Fantastic!

Absolutely Fantastic

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I had had a hopeful expectation about this movie since its cast are all Asian-Americans, I had really wanted this movie to succeed so that Asian-Americans actors and actresses could get more spotlight in the mainstream American media. Unfortunately, I was utterly disappointed, to the point that I had thought about turning it off. Clearly, it was like a B-rated movie or a budget movie. I don't want to spoil the plot for you and I just wish that directors and casts had done more and put in more investments and efforts into this movie.

Two brothers Sonny and Steven, survive the impoverished despair of New York in the 1980s by joining Chinatown gang "The Green Dragons". The brothers quickly rise up the ranks, drawing the unwanted attention of hard-boiled city cops. After an affair puts Sonny against his own brother, he sets out for revenge on the very gang who made him who he is.....It's another case do great name above an absolute shambles of a film, and if you know what an executive producer does, you will instantly think less of this 'film'.I mean come on, every actor, writer, and director at one point has, or will executive produce something, you just have to show up, tell an actor to stand somewhere other than where they are, take a huge cheque for your name to be used, and then toddle off.No disrespect to Scorcese, the guy is a certified genius, and I'm sure he did more than the above mentioned, but after seeing this, I highly doubt it.It starts off okay, a little like Gangs Of New York (and then Scorcese left the building), but it soon veers into absurdity, and seeing as this is only ninety minutes long, it seemed a lot longer than Gangs of.....Brothers stick together, argue, fight, and a little more, Ray Liotta pops up for a while looking very, very ill, like he did in Goodfellas (then Scorcese put the phone down), and then there's a stupid twist come the end, and it finishes.It looks okay though, but the flashes of admitted genius, just vex the viewer that little bit more.Really soulless stuff....l

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 2.5/5 starsAndrew Lau's "Infernal Affairs" trilogy became the best-known import in the early 2000s from the storied Hong Kong film industry, supplying Martin Scorsese with material for his Academy Award- winning film "The Departed". But while Mr. Lau's latest, "Revenge of the Green Dragons," leaps forth with a flurry of montage, attitude, and action, it loses its way as a drama.This film — a crime yarn directed jointly by Lau and Andrew Loo, and set in Queens during the Chinese immigration wave of the 1980s — begins by sketching out the hungry desperation of the era, and how Chinese gangs took hold of two schoolmates, Sonny and Steven, and never let go. Violence and cynicism abound, as the story ratchets forward to track the hotheaded Steven and the more prudent Sonny through gangland intrigue, shootings, and blowbacks. The violence is savage and the torture, graphic. The victims are true-to-life: women, children and the elderly. There are also a few mind games - coupled with a neat albeit unconvincing twist at the end - as there are straight-up acts of brutality. Sadly, the rest of the mayhem that's fueled by drugs, human trafficking, and an unconvincing, supposedly ill-fated romance seem hurriedly patched together, and contribute little towards making this gangster flick as engaging and fresh as it's ruthless and stylish.Inspired by a 1992 article in The New Yorker, "Green Dragons" gets a certain vigor out of it's prideful battles for power, turf control, and respect in a world where only the murders of whites seem to matter. Yet the busy plotting shoves past the characters, and Justin Chon as Sonny, and Kevin Wu as Steven, can't keep up. A smuggler's speech about America's basis in hatred won't find many buyers, nor will a frozen-faced Ray Liotta referentially cast as a detective benefiting from the efforts of a Chinese-American colleague (Jin Auyeung)."Revenge of the Green Dragons" starts with promise, but soon becomes predictable, filled with clichés that do little in terms of engagement or spinning a novel, fresh story from an interesting, untouched plot. What initially feels like brash energy peters out until what's left mainly evokes some pretty run-off-the-mill gangster lore.

A collaboration between Wai-Keung Lau (Infernal Affairs trilogy) and Martin Scorsese (The Departed) about Chinese gangs in New York at the end of the 1980s. One would expect fireworks, right? Not so much. This movie is entertaining but misses a bigger impact. It's not surprising the film didn't get a wider release in the US... The rather conventional story is embellished with different kind of colorful gangs from the (Asian) underworld, some pretty gruesome torture scenes and an attempt to make a huge plot twist at the end, but finally fails due to ordinariness. It needed more "cool" and a more interesting angle storywise. Fans of Asian-centered mob movies should give it a try though.