Product Description

Language: cantonese mandarin. Subtitles with on/off function in english chinese japanese korean vietnamese malaysian thai and indonesian. Jackie is a dedicated hong kong policeman with hopes of marrying his loyal girlfriend and becoming a sailor. Studio: Tai Seng Entertainment Release Date: 08/14/2001 Starring: Jackie Chan Emily Chu Run time: 89 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Sammo Hung

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115301 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-02-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese
• Subtitled in: English, Vietnamese, Japanese, Georgian, Thai
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
Something a bit different from the team of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, Heart of Dragon has action scenes and comedy, but also tells the dramatic tale of two brothers who are torn between duty and dreams. Tat Fung (Chan) has recently left a S.W.A.T.-type agency for the local police force to take care of his mentally disabled older brother Do-do (Hung). Although Do-do is a full grown man, he has the mental capacity of a young child and is always getting into mischief. Tat has put away his dreams of marriage and traveling the world as a sailor to watch after Do-do. While playing cops and robbers with his kid friends, Do-do gets mixed up in a jewelry heist and is kidnapped by the bad guys. Tat momentarily puts aside his official law-enforcer status and takes matters into his own hands, which results in serious repercussions. The fight sequences in Heart of Dragon are closer to such American films as Die Hard; Tat and his S.W.A.T.-team buddies take on the bad guys in an unfinished building with zero comedy and lots of bloodshed. At a crucial impasse in the story Tat lashes out at Do-do, and this poignant scene perfectly illustrates the frustrations of a man who loves and hates his brother at the same time. It's a switch from the usual fare, and Heart of Dragon offers ample proof that Chan and Hung can handle dramatic material. --Shannon Gee

Customer Reviews

Fox Presents Fortune Star, Uncut
This is in response to the Feb. 5th review titled "ORIGINAL IS BETTER~!"

While I agree with the message, it was put the wrong place. While in most cases the R1 releases of Hong Kong films are heavily cut and dubbed, these releases by Fox, are actually done by the fantastic HK company Fortune Star, and only released under Fox. They contain the UNCUT film in the original Cantonese language (DTS too!), as well as the English dub. As usual the picture quality is more than fantastic. The only downpoints are the usual Fortune Star downpoints: Hardly-to-no extras, and slightly edited sound fx,(but in this case no original mono sound). Also the subtitles are actually dubtitles, but are not terrible. In all, this is still one of the better versions of this film on DVD, especially for under $10.

PS. As for the argument that "no other countries have their own cuts, like France," maybe you should look into Luc Besson's distribution of Asian (especially Thai) films.

Another side of two Hong Kong legends
Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung completely re-invented the Hong Kong action movie in the 1970's and 1980's, and Jackie especially was the undisputed king of the HK box office. Heart Of The Dragon was a brave step for them, a movie that largely eschews action and focuses on drama. I guess they wanted to prove that there was more to them than best-in-the-world action direction, and here they prove it beyond doubt. The dramatic performances of both are excellent, and Sammo's direction is wonderful. It's a really moving story, very well told.

Obviously they knew that the fans out there expected action though, so the movie has a few small fights and then a largely unnecessary but brilliantly filmed action finale that lasts a good 20 minutes. The movie would probably have been just as good without it, but one cannot complain about a 20 minute action scene when such masters of the art were behind it. Even if the action is all you care about, the quality of the finale here is so good you will not want to miss this movie.

drama-onscreen and off
While this has action-and whenever Sammo directs, expect Jackie to be a juggernaut, the real story is the bond between them. Through the story(and the real life events behind this movie) Jackie and Sammo show themselves as inseperable. Jackie walks hand in hand with Sammo at a time when critics were circling around Sammo like vultures on roadkill. While the story will lead you to be upset with yourself for laughing at a person with disabilities(which you will) you will find redemption in seeing them staying in a relationship no matter what. Jail, jewel thieves and the merchant marines cannot split this duo. Their bond comes through, even if you see the film in Japanese with English subtitles, which was my first experience with it.