Movie Review: Legend of the Red Dragon (1994) directed by Jing Wong
Hung Hei Kwun (Jet Li) and his fellow villagers oppose the oppressive Manchu government. One night, Hung returns from a journey to find that the village has been massacred. As it happens, the only survivor is his toddler son Ting (Miu Tse). Hung allows his son to “choose” between a sword which represents revenge and a toy that represents Ting going to join his mother in the afterlife. Ting chooses the path of vengeance. The next evening, as Hung is creating a funeral pyre, another village survivor appears. Ma Ling-Yee (Chunhua Ji) turns out to have sold out to the Qing Dynasty forces for the considerable bounty they’ve placed on Hung’s head. They battle, and Ma appears to die to a combination of spear wounds and burns.
Several years later, father and son are still on the run and desperately short on funds. When Hung’s own brother turns out to have sold him out as well, Hung is forced to accept a bodyguard job from the wealthy Ma Kai-sin (Sung-Young Chen), no relation to Ma Ling-Yee, to eat. Kai-sin is a greedy jerk, but in genuine need of a bodyguard. For starters, he is the target of a scam by pretty con artist Red Bean (Chingmy Yau) and her mother (Deannie Ip) to trick him into marrying Red Bean so they can rob him blind. More worryingly, Kai-sin’s son trains in martial arts at the local Shaolin Temple, where he and four other boys have been tattooed with parts of a map leading to the Shaolin treasure.
Ma Ling-Yee turns out to be still alive; the life-saving medical treatments have made him “invincible” but hideously scarred and he rides around in a metal car of sorts. Ling-Yee and other villainous Manchu agents slaughter the Shaolin monks and learn the probable location of the map boys. They attack during the wedding celebration of Kai-Sin and Red Bean, so bodyguard and thieves must band together to protect themselves and the children.
This movie was also titled “The New Legend of Shaolin”, and is very loosely based on an actual martial artist of the time period. The English dub title derives from a derelict building called “Red Dragon Pavilion” where some of the action takes place.
Good: interesting fight scenes, with lots of wire fu. Hung wields an extendible spear that is effectively magic. Ting’s action scenes are also well-choreographed, and his young actor is very good for his age. I could feel chemistry between Hung and the flirtatious Red Bean, and Red Bean’s mother gets some nice zingers. Jet Li is impressive as usual.
Less good: There’s some tone issues as the script can’t make its mind up whether this is a serious kung fu revenge story with all the tragic resonance that implies (and bits ripped from Lone Wolf and Cub) or a funny kids’ kung fu movie with gags and cute children. (Why is there an active wax museum in a ghost town?) Each aspect tends to undercut the other, rather than blending into a cohesive whole.
Content note: Death of children, children in peril. Lots of violence, some gory. Red Bean tries to frame Hung for rape. Red Bean’s mother semi-accidentally feels up a man. The Shaolin boys initially bully Ting. There’s use of the “evil eunuch” stereotype which will come across differently to most Western viewers.
Overall: While the individual scenes are good, the movie just doesn’t come together, making this one of Jet Li’s lesser films. See if you can find the uncut version with the Chinese soundtrack.
