Rating:

6.5

Year of release: 1988

Genre: action/drama

Director: Lau Kar-Wing

Action director: Gordon Liu

Producer: Wallace Cheung

Writer: Yuen Kai Chi

Cinematography: Leung Chi Ming

Music: Chan Wing Leung

Stars: Andy Lau, Alan Tam, Max Mok, Kent Cheng, Shing Fui-On, Oh Chung Hung

Rated IIB for violence and language

DVD Information

Company: Mega Star

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean

Extras: trailers, stars' files

Notes: It's hard to tell what's been remastered on this DVD. The picture is dark and scratchy in parts, and the sound mix is still pretty echoey. It's watchable, though.

Movie Review index / Main Page

The Dragon Family

In the late 1980's, Triad action/dramas were being cranked out by the boatload by Hong Kong film-makers, so there were quite a few that fell through the cracks, even ones that featured big stars. The Dragon Family, despite starring Andy Lau, is a fairly unknown movie -- probably because it really adds nothing new to the genre. The standard plot has Andy and Max Mok as the "good" kids of a Triad family who go out for revenge (along with their buddy Alan Tam) after their relatives are massacred.

Yep, that's about it. There's no big plot twists or double-crosses. There's no flashy editing or cinematography. The acting is a bit flat to say the least. As a matter of fact, for about the first half, The Dragon Family is pretty damn boring. However, during the aforementioned massacre, the movie's action and violence quotient is ramped up considerably, culminating in a satisfying finale that show's off some of Gordon Liu's best work as an action director. If you're a fan of old-school Triad movies and have some paitience, The Dragon Family is a film worth checking out.