I hadn't heard about this movie from writer and director Fruit Chan prior to getting to sit down and watch it. And it being a Hong Kong action movie was essentially all that was needed to catch my interesting.
It would be an overstatement to say that "The Invincible Dragon" (aka "Jiu long bu bai") is an outstanding moment in Hong Kong cinema. This movie was a massive swing and a miss.
For me it was the storyline that was the source of where it all went wrong, because there was no red line throughout the course of the movie. It all just felt random and like something director Fruit Chan made up as they went along, without taking into consideration what happened just 15 minutes ago. The movie was a befuddled mess of chaotic confusion and very little sense permeated the movie.
And it didn't help much that the character gallery in the movie was about as interesting as wet cardboard. So it was an uphill battle that the actors and actresses were fighting, and they weren't doing much to win the battle.
I managed to endure the movie to the end, but believe you me that this was a prolonged experience, and the movie felt to be dragging on forever and ever. As the movie hit 55 minutes, I was good and ready to call it quits, because the movie just trotted on in a stupor. But I endured, and I hung in there to the very end.
However, I can honestly say that this movie is not one that I will be sitting down to watch again. My rating of "The Invincible Dragon" is a mere three out of ten stars.
