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Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: July 14th, 2020.
Director: Kenji Tanigaki
Cast: Donnie Yen, Niki Chow, Teresa Mo, Jing Wong
Year: 2020
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Enter The Fat Dragon - Movie Review:
Fallon Zhu (Donnie Yen) is a 145lb cop in peak physical condition with a penchant for whopping the asses of the many bad guys that run around his precinct in Hong Hong. On the day that he's to have his wedding photos taken with his bride to be, Chloe Song (Niki Chow), an aspiring TV actress, one such bad guy gets in the way. A few hours later, and Fallon has been seen on national TV beating the snot out of some guys and his fiancé has broken it off with him.
Fallon is taken off the streets and asked to do a lengthy stretch in the evidence room, where he promptly stops exercising and starts eating. 100lbs later, and Fallon is asked to escort a brain damaged pornographer from Hong Kong to Tokyo, which he does, only to run into Chloe and her new friend, a suspiciously criminal-looking Japanese man intent on making her a star… who just so happens to recognize the man that Fallon is escorting. Once he arrives in Tokyo, he meets a flatulent old cop and a cute Chinese translator named Charisma (Teresa Mo), befriends a hefty guy named Thor (Jing Wong) and winds up having to help out his superior, Commander Huang (Louis Cheung) all while hoping to rekindle what he once had with Chloe.
Digitally augmented green-screen action and many failed attempts at comedy ensue.
This one didn't work for me… at all. It started off with a reasonable amount of promise, some of the comedy in the opening sequence combines with the action really well and there are a few good laughs to be had in the first fifteen-minutes or so of this movie. From there, it goes downhill fast, most of the jokes stemming from the old farting cop or Donnie Yen's weird looking enlarged frame, which is amusing at first but soon becomes old hat. There is a good gag where Thor eats a fish with some blow inside and then wreaks havoc with a forklift, but most of the sight gags in the movie are predictable and just not really all that funny.
This leaves the action to save the film, and make no mistake, Yen can still move like a cat. The guy is fast and precise and the camera loves him, even in the ridiculous form he takes in this movie, but there's no excitement here when there's no real element of danger and the very obvious use of CGI and green-screen effects reduces that element to non-existent status. What should have been a thrilling conclusion set atop the top of Tokyo Tower instead feels way too safe simply because we know that no one in the movie is actually up there. It's understandable why a filmmaker wouldn't want a big star like Yen hanging off a dangerous observation deck in the middle of the night, but scenes like this really make you appreciate just how insane some of what Jackie Chan and his stunt team were able to pull off in their heyday (and maybe that's not fair in this day and age but the movie tries for that type of vibe so the comparison seems apt).
When it's all said and done, this had potential. The Sammo Hung film from 1978 that this picture takes its name from is a bit of an underrated gem (though this 2020 movie doesn't really qualify as a remake as the stories are very different) but Kenji Tanigaki's picture offers virtually no thrills and only a few cheap laughs.
Enter The Fat Dragon - Blu-ray Review:
Taking up just over 21GBs of space on a 35GB disc, the AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition picture on this disc is excellent. Detail is strong, colors are reproduced really nicely. The color scheme leans towards a lot of shadowy blacks in spots but then in other scenes it's quite bold and impressive. Thankfully the black levels are nice and deep throughout the presentation and there aren't any problems with crush or compression. Generally, the transfer excels in areas of both detail and texture. There are no issues at all with dirt, debris or visual detriments of any kind and the disc is well authored, showing no noise reduction or heavy edge enhancement. Outside of some slight shimmer here and there, the movie looks excellent in high definition.
The main audio option on the disc is a Chinese (Cantonese) language track provided in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio with removable subtitles available in English (translating the entire film or only the parts not spoken in English) as well as traditional Chinese. The lossless track here is a good one, with plenty of surround activity noticeable throughout. The score is spread around perfectly with some nice pans thrown in for dramatic effect, while bass response is consistent tight and strong. All in all, this is a nice, well directed mix that does a fine job with the movie. An optional Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix, also in Chinese, is also included.
Extras are limited to a two trailers for the feature, promos for a few other Well Go USA properties, menus and chapter selection.
Enter The Fat Dragon - The Final Word Review:
Enter The Fat Dragon is the very definition of mediocre. Well Go USA's disc is light on extra features but it looks and sounds excellent but this movie really is for Donnie Yen fanatics only.
Click on the images below for full sized Enter The Fat Dragon Blu-ray screen caps!
