Oddly enough with my fascination and love for the Hong Kong cinema, then I never heard about "Century of the Dragon" (aka "Lung joi bin yuen") before now in 2021 as I sat down to watch it.
One might argue for or against "Century of the Dragon" being just another triad and undercover police movie, but there is just something to the storyline that sets "Century of the Dragon" aside from the myriad of similar movies that flooded the Hong Kong cinema during the 1990s.
The storyline was pretty good, although it essentially was just another undercover police officer sent into the Triads movie. But the pacing of the story from writer Jing Wong in the hands of director Clarence Fok made it work out quite well, and saved it from slumping into being just another undercover cop in the Triads movie. Thankfully it didn't end up that way.
And I will say that the storyline does have enough turns along the way to remain interesting and thus preventing from becoming a generic and predictable one. So thumbs up to writer Jing Wong for that. There is a great combination of action, drama and suspense to the storyline to add variation to the movie as you watch it.
Something that definitely helped "Century of the Dragon" stand out was the cast ensemble, which included Hong Kong heavy weight actors Andy Lau, Louis Koo and Anthony Chau-Sang Wong. I must say that I really think Anthony Chau-Sang Wong is so well-cast for movies as this, just a shame that his character didn't have more on-screen time.
If you enjoy the undercover cops and Triads movies, then I can warmly recommend that you sit down to watch "Century of the Dragon", especially if you enjoy Hong Kong movies.
My rating of "Century of the Dragon" settles on a six out of ten stars. Definitely well-worth a watch.
One might argue for or against "Century of the Dragon" being just another triad and undercover police movie, but there is just something to the storyline that sets "Century of the Dragon" aside from the myriad of similar movies that flooded the Hong Kong cinema during the 1990s.
The storyline was pretty good, although it essentially was just another undercover police officer sent into the Triads movie. But the pacing of the story from writer Jing Wong in the hands of director Clarence Fok made it work out quite well, and saved it from slumping into being just another undercover cop in the Triads movie. Thankfully it didn't end up that way.
And I will say that the storyline does have enough turns along the way to remain interesting and thus preventing from becoming a generic and predictable one. So thumbs up to writer Jing Wong for that. There is a great combination of action, drama and suspense to the storyline to add variation to the movie as you watch it.
Something that definitely helped "Century of the Dragon" stand out was the cast ensemble, which included Hong Kong heavy weight actors Andy Lau, Louis Koo and Anthony Chau-Sang Wong. I must say that I really think Anthony Chau-Sang Wong is so well-cast for movies as this, just a shame that his character didn't have more on-screen time.
If you enjoy the undercover cops and Triads movies, then I can warmly recommend that you sit down to watch "Century of the Dragon", especially if you enjoy Hong Kong movies.
My rating of "Century of the Dragon" settles on a six out of ten stars. Definitely well-worth a watch.