone, and directed by THE GODFATHER's Michael Cimino.It turns out to be a strong and eventful movie, one that's expertly directed and packed with sudden outbursts of gritty violence that really shock the senses. Despite his dodgily-coloured hair, Mickey Rourke gives a career-best turn as the detective attempting to clean up Chinatown. What ensues is never less than gripping, highly watchable and completely entertaining.The Asian cast members give solid performances, from the criminally underrated John Lone as the bad guy to the virtually unknown Ariane as the love interest. Stone's tough dialogue zings with malice and intrigue, and there are relatively low levels of contrivance and coincidence; the characters come first in this movie, and it's all the better for it. I loved every minute of it.

tomarx7 When I watched this movie the first time, I did get offended by the stereotyping and the white man dominating the Asian theme of so much mainstream movies. But besides all that, now that I watch it a couple of decades later... I grew up in the Boston area too, like a previous reviewer, and spent a good amount of time in the 80's at the college parties and the nightclubs in the area, and so did my cousins. There was definitely a lot of this kind of stuff happening, in fact I sometimes look back at those days and wonder how we survived them. Only one of my cousins got jumped a couple of times by Asian gangs in the course of his college years. One time by Korean gangsters in a Korean club in N.Y.C. Another time at the Palace in August 1988, a local gang jumped him because he tried to intervene, when one of them threw a drink at my back on the dancefloor. Luckily a girl he had dated also happened to be connected to the group and she stopped the melee.Unfortunately the stereotyping was based on true archetypes, and there definitely was plenty of this stuff happening. The sad thing is now Boston's Chinatown is not nearly as busy as it used to be, because of the continuing expansion of the Asians into the surburban areas, there is now less and less reasons to have a Chinatown in a lot of places.This movie is basically a snapshot of a time that is thankfully gone and hopefully in the near future, we won't need Chinatowns at all anymore...