Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

DRAGON SQUAD is a no-brainer for me: a Hong Kong action film in which Interpol agents battle criminal gangs, with warfare on the streets. Martial arts battles with machetes, sniper stand-offs, daring heists, and a revenge-fuelled storyline are all par for the course for this genre, so this should be an easy film to like. Unfortunately there's one big problem which drags it down to a barely enjoyable level: Daniel Lee's direction.This is the worst directed Hong Kong action film I've seen in many, many years. DRAGON SQUAD is over-edited to within an inch of its life. The editing is super fast throughout, with constant shaky-cam work and headache-inducing montages. It makes the film look dated and amateurish and the 1990s-looking captions don't help either. I mean, why on earth did Lee think it would be a good idea to keep showing black-and-white stills of the characters during the suspense scenes? It's ridiculous! Had the direction been restrained, oh I don't know by actually allowing the actors time to act and the combatants to show off their skills, then this would have been a lot better. As it stands, Lee is the cinematic equivalent of a bratty kid at a birthday party, jumping up and down and shouting "Look at me! Look at me!".I've seen other works by the same director (THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON, 14 BLADES) and they were nothing like this so I can only hope he learnt his lesson by his mistakes here. Otherwise, DRAGON SQUAD is fun film; plenty of action and one hell of cast to really get your teeth into. Among others this movie features Maggie Q as a sniper, Sammo Hung as an elder cop with an Alsation, Michael Biehn as the villain, Simon Yam as the chief cop, Li Bingbing as a love interest, Andy On as a bad guy, and Shawn Yue as one of the heroic cops. A shame about the charisma-free (and oddly-named) Vaness Wu (yeah, he's a guy) as the Emo-style hero, but then you can't have everything. I just wish the director hadn't messed up so bad on this one.

Non existent plot, tons of poorly directed / super-cheesy scenes (Snipers / world famous sharpshooters who can't even hit their targets a few feet away? plus what's up with the ending?---> a bunch of law enforcers vandalizing a carnival's shooting gallery? WTH?), technical mistakes (how many bullets can you fit into a magazine of a glock? 100+? These people fire their guns without the need of reloading). The movie is so bad that even senior Hollywood actor like Michael Biehn (Aliens, terminator) can't save this junk.DO not watch this movie (I realized that I wasted some good 100 minutes of my precious life on this one). Hopefully the director would either stop making movies, or learn more for his next movie.

The anticipation I had for this film sparked a major interest in Asian cinema and for that reason alone, I am glad this film exists. On finally seeing Dragon Squad, it is obvious that is not one the best written or best acted films but it is a highly entertaining, fast paced and well directed action piece. Perhaps for me, this film was a victim to my own expectations.Dragon Squad is immensely stylish and Daniel Lee does a tremendous job to grab the audience's attention via clever use of camera wizardry. In some scenes, he overdoes the slow motion and cut backs, but overall, he is extremely impressive. The way he integrates news report like flashes within the film is very clever in terms of pace as it saves on huge chunks of exposition to explain what is happening and characters' background. Whilst it is a fresh approach, I've always been in favour of setting the scene and character development. Lee would have done well to remember that these are the basics when it comes to a good plot.With the exception of Petros (Michael Biehn) and Ching's (Li Bing Bing) story, the character stories are somewhat neglected and rushed. Sammo Hung's relationship with his daughter could have been explored much more and would have given good contrast to the bloodshed that was occurring elsewhere in the film. There was an attempt at background explanations for the 'Dragon Squad' and although they were good and went to some length to explain the characters, there was hardly any closure on the issues. The plot as a whole however, is very good. The tale two groups chasing one man for different reasons is very compelling and the way the groups interact with each other is very good. To put it one way, Dragon Squad has a great body but not quite enough bones to hold it all together.Negativity aside, the action in the film is brilliant. Some of the best shootout scenes I've witnessed (and that's a lot!) are on this film; it is stunning to watch. Biehn, Shawn Yue and Maggie Q all really shine in these scenes. Their weapon handling is brilliant and they do a fantastic job of adding personality to the action scenes. The sniper battles are very good as they add tension and also means the action on the ground can flourish uninterrupted. Dragon Squad really sets itself above its peers with these scenes as it doesn't stray in to the realms of nonsense like Hard Boiled did and instead, tries to remain on a more realistic level.The cast is somewhat mixed. Shawn Yue is very good in all of his scenes, he is likable and the scenes with his paralysed brother are very touching. The rest of the 'Dragon Squad' however, are all pretty bad. Vanness Wu in particular was extremely wooden and definitely should have stuck to doing pop songs. Sammo Hung was a much needed cast member. His movement in the fight scenes was very good and he certainly shone when compared to the main characters. Michael Biehn as the lead villain was excellent. These are the kind of roles he loves and really took this one by the reigns. Biehn makes his villain a sympathetic and likable one but is also totally ruthless. This is one of Biehn's best roles in years and he was a joy to watch; definitely the stand out performance. Maggie Q was slightly underused in this film but her role was the silent but deadly sniper so she fitted perfectly in to the requirements of the character. Simon Yam was also good in his small role as the chief of police. He adds another dimension to Hung's character and gives a very generous performance.The music in the film is brilliant. The drum score is at the heart of Dragon Squad's atmosphere and it is so effective at putting the audience on edge. This is classic Hong Kong action music and the length of time this particular sound has lasted further shows how effective it is. There is extreme contrast within the music as on one hand there are these intense instrumentals and on the other, there are slow, emotional pop songs. Lee really uses music as part of the film and it is brilliant at heightening Dragon Squad's impact.Overall, this is a very good film despite its many flaws. With a little more attention to character development, this could have been one of the year's best films. The director, however, focused more on action set pieces and these alone take the film to a very good level. Dragon Squad has quality stamped all over it and deserves much more recognition than it's been given.

Film: Dragon Squad Year: 2005 Genre(s): Action/Drama Director: Daniel Lee Language(s): Cantonese, Madarin, English Running Time: 111 Mins Format: DVD(Hong Kong Release) Cast: Venness Wu, Shawn Yue, Xia Yu, Eva Haung, Lawrence Chou, Sammo Hung, Micheal Biehn, Simon Yam, Huh Joon Ho, Maggie QSynopsis: Five interpol agents are drafted into Hong Kong to keep watch over a witness in an important trial, while being transported the convoy is ambushed by a gang of masked gun man.The agents, come together to solve who attacked them and, while being mentored by an almost retired officer, decide to take out the gang before more people are killed.Review:So this film has been receiving a lot of negative press, both from fans living in Hong Kong and those who live in other countries, having seen the flick, i's easy to understand why, the pacing is chaotic and the camera work as extremely frantic during it's many action sequences, add in some awkward attempts at character development and some repetitive flashbacks and you'd have a stinker on your hands right?Well, I hate to break it to you guys but no, despite some of the films superficial flaws, it does not fail in being one of the finest films to come out of Hong Kong in 2005 and while it didn't get the box office reception it deserved, this reviewer felt refreshed to find some creativity among the watered down Rom-coms the local film industry have seem to be putting out this past year. So let's start with the plot.It's your typical by the numbers tried and tested plot, there's the bad guys and there's the good guys, they fight, bad guys win, good guys get mentored by wise senior, fight again, good guys win.So really the plot is an excuse for director Daniel Lee is experiment with some very Micheal Mann-esquire camera work, about that, the camera work for the most part does the job right, it creates excitement and tension which kept this reviewer glued o the screen throughout, as it suited the style of the action scene s very well.Now the action, well, the good news is, there's plenty of it, lots of gun play with the odd martial arts sequence thrown in for good measure, the fighting mostly being done by Huh Joon Ho and Sammo Hung who confront each other twice, the second encounter being the most bloody and brutal. The shootouts are very well put together.For a movie which could be considered a mainstream film in Hong Kong, it isn't afraid to be extremely violent when it wants to be, there's plenty of blood on offer here, so if the acting doesn't grab, the blood soaked action will.The acting ranges from sleepy to extremely good. Micheal Biehn, who's a familiar face to Hollywood movie fans as Kyle Reese in James Cameron's seminal classic The Termintor, stars as the lead villain, for a man who's been working in the film industry for so long, I thought he would have brought some much needed acting to the movie but really he seems to be almost sleep walking in his role but one may interpret Biehn's characterisation as a person who's so cold, he shows very little emotion.The actors who played the five interpol agents where all very good, although, really, I would have liked it if they had a little more personality, they all came off as a little bland in place. Eva Huang is extremely easy on the eyes, definitely a face to look out for in future movies. former pop star Vanness Wu gives a credible performance, while Shawn Yue gives his usual calibre of acting but this reviewer felt the best acting had to go to the one and only Sammo Hung, who plays a character reluctant to get involved but realises if he wants to leave the past behind him, he must confront his demons, it's also worth mentioning he has the best fight in the entire movie against Huh Joon Hoo, who plays a chillingly sociopathic villain.So, overall I really liked it, I think it's nowhere near as bad as everyone seems to be making it out to be and deserves at least one viewing by anyone who's a fan of Hong Kong cinema or Micheal Bay.