A papermaker gets involved with a murder case concerning two criminals leading to a determined detective suspecting him and the former's vicious father searching for him.A papermaker gets involved with a murder case concerning two criminals leading to a determined detective suspecting him and the former's vicious father searching for him.A papermaker gets involved with a murder case concerning two criminals leading to a determined detective suspecting him and the former's vicious father searching for him.
- Awards
- 14 wins & 21 nominations
- Xiaotian
- (as Jiamin Li)
- General store keeper
- (as Zhengyuan Zhang)
- Tavern waiter (Dian Xiaoer)
- (as Ning Du)
- General store keeper's wife (Liu Laotaitai)
- (as Xianguo Yin)
- Young thief
- (as Yanqi Zhang)
- Young thief's father
- (as Qinghua Cun)
- Young thief's mother
- (as Fengchun Xu)
- No. 1 village elder (Yi Lao)
- (as Wei Wang)
- No. 2 village elder (Er Lao)
- (as Liansheng Wang)
- Village elder (Liu cuncun zhanglao)
- (as Shaowei He)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDonnie Yen and Peter Chan presided over the lighting of a billboard for Dragon (2011) that broke the Guinness Book of World Records for its size, 3591 square metres, previously held by a poster for a Michael Jackson album
- Quotes
Xu's investigator: [referring to Liu Jin-Xi] He's a reformed man.
Detective Xu Bai-Jiu: We're not here to reform criminals.
Xu's investigator: Then what's our purpose?
Detective Xu Bai-Jiu: [sternly] To serve the law!
Xu's investigator: If the law doesn't help reform people, what good is it?
- Alternate versionsThe scene where the bodies of two bandits are being examined has been shortened to eliminate a very brief spanking of a mischievous child who had been poking the corpses with a stick.
- ConnectionsReferences Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
It is even harder to find one which, the moment you see it, you know there will be never be anything like it again because it is a "one of a kind." This is the real deal. The opening scene is the eastern version of the opener in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE 2005 (also, not by coincidence, one of my all time faves) and the remainder of the arc is very similar, allowing for the cultural variations.
Donnie Yen arguably gives one of the most nuanced performances of his career, Takeshi brings back memories of Peter Falk in Columbo, and the beautiful Wei Tang remains one of the most overlooked Asian actresses.
A caution: if you go on a Wushu binge and approach this as just another Kung Fu spectacular, you will get annoyed and confused.
If you take the time to savour the plot development and the subtle performances, you will have the time of your life.
- A_Different_Drummer
- Nov 18, 2016
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $11,137
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $11,137
- Dec 2, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $29,282,887
- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1