Dragon - Wu Xia - 武俠

Dragon (Wu Xia/武俠/Swordsmen) is an 2011 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kanoshiro. The supporting cast include Tang Wei, Jimmy Wang Yu, Kara Hui, Li Xiaoran, Jiang Wu, Ethan Ruan. The movie was released as "Dragon" a couple of years after its Asian release. This movie is an suspense thriller action movie.



Liu is a quiet family man that accidently kills two robbers that come to his farming town. One of the robbers is a highly sought after by the government which draws the attention of investigator, Xu. As Xu investigates, he has to piece together the robbers, Liu, the villages, and many other things. Eventually finding that Liu is a highly skilled bandit, things start to get interesting.



This was one of the better movies of 2011. Donnie goes minimalistic for this role and shows his acting chops. TK does his thing well and takes on a accent that is quite good. The investigation is intriguing and the results come half way through the movie. The second half includes most of the action, but it's not without consequences for the main leads. In the Donnie cannon, this may not be the most action packed, but it is one of my favorites due to the story and his acting. Donnie is a star and he shows it here.

Lust, Caution - 色, 戒

Lust, Caution (色, 戒) is a 2007 film by Ang Lee (李安). Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Wei Tang, Joan Chen and Lee-Hom Wang.

The movie is based in both Hong Kong and Shanghai during the Japanese occupation of China during World World II. The main plot point is that Tony Leung's character is targeted, considered a traitor to the Chinese for working for the Japanese. Leung's character tortures Chinese to help the Japanese. Wei Tang is sent in as a spy to find a way to assassinate Leung. A thriller, coming of age, and drama all rolled into one.

The emotional roller-coaster that Ang Lee puts you on is amazing. I was being pulled in all directions regarding many of the characters. Ang Lee once again shows you that you may not really understand the life his characters choose, but you end up pulling for them.

Honorable mention goes to Joan Chen for still holding it up after all these years. It was nice to see some Shanghainese (上海話). When I was around my grandparents more regularly in my elementary school days, I actually knew a hundred phrases or so. I couldn't tell if Joan Chen and Wei Tang's dialect was authentic though. But it was cool, nonetheless.

Watch and watch it again. Be aware as the reports of the heightened sexuality is not exaggerated. But you could argue that it was necessary for the purpose of the story.