Year of the Dragon

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Year of the Dragon

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Year of the Dragon

Ariane Koizumi, Caroline Kava, Eddie Jones, Jack Kehler, Joey Chin, John Lone, K. Dock Yip, Leonard Termo, Mark Hammer, Mickey Rourke, Pao Han Lin, Ray Barry, Raymond J. Barry, Victor Wong

A tough-talking New York City detective is set on bringing a powerful Chinatown crime lord to justice.

Id: 10901195

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Year of the Dragon Recent Reviews
  • stopitgoaway
    April 10, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    Year of the Dragon is something of a little known masterpiece. It is well written by Oliver Stone, and directed by Cimino at a turning point in his career. The centre piece, however, is Rourkes performance, which was caught while he most likely was at the peak of his acting abili...( read more)ty's. You will be totally blown away by the realism of his acting, and it's even more noteworthy that the film was made while Rourke was youthful while making this and was made to look more senior (that grey hair is dye). A heartfelt performance from an actor playing a cop with "scar tissue on his soul", will never be forgotten once seen. While the main character is far from perfect, it is just that which makes him believable as well. Stanley White is on a crusade and would die for his principles, which effects all those involved with him. It is a complex film, often talky, which is punctuated throughout with explosive violence, well shot with use of excellent set pieces. Bloody in places and above all gritty and realistic, in parts it is even beautiful. The film works on many levels from it's slow burn beginnings with emphasis on conspiracy to the final pay off on the dock yards. Well drawn characters are everywhere in this film, and it never losses its hard edge. Rourke has seen a much needed and deserved return in recent years. He may have lost his handsome good looks due to boxing and due to too many face lifts, but the guy will never lose his acting ability. We, the true fans, never gave up on this chance. And now he's finally gaining popularity with a new generation, who need to see and experience The Year Of The Dragon, To believe the hype. Also check out his other classics Angel Heart and Barfly.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    September 24, 2007
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    Utterly entertaining film.
  • pier007
    July 6, 2007
    pier007
    The last good film directed by Michael Cimino. a violent thriller written by Oliver Stone and featuring a great cast with an evil John Lone and Mickey Rourke posing as a Bogart of the eighties.
  • markymarkslunggnome
    March 26, 2007
    markymarkslunggnome
    Mickey Rourke is the guy! He is a super dick, gets a lot of people killed and raped, appreciates no one along the way, and still comes out the lovable hero in the end. this is an entertaining movie though.
  • Dracula787
    August 7, 2009
    Dracula787
    This is the second film I?m watching in my exploration of the early career of Mickey Rourke, its also interesting as a major work in the career of the director Michael Cimino (another figure I need to catch up on). This is the first movie Cimino was allowed to make after the deb...( read more)acle of Heaven?s Gate, and its clear he was trying to prove that he could make a ?normal? movie. This is pretty much a standard, clichéd, Dirty Harry rip-off cop movie. It?s got every hallmark of the genre from the lonely grizzled cop to the moronic police chief. The hook that?s supposed to set this apart is that the villains are a Chinese Triad centered in Chinatown rather than Italians centered in Brooklyn. This choice resulted in a lot of controversy from the Asain community who believed the portrayal of Chinatown was stereotyped. I can see what they were offended by, there are elements of the film that seem to mitigate some of the less enlightened portrayals, but these politically correct elements feel like they were thrown in at the last minute in order to avoid controversy, I suspect that the original script was much less savory. Regardless of the racial overtones, this is a pretty lame and boring movie. Rourke is clearly trying, but he?s too young for his role and he?s give a really bad dye job. This probably didn?t deserve the five razzie nominations it got, but it?s still very unoriginal.
  • warmgentalover
    May 4, 2009
    warmgentalover
    SEEN THIS YEARS GO... IT A GOOD MOVIE ABOUT A COP WHO FALLS FOR THE TOP REPORTER WHO IS JAPAN AND WORK IN NY. SHE IS TOP REPORTER AND HE IS LEAD DETECTIVE. HE HAS TO TAKE DOWN SMALL TIME GANG MOFIA. THE ELDERS ARE NOT SO HAPPY WITH THE WAY THE YOUNG GENERATION IS DOING THINDS. T...( read more)HE REPORTER HATES THE DETECTIVE BUT NEEDS HIS PROTECTION DUE TO HER ALWAYS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH THE YOUTH GANGS.
  • magnolia12883
    February 10, 2009
    magnolia12883
    R, 134 min, 1985

    Michael Cimino's stylish thriller begins as a police procedural, turns into a race-driven melodrama, and ends in a violent shootout. Mickey Rourke is Captain Stanley White, a disgruntled Vietnam vet turned rough and tumble New York City cop who has come to rul...( read more)e over Chinatown. When a much beloved Chinese man with links to the "triads" (Chinese Mafia) is assassinated during a parade, White is on the case. However, he'll have to endure shootouts, attempts on the lives of himself and his wife (Caroline Kava), and much ridicule from his hard-boiled supervisor (Raymond J. Barry). Michael Cimino is the notorious filmmaker who burst onto the scene with his Oscar-winning Vietnam epic "The Deer Hunter" (1978) before quickly burning out with his hugely-budgeted megaflop, the epic Western "Heaven's Gate" (1981). With this film, scarcely less fleeting at 134 minutes, Cimino seems ever-so-vaguely back in his wheelhouse - almost. The screenplay is by Cimino and Oliver Stone (the writer of Alan Parker's "Midnight Express" and Brian DePalma's "Scarface"), based on a novel by Robert Daley ("Prince of the City"). The performance by Mickey Rourke cannot really be faulted; he's as gritty and profane as ever. He is matched virtually bit for bit by John Lone as Joey Tai, the young entrepreneur who takes over the "triads" after the opening assassination scene. The real fault, I fear, is with the filmmakers. They take an intriguing concept - the racially-driven extermination of organized crime in New York City - and make it into an over-the-top violence-laden melodrama. What's more, when something happens to Rourke's character, it should've been an emotional gut-punch, yet the film has an astonishingly wrong-headed final shot after he's almost appeared to forget about it. And then, as if that wasn't enough, they manage to boil down a complex and labyrinthine battle between two forces to a lone shootout between two men. What's funny is, this film begins with a disclaimer (inspired by much pre-release controversy) stating that it doesn't mean to depict Chinese people (or, indeed, Asians of any sort) in an unkind light, and that any similarity to actual events, individuals or organizations is purely accidental. Cimino and Stone ought to have spent more time worrying about offending sensibilities and good filmmaking, rather than anyone who could possibly take this seriously.
  • alanjayh
    May 27, 2008
    alanjayh
    panned by many..but I think ariane is alluring and seductive in her first cinematic appearance and mickey rourke is relentless and believable in this role...this movie has an 'epic' feel to it..engrossing story, violent, highly entertaining tale from michael cimino (deer hunter, ...( read more)gates of heaven).
  • deano
    February 10, 2008
    deano
    Not quite bad thriller of an obsessed cop takes on the Chinese mafia, determined to reassert America's supremacy at home, having failed in the East. John Lone should become a major movie star. Mickey Rourke gives a good performance. Director Michael Cimino has talent to burn... h...( read more)is work is smashing.
  • jonrmcmahon
    January 19, 2008
    jonrmcmahon
    Stanley White is one of the all-time great cinema characters, played to a T by Rourke. Cimino cements his legitimacy as a director.
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