Legend of the Red Dragon

Okay, so Columbia TriStar has done an excellent job presenting Hong Kong movies such as the Once Upon a Time in China series. They deserve praise for that, unlike the always despicable nimrods at Disney/Miramax/Dimension/Buena Vista.

Unfortunately, this time out Columbia TriStar has stumbled badly and decided to issue a truly sub-standard DVD, both compared to their own usual high standards and compared to what fans and viewers want.

This movie is actually a dubbed, edited, renamed version of the original movie titled "New Legend of Shaolin" which is actually also for sale by Amazon at about half the price of "Legend of the Red Dragon"

The new title is mystifying: there are no dragons in this film, red or otherwise. The original title is much more appropriate: the story is about the semi-historical legend of 5 young monks who survived the destruction of the Shaolin Temple and went on to rebuild it. In this fictionalized account, Jet Li aids the 5 kids, and together they rebuild the legend of Shaolin Temple. Get it? Shaolin. Legend. New. Now is that so hard for American audiences to understand? Apparently, Columbia TriStar thinks so, hence the ridiculously random and generic reference to red
dragons or mauve phoenixes or teal lions or something like that.

And yes, this DVD has dubbed audio tracks only. Despite the ease with which multiple language tracks can be included on the same DVD disc, as Columbia TriStar themselves have done with other films, this time out they've chosen to give us literally less than half the value we expect. Why not include the original Cantonese audio track alongside the English dub? The only explanation I can think of is sheer laziness and disregard for the customer.

Is the dubbing of good quality? Who cares?! For [price] I expect BOTH audio tracks.

What is worse is that this dubbed version of the film is actually edited. That's right, footage has been cut from it. "New Legend of Shaolin" has a running time of 95 minutes. "Myth of the Magenta Tapeworm" is 87 minutes. That's 8 minutes or almost 1/10th of the movie, completely gone. Why? Apparently, because Columbia TriStar doesn't think enough of American audiences to give us the real stuff. Frankly, I am insulted.

Sorry, but for [price] this DVD includes less than half the entertainment value it should. A total [waste].

Do yourself a favor, go up to the area of the "Product Details" area which says "Other Formats" and click on the link that says "DVD". This takes you to the listing for "New Legend of Shaolin" the complete, unedited, original language, subtitled version of this film. And it will cost you almost [price]less.

For that price, the original "New Legend of Shaolin" is a value-packed DVD version of a zany, funny, action-packed, over the top martial arts classic starring the always excellent jet Li.


Fong Sai Yuk meets Swordsman II   December 16, 2001
David Koski (San Jose, CA United States)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I really enjoyed this movie! It combines the political intrique of Swordsman II with the comedic elements of Fong Sai Yuk (which also had a political underpinning). This is a fantasy style movie with plenty of wirework and unlikely physics. If you like that style of movie, then you should love this one!

Jet Li (Hung) and his son Man Ting are on the run from government soldiers. Jet Li has plenty of good (and serious!) advice for his son, like "show no mercy" and "don't lose your temper, but if you do, then lose it". In a way, Jet Li and his son are playing the straight men in this movie.

Red Bean and her mother are infamous thieves who trick foolish men out of their fortunes. It turns out that they are kung fu artists of considerable skill too (no match for Jet Li of course, but who is?). They target Mr Ma, who has just hired Jet Li to protect him. These two provide a lot of the comic relief. Mother Red Bean reminds me a lot of Fong Sai Yuk's mother.

The villians are the evil government soldiers (who die by the hundred), an evil eunuch (of course), and someone from Jet Li's past who has turned himself into a Poisonous Man and drives around in what looks like a metal rat-car!

Anyway, the movie was very funny. The fight scenes were well done and impressive, as were the special effects. Definately a high quality movie.

The video quality was pretty good. It is widescreen, but not anamorphic. The movie has either Cantonese or Mandarin soundtracks, with English subtitles. The subtitles are in the movie however (as opposed to a separate subtitle track on the DVD) and are sometimes hard to read.


Action packed historical drama.   December 31, 2001
Edward Alexander Gerster (South Miami, FL USA)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

This is one of the better historical dramas that Jet Li has starred in, second only to the "Once Upon a Time in China" series. The English subtitles are humorously bad translations, and the DVD does not have many features found on more recent releases, but the widescreen format is much appreciated in this lush drama of revenge and obsession. The fight sequences are well done and the plot moves along both quickly and logically. If you enjoy martial arts films, this is definitely one to add to your collection.


Enjoyable   April 26, 1999
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

Directed by Hong Kong's certifiably insane Wong Jing, New Legend of Shaolin is one of the most bizarre entries into the action-comedy genre.

Jet Li once again plays one of China's most legendary freedom fighters, Hung Hei-Kwun (he also played Wong Fei-Hung and Fong Sai-Yuk), this time traveling cross country with his young son (Tze Miu); romancing a beautiful con artist (Chingmy Yau); and protecting the Shaolin temple from a guy with poisonous skin who drives around in a miniature silver Batmobile.

New Legend of Shaolin doesn't really know who its target audience is, as its humour ranges from obscene to slapstick and back again. Still, the fights are all inspired and thoroughly exciting. And its hard not to like a movie with a tiny silver Batmobile in it.


This Is My Favorite Movie   September 23, 1999
dawneisme@aol.com (California)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Take this movie for what it is ENTERAINMENT. Everyone who reveiwed this movie is acting like it was made as a martial arts instructional video. This movie is great lots of action, it was funny, but to top it all off Jet & Tze are so cute together. Please watch this movie without over analyzing it.