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Chasing the Dragon

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Chasing the Dragon

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Summary

A Chinese immigrant rises through the corrupt world of British-ruled Hong Kong to establish himself as a feared and ruthless drug lord. Crime drama, starring Donnie Yen, Andy Lau and Philip Keung. In Chinese

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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Jamie Healy

This true-life gangster epic finds Donnie Yen and Andy Lau playing the crime lord and cop who had Hong Kong in their pockets during the 1960s and early 70s. Very much in the grand Scorsese tradition, the film has plenty of swagger and style, and is punctuated by moments of extreme violence (torture and death by hair dryer is a novelty). It's also a surprisingly amoral portrait of two men who profited hugely from the narcotics trade, but whose actions seem heroic compared to the boorish and self-serving Brits who lord it over their country with pantomimic disdain. Lau turns in another reliable performance as scheming detective Lee Rock, reprising a role he played back in the 90s, but it's Yen who's the standout as drug kingpin "Crippled" Ng Sai Ho. The action star foregoes his trademark precision punches to convincingly essay Ho from scruffy street brawler to dapper high roller, and does so without ever losing our sympathy. A sketchy, time-skipping script, some lame dialogue and too many thinly drawn characters take off some of the shine, but this is still an enjoyably polished production.

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6.7/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameNg Sai HoDonnie YenLee RockAndy LauPiggyKent ChengChubbyBen NgHunterBryan Larkin (2)

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Crew

rolenameDirectorWong Jing DirectorJason Kwan

Details

Theatrical distributor

Asia Releasing LLC

Released on

2017-10-06

Languages

English | Thai | Chinese

Available on

DVD

Formats

Colour

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