Review of Heart Of The Dragon

Introduction

Action star Sammo Hung once again steps behind the camera to direct Heart of the Dragon, a rather more serious and dramatic film for himself and Jackie Chan. The film tells the story of 2 brothers, a detective and a man with a mental disability who can`t survive on his own.

As you might expect the detective is always required to go to his brother`s aid, and this is having an adverse effect on his own life.

Video

A 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer awaits on this disc, and as with most HKL titles it`s a damn fine effort given the source. Most of the print damage that you expect from such titles is absent as ever, and it`s another great job from the folks at Hong Kong Legends. There`s still some nastiness in occasional frames and scenes (as well as a washed out feeling furing many scenes), but it`s really a top job overall, with good detail almost throughout. It`s pretty good given the age of the print - largely free from dust and dirt, but with some traces of grain.

Audio

A pair of DD5.1 soundtracks, either the original Cantonese language track or the not so good English dub. It`s a very subtle remix (a nice way of saying that they haven`t done very much with it), and this isn`t a soundtrack that will test your speakers. Most of the action occurs at the front of your soundstage, with the odd sound creeping out of the rear speakers.

Features

Guess what? Another HKL disc, another Bey Logan commentary. This man must surely be up for a knighthood given the amount of commentary tracks that he has supplied in the last few years. As ever it`s an insightful and informative commentary, and it tells you all that you wanted to know without resorting to the gushing fanboy style of other commentators. Nice one Bey, again!

The deleted scenes pop up next (Bey refers to them in his commentary). It`s always nice to see deleted scenes so that you can make your own mind up on them. This time, at least one scene might have been left in, but the others could easily stay out.

There`s an interview with Sammo Hung, which isn`t the greatest due to the quality of the interviewer (a common problem with some interview material on DVD). At least he has a few good things to say about the film though, so worth watching.

Next up we have an interview with DP Arthur Wong, who has plenty to say about his work overall and this film in particular.

We finish up with trailers for this film and other DVDs in the Hong Kong Legends and Premier Asia ranges.

Conclusion

An interesting title from HKL. This is not your standard Hung or Chan film, but it still manages to work. There`s not a great deal of action, but what you do get leaves you happy enough. It`s unusual to find this concentration on character in an Eastern film, but it does work. There are a few "oooh, that`s so annoyingly obvious" moments, but you can still find enough to enjoy when watching the film.

The DVD is the usual acceptable job from Hong Kong Legends - very good considering that this is not an A list title, but not as good as some of their other efforts. If you wanted to buy it, then the disc won`t put you off. Normal HKL fans might want to rent first though, as you may not enjoy it as much as other titles in your collection.