Dragon (2011)
Dragon (Chinese: 武俠; pinyin: Wǔ xiá) is a 2011 Hong Kong-Chinese martial arts film directed by Peter Chan, and starring Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tang Wei. Yen also served as the film’s action director. It premiered on 13 May 2011 at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight Screenings category. Donnie Yen and Peter Chan presided over the lighting of a 3591-square-metre billboard for Dragon that broke the record in the Guinness Book of World Records for its size, a record previously held by a poster for a Michael Jackson album.The film topped China’s box office and grossed over 100 million yuan (US$15.6 million) in its first opening week. With a $20 budget, the film earned $29 million worldwide.
Plot.
In 1917 Republican China, Liu Jinxi and his wife Yu are an ordinary couple with two sons, Fangzheng and Xiaotian, living together in Liu Village, Yunnan. One day, two bandits enter the village and attempt to rob the general store. Liu happens to be in the shop, and he fights and kills the robbers when they turn violent. During an autopsy, the detective Xu Baijiu, who is sent to investigate the case, discovers that one of the dead bandits was Yan Dongsheng, who is among the government’s ten most wanted fugitives. The local magistrate is pleased, and his fellow villagers regard Liu as a hero. However, Xu becomes suspicious because he does not believe Liu could accidentally defeat such a formidable bandit. Xu notes signs of brain hemorrhaging due to an injury to Yan Dongsheng’s vagus nerve. From this and other evidence, Xu concludes that Liu is in fact a highly skilled martial artist who conceals his talent through misdirection. Investigating further, Xu discovers Liu’s true identity: Tang Long, the second-in-command of the 72 Demons, a group of vicious and bloodthirsty warriors. Liu admits his past but states that he has reformed.
Xu, an uncompromising lawman, does not accept that people can change, but he is perplexed when Liu fails to kill him when they are alone.
Xu immediately returns to the county office to obtain an arrest warrant for Tang Long. The magistrate delays issuing the warrant, citing lack of evidence while actually soliciting a bribe from Xu. Xu eventually obtains the bribe money from his estranged wife, who blames him for causing her father’s suicide. After issuing the warrant, the magistrate informs the Master of the 72 Demons of Tang Long’s whereabouts, hoping to receive a reward. Offended, the Master reveals that Liu is his son, and he kills the magistrate. The Master sends his henchmen to Liu Village to capture Liu and raze the village.
While Xu and the constables are on their way there, two henchmen reach the village and kill a villager to force Liu to acknowledge his identity. Liu kills one of the two assailants and runs away. The other assailant, the Master’s wife, chases Liu and fights with him in the buffalo shed, where she is crushed in a stampede and nearly falls into a river. As Liu attempts to save her, she tells him that he is still Tang Long.
