Black Dragon (1989)

Less than miraculous

1987's Miracles was one of Jackie Chan's biggest flops, and it's not that difficult to see why. A lavish Hong Kong reworking of the Frank Capra-Damon Runyon classic Lady For a Day set in a lovingly recreated Twenties Hong Kong, you can see where the money's been spent, but too often the film feels like it's all window dressing. Director-star Chan is so enamoured of the project that he loses sight of the story and the audience and it constantly tips over into drawn-out self-indulgence even in the two hour version, so it's hard to imagine how slow Chan's original unreleased and reportedly lost three-hour cut must have been. Chan's a down-on-his-luck chancer who, after buying a lucky rose from an old woman, finds his luck changing, quickly working his way to the top as a gangster-cum-gambler-cum-club owner (of the kind who never kills anyone, naturally) and repays the favor by roping in his gang and various IOUs to masquerade as the cream of high society when the flower seller's daughter - who believes her mother to be a rich socialite - comes to visit. Action is thin on the ground until the elaborate ladder-fight finale, but that's less of a problem than the fact that neither the film nor the characters really engage your sympathy or much of your interest along the way. There are some good sequences, including a virtuoso single-take shot of making over a gambling den into a fancy restaurant with several nods to Buster Keaton along the way, but there just aren't enough of them.

As others have noted, this DVD includes the 127-minute subtitled version that was released in Hong Kong theaters. December 28, 2007

Get the facts right, this DVD has the Uncut version.

Again, unfortunately someone has been jumping the gun and accusing every DVD released in America to be cut. Usually a warning is apropriate, as foreign films are often cut, however, you should know whether or not that's true before you write a bad review. Not only does this film have both the original dialogue/ uncut version & the english dubbed(on one double-sided disc), but it lists it right in the features above. Please do your research or at least read the description before you continue to make these harsh allegations.

That being said, the audio and video quality on this DVD is very poor. The other R1 version by Tai Seng is the 22 minutes shorter cut, so avoid that one. So, region free player? Hong Kong Legends version, if not, either this one, or some cheaper HK import that will probably also have subpar quality. April 11, 2006

Original is BETTER

If you want UNCUT ORIGINAL version, ALWAYS look for ORIGINAL LICENSED Production. NOT US Release. Its a foreign film, it should not be US version to begin with~! HELLO!!!?? Why settle for LESS with US Version where they edit and cut so many excellent scenes especially with Jackie's Fighting Scenes. And US Release ruins the speed and sound as well. I have been collecting Jackie Chan's movies both HK and US Release Version for quite some time now. I found HK Version to be MUCH MORE in enjoyable, and HIGHER in Quality. American Market always like to "Americanize" and "Control". Regional Code Regulation thing is one of the example to CONTROL the Market. Why not let everyone enjoy the same HK Original Release move the same way ENTIRE WORLD enjoys it ?? No one makes Hollywood American movies to "French version" or "Chinese Version" ~! This what Americans are doing~! Well, enjoy the cheap "American version" then~! LOL February 5, 2006

miracles

its a pretty good movie. very touching but the quality isnt perfect and the acting and stuff isnt that awesome either. other than that, the action's great. jackie chan does a good job. October 17, 2005

Chan's best work as a director!

The movie, which I won't bother summarizing since it's been done in other reviews, is a feel-good-story sprinkled with some awesome action. If you're just out for an action fix, you may want to pick up another Chan movie instead. Although the fight scenes have quality work in choreography, execution, and creativity (beautiful fight in a rope-factory), it focuses on plot and dialogue for good chunks of time. If you don't mind a balanced movie between plot and action, you might want to jump on this one.

Jackie Chan did a nice job in both directing and starring the movie. He played the naive poorboy with a heart of gold perfectly. The comedy in the movie didn't evoke the laughter Chan movie's usually get out of me, but it's still abit humorous nevertheless. It's a shame Anita Mui didn't get much development throughout the movie. Her love-relationship with Jackie in the movie seems strained, out of place, and unnecessary. I guess since there were so many things going on in the plot at once, their relationship was underdeveloped and took a back seat.

Chan's directing throughout the movie is, in my opinion, his best effort as a director yet. He did a great job organizing the hectic mess of plotlines that consistently intervened and conflicted with each other, while ultimately leading it up to a climatic finish with the different plots being intertwined and combined.

Note: I only viewed the movie through Cantonese dubbing w/English subtitles. English dubbing WAS included in this version, but I just prefer to view movies in their original, intended format. March 25, 2005

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