Donnie Yen is, without question, the most under-rated martial artist currently working in the film industry. That's not to say he's not as respected as he should be, it's just that far too few people know who he is. This is most likely due to the fact that he has yet to have a breakthrough role in an American film, or even a wide release of one of his Hong Kong actioners. In fact, I think the most significant role he's had in anything released in North America was 2002's Hero. It's unfortunate, as I would argue that his natural talent is unparalleled by anyone working in the industry today.

Dragon Tiger Gate re-unites Yen with director Wilson Yip (SPL, Flashpoint, Ip Man), in an adaptation of Wong Yuk Long's Manhua comic “Oriental Heroes”. The premise is typical Hong Kong fare, finding two brothers, Dragon (Donnie Yen) and Tiger (Nicholas Tse, Invisible Target), who have been separated since childhood, on opposite sides of the morality spectrum. Dragon has grown up under the influence of a Triad gang leader, while Tiger has stayed a member of the Dragon Tiger Gate martial arts academy, which serves to protect the populace from the gangs. Needless to say, they are eventually brought together to overcome an incredibly powerful enemy.

This is where Dragon Tiger Gate fails. It suffers from the typical near-nonsensical Hong Kong story structure, which serves only to drive the action from one sequence to the next. The film does, however, use an ample amount of flashbacks to Dragon and Tiger's youth to establish how they came to be who they are now, and as such gives their story a little more weight through somewhat believable characterization. It doesn't help the paper-thin comic book plot much, but at least the characters are somewhat sympathetic...

That being said, I am not familiar with the original Manhua, but I am under the impression that the film is at least moderately faithful to it. The characters of Dragon, Tiger, and the nunchaku-weilding character, Turbo, were the central characters in the books, and from what I've read, their origins are similar if not identical to their original publications. That being said, when a 90 minute film is being derived from nearly 40 years of publications, I'm certain there's no shortage of ideas from which to draw your plot.

So, as I've mentioned the story is certainly stretched thinly to its limit to fill the entire length of the film. Now, this is all fine and good if the action is worthwhile... and for the most part, it is. It's a healthy combination of traditional martial artistry and CGI work, which is used very minimally to accentuate the action sequences, and never seems too blatant until the films final fight sequence. Given the film's origins in the comic-book world, and how the events unfold to its conclusion, the use of CG effects is not only fitting, but necessary. It also makes an impressive showdown between the Good Guys and a seemingly unstoppable Bad Guy. The action sequences leading up to the climax are very impressive utilizing all number of weapons (Nunchaku, Sai, Three Section Staff, etc.) and straight hand to hand combat, which is never less than breathtaking to behold. Nobody does it better than Donnie Yen, and it's always fun to watch him. His role as action choreographer also serves to elevate the action sequences he's not in, to something incredible. All in all, the fight scenes are tremendous.

Unfortunately the film takes a 40-minute hiatus from the action to develop the plot roughly halfway through the movie, and unfortunately there's just not quite enough substance here to keep it moving at full pace. It's unfortunate, but the action is what drives this film, and unfortunately there doesn't quite seem to be enough of it. Perhaps it's just me being picky, because what action there was, was fantastic. Maybe I'm just being an asshole...

No one can direct an action sequence like Wilson Yip, and now, after having worked on 4 movies with Donnie Yen, they have formed they strongest partnership currently in the world of action films. The action sequence that closes out Flashpoint is one of the most brutally painful looking ever filmed. SPL suffered from the same hackneyed plot problems as Dragon Tiger Gate, yet it didn't make the action sequences any less enjoyable. Dragon Tiger Gate has so many brilliantly colourful comic-book action sequences that I simply can't help but recommend it . It may not be perfect, but the action sequences sure do come close.