Guns of Dragon (1993) Review

“Guns of Dragon” Theatrical Poster

Director: Tony Leung Siu Hung
Cast: Ray Lui, Bill Lui Cho Hung, Mark Cheng, Patrick Lung Kong, Yvonne Yung Hung, Jackson Lau, John Sham, Tse Ning, Alex Fong, Henry Fong Ping
Running Time: 91 min.

By Paul Bramhall

During the early 90’s there was a spate of Hong Kong movies that were shot on location in either the US or Canada, perhaps an indication of directors assessing the feasibility of continuing to make movies overseas ahead of the 1997 handover back to China. 1990 gave us Joe Cheung’s Return Engagement, 1991 offered up Stephen Shin’s Black Cat, in 1992 Kirk Wong helmed Taking Manhattan, and in 1993 David Lai delivered Women on the Run.

Tony Leung Siu-Hung also jumped on the bandwagon in 1993, and headed over to New York to make Guns of Dragon. One of Hong Kong’s most celebrated fight choreographers, Siu-Hung stepped into the director’s chair for the first time in 1984 for the latter-day Shaw Brothers production (and still criminally unreleased on Blu-ray or DVD at the time of writing) Thunderclap. Despite being an entertaining slice of wuxia, all indicators looked like his foray into directing would be a one-off, and for the rest of the decade he’d stick to action choreography, lending his talents to genre classics like Angel. Notably he’d also take on fight choreography duties for the Seasonal Films US co-productions No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers and The King of Kickboxers, which perhaps planted the seed for his eventual return to stateside.

In 1993 though, after an almost decade long break, Siu-Hung would return to the director’s chair with a vengeance, kicking off with the horror flick Insanity and followed up by the supernatural thriller Vendetta. It would be his final movie of the year that resembled the genre he’s most closely associated, with the grammatically challenged Guns of Dragon. Made 2 years before Siu-Hung would pick up the baton for Seasonal Films return to US co-productions with 1995’s Superfights and 1997’s Bloodmoon, Guns of Dragon sees him re-team with his leading man from Vendetta, Ray Lui (To Be Number One, Thunder Run), for the tale of a Hong Kong cop who travels to New York to meet his wife and son.

Lui’s cop has spent the last few years undercover living apart from his wife, played by Yvonne Yung (A Chinese Torture Chamber Story, Lover of the Last Empress), who’s been wanting him to quit the force so they can be together. Now that they’re planning to relocate from New York to Canada, Lui’s finally joining them to make amends for being apart for so long, and start a new life. Apart from the fact that the thought of any guy voluntarily living apart from Yvonne Yung stretches the bounds of believability, this being a Hong Kong action movie, naturally things don’t go according to plan. Lui’s ability to take down the bad guys has earnt him a lot of enemies, and when a typically wafer thin plot emerges involving a counterfeit money scheme, it turns out that pretty much everyone involved in it would like to see him dead.

With the latest meeting of various criminal gangs also taking place in New York, it isn’t long before a trigger happy Mark Cheng (Godfather’s Daughter Mafia Blues, Tai Chi Boxer) spots Lui on the street and takes aim (right after putting a bullet through a homeless guy asking him any spare change!). To make matters worse Cheng is there with the even more volatile Jackson Lau (Fist of Legend, Vanguard), who during his last encounter with Lui got shot in his crown jewels. These become a point of contention during one of the most hilarious sex (or at least attempted) scenes ever committed to film, which has a ravenous Lau literally looking like he’s going to devour a blonde moll on a bar, only for her enrage him by complaining that “It’s not even hard!” Their crossing of paths means Lau has an unexpected opportunity to take revenge on the one responsible for his forced incompetence, resulting in a left of field but certainly welcome motivation.

Both Cheng and Lau are there to meet with a character called the General who’s the mastermind behind the whole operation, and is played by Patrick Lung Kong. Appearing at the tail end of his varied 40 years in the industry, Lung Kong had been acting since the late 50’s and was himself an established director, helming the likes of The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (which inspired John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow) and The Fairy, the Ghost and Ah Chung. Lung Kong’s General requires a walking stick to get around, thanks to another of Lui’s bullets from a previous encounter, marking one more character who has an axe to grind against the cop from Hong Kong. With bullet riddled crotch shots and hobblings, you have to wonder if Lui just enjoys maiming the bad guys who end up in his line of fire, or if he simply has a bad aim.

The American setting is used well, with the decision to play down the whole fish out of water angle preventing the narrative from getting bogged down in the usual tropes. Lui’s wife Yung has been staying with another couple played by John Shum (I Love Maria, Pedicab Driver) and his then wife Tse Ning (Three Against the World, A Fiery Family), and as expected, Shum plays a comedic relief role which should be out of place, but he makes the role work well and never outstays his welcome. It also helps that he (along with almost all of the cast for that matter) handles his English line delivery exceptionally well, seamlessly switching between English and Cantonese in the same sentence and still delivering the intended comedic beats. Similar to Danny Lee and Rosamund Kwan in 1990’s Undeclared War, here the requirement to speak English causes no detriment to the overall tone.

The only native speakers come in the form of Steven Darrow and an American Chinese actor who frustratingly doesn’t seem to be credited anywhere (presumably Michael Wong wasn’t available). Guns of Dragon is Darrow’s only film credit, however he does an amicable job as the archetypal shouty New York (pronounced “Yoyk”) cop who’s had it up to here with the Chinese gangs, and his partner is mainly there to bond with Lui over their shared Chinese heritage. Of course what anyone who’s clocking into a Tony Leung Siu-Hung movie for is to check out the action, and like all of his directorial efforts here he also takes on the role of action director. 

Siu-Hung had a gift for making non-martial artists look good onscreen, and it’s on display here as everyone comes across as a competent screen fighter. The action goes for a mix of gunplay, fisticuffs, and vehicular stuntwork, and while there’s nothing to match the likes of John Woo’s output at the time, every action sequence is solid. A standout sees Mark Cheng and Jackson Lau raiding the house that Lui and co. are staying in, and its subsequent destruction in a hail of bullets. The usual stuntman falls and bodies crashing through windows are all present and accounted for, and there’s a healthy quota of blood squibs in use that don’t hold back on the red stuff. Special mention has to go to a death scene that involves a ceiling fan and delivers the required wince worthy moment, proving just how wrong Jackie Chan could have gone in Dragons Forever!

The finale relocates to Puerto Rico where the pace gets a little bogged down in the villains discussing their nefarious plans, however it’s soon brought back on track with Lui mowing down a small army of bad guys, and facing off against Chin Ho (The Last Blood, Wonder Seven) playing the mute bodyguard of Lung. The budget even stretches to a 3 way face off that sees Lui up against Jackson Lau with each behind the wheel of a speedboat (4 years before Face/Off!), while Lung Kong attempts to get away in a sea plane. The sequence ends in an interesting special effect that looks like an early attempt at greenscreen, but without going into spoiler territory still offers up a satisfyingly real explosion, making Guns of Dragon a lean action flick bolstered by its New York setting and solid performances (and look out for Yvonne Yung’s Die Hard moment in the final scene!).

Siu-Hung has said in more than one interview that Guns of Dragon was a particularly challenging movie to make due to the overseas shooting conditions, and several mishaps that happened along the way, however the end product proves the perseverance he showed was ultimately worth it. Featuring more than enough vehicular mayhem, gratuitous gunfire, HK style stuntwork, and Alex Fong with grey highlights, Guns of Dragon proves that Siu-Hung’s decision to return to directing was the right one.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10