Dragon (15) 95 mins ***
Peter Ho-Sun Chan has
directed films on both sides of the Pacific, and this brisk and twisty
actioner, though set in 1917 China, bears marked Western influences. It begins
in CSI territory, with forensically
minded acupuncturist Takeshi Kaneshiro dispatched to investigate after lowly
paper maker Donnie Yen kills a notorious criminal with an innocuous blow to the
head. The character study that follows – after Kaneshiro’s pinpointed how that
tooth got in the pickling jar, and the significance of the vagus nerve – has
clear DNA traces of Cronenberg’s A
History of Violence. Chan keeps the drama and fight scenes appreciably
precise, while superior performers lend the hard science heart: Lust, Caution’s Wei Tang makes a welcome
screen return, wringing a lot from worried glances as the accused’s wife, while
Yen again proves one of the few martial artists equally adept with subtler
emotional beats.
Dragon is in selected cinemas.
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