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Dreadnaught, 1981
Criminal White Tiger (Shun-Yee Yuen) goes into a downward spiral after his wife is killed by a group of men trying to capture the pair. Hiding out in a performance troupe, White Tiger attacks those who anger him. He becomes particularly fixated on a wimpy, mildly-annoying man called Mousy (Biao Yuen), who runs a laundry service with his sister (Lily Li). But when White Tiger attacks someone close to Mousy, Mousy must find a way to stand up to him.
Overall this one cruises well on its gonzo energy.
It’s always fun to encounter a movie that, when you go to talk about it, you just find yourself starting to list all of the things that happened in it. An outlandish dragon dance! A healer who performs the most aggressive style of cupping I’ve ever seen! Someone who cleans clothing with the athleticism and grace of a laundry-centric Simone Biles!
In total, the film is a wild mish-mash of action, comedy, and drama (well, melodrama). It never stands still long enough for any of the sequences to get old, and there is a wide range of physical displays of comedy and athletic ability. We get White Tiger’s frenzied attacks, Mousy’s balletic laundering, and Tak-Hing Kwan’s effortless maneuvers as healer and martial arts expert Wong Fei-Hung.
Even as characters are attacked, and even killed in some pretty gruesome ways, there is an overall feeling of joy to it all. The energy is madcap and every moment is infused with a heightened physicality. No one in this universe merely does something----there are wild flourishes and elaborate set-pieces to accompany even the most banal of activities.
The main character arc of the movie--Mousy finally realizing that he needs to stand up and fight, probably using some of those incredible laundry moves---is nothing incredible, but this is a film that understands that it’s about how you tell a story, and this one is told in an incredibly entertaining way.
I only had two issues with the film. The first is that while it may be true that the movie is tons of fun as is, the lack of character development does hit you a bit as the film goes into its last act. The ultimate showdown is really well-choreographed, but I did feel a little empty at the end.
The second problem that I had with the movie, unsurprising considering when and where it was made, is that it contains two unsimulated instances of animal cruelty (both fatal to the animal involved). That’s always a dealbreaker for me, and probably means this isn’t a film I’ll ever revisit.
Certainly a unique energy and an entertaining film.
Dreadnaught, 1981
Criminal White Tiger (Shun-Yee Yuen) goes into a downward spiral after his wife is killed by a group of men trying to capture the pair. Hiding out in a performance troupe, White Tiger attacks those who anger him. He becomes particularly fixated on a wimpy, mildly-annoying man called Mousy (Biao Yuen), who runs a laundry service with his sister (Lily Li). But when White Tiger attacks someone close to Mousy, Mousy must find a way to stand up to him.
Overall this one cruises well on its gonzo energy.
It’s always fun to encounter a movie that, when you go to talk about it, you just find yourself starting to list all of the things that happened in it. An outlandish dragon dance! A healer who performs the most aggressive style of cupping I’ve ever seen! Someone who cleans clothing with the athleticism and grace of a laundry-centric Simone Biles!
In total, the film is a wild mish-mash of action, comedy, and drama (well, melodrama). It never stands still long enough for any of the sequences to get old, and there is a wide range of physical displays of comedy and athletic ability. We get White Tiger’s frenzied attacks, Mousy’s balletic laundering, and Tak-Hing Kwan’s effortless maneuvers as healer and martial arts expert Wong Fei-Hung.
Even as characters are attacked, and even killed in some pretty gruesome ways, there is an overall feeling of joy to it all. The energy is madcap and every moment is infused with a heightened physicality. No one in this universe merely does something----there are wild flourishes and elaborate set-pieces to accompany even the most banal of activities.
The main character arc of the movie--Mousy finally realizing that he needs to stand up and fight, probably using some of those incredible laundry moves---is nothing incredible, but this is a film that understands that it’s about how you tell a story, and this one is told in an incredibly entertaining way.
I only had two issues with the film. The first is that while it may be true that the movie is tons of fun as is, the lack of character development does hit you a bit as the film goes into its last act. The ultimate showdown is really well-choreographed, but I did feel a little empty at the end.
The second problem that I had with the movie, unsurprising considering when and where it was made, is that it contains two unsimulated instances of animal cruelty (both fatal to the animal involved). That’s always a dealbreaker for me, and probably means this isn’t a film I’ll ever revisit.
Certainly a unique energy and an entertaining film.