Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Enter the Fat Dragon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 2, 2020

There’s a bit of moralizing toward the end of Enter the Fat Dragon where some voiceover courtesy of star Donnie Yen alerts us all to the fact that it doesn’t matter if you are fat or thin, what’s important is that you stay true to yourself. That’s certainly an honorable homily, but it kind of undercuts the whole premise of this silly and manic, but admittedly at least intermittently amusing, film that bears very little resemblance to Enter the Fat Dragon, the 1978 effort starring Sammo Hung which was more of an unabashed parody of the then still au courant “Bruceploitation” genre other than of course the title the two properties share. Sammo Hung is a bit more, um, “husky” (as catalogs used to call perhaps slightly or more than slightly overweight boys) than Donnie Yen, which probably gave his film with this title a bit more comedic punch, though some viewers may delight at Yen undergoing a transformation courtesy of some decent makeup. Yen portrays cop Fallon Zhu, who is slim and fit as the film beings, a state perhaps aided and abetted by the fact that he’s frequently running around in a panicked state at the behest of his fiancée Chloe (Niki Chow). Fallon and Chloe are due to be married soon, but before that can happen they need to have their “wedding” photos taken, which leads to the first big action set piece of the film when Fallon of course is in the wrong place at the wrong time and has to move fast (again, helpful for weight management) to dispatch a bunch of robbers. While Fallon is successful in his endeavors, unfortunately his attempts, which result in havoc being wreaked across Hong Kong, are covered in several livestreams which deeply embarrass Chloe and enrage Fallon’s police superior, leading to both the breakup of his romantic relationship and his ostensible demotion to the basement of the police headquarters where he’s put in charge of the evidence room.

That reassignment, which includes a snack machine within close proximity, as well as a leg injury due to an unfortunate bike accident which keeps Fallon more immobile than during his hyperkinetic "real" policing days, leads to the underlying conceit of the film, where Fallon gains quite a bit of weight to look at least on the hefty side, even at not quite Sammo Hung proportions. But here's the thing -- this whole conceit is largely (and I'd probably argue completely) unnecessary for the film's plot, which ends up with Fallon traveling to Japan to battle some Yakuza, who not so coincidentally are also tangled up in Chloe's life as a would be movie star. What that amounts to is in some ways this Enter the Fat Dragon is really more of a "fish out of water" story, as Fallon attempts to navigate various boneheaded individuals in Tokyo, while also trying to keep an alienated Chloe safe and to bring the villains to justice.

There are an almost insane number of subplots running rampant through Enter the Fat Dragon along with a glut of supporting characters, and those elements, along with a soundtrack that veritably assaults the listener with a nonstop barrage of effects, gives this film an undeniable energy, though some may find it downright exhausting after a while. There is also a pretty tenuous connection to continuity at times, with, for example, Chloe seeming to be a multimedia superstar in one scene and little more than an abused extra in another. That said, the film does offer several really inventive fight sequences. The first one plays out in the confines of the back of a van, where the still slim Fallon takes out a coterie of bad guys. While intentionally "small scale" (despite lots of aerial shots detailing the van's crazy course as the mayhem unfolds in the back), this sequence points up what Enter the Fat Dragon ends up doing best, namely providing little jolts of high adrenaline energy in fight scenes, an energy which then ebbs pretty precipitiously once the film moves on to some sillier comedy and expository aspects.

But all of this really begs the question as to why this enterprise features Yen in a fat suit playing a character who just as well could have been "normal" sized. Now, it's no problem that Fallon becomes fat in the film, lest anyone misunderstand what I'm trying to get at, it just seems like a completely arbitrary choice for a character, one that seems bound to an already known and therefore marketable title that may have been accessed somehow by someone who just decided to build a film around it. On the other hand, Generic if Intermittently Enjoyable Donnie Yen Action Comedy with Donnie in a Fat Suit Because We Had the Rights to a Famous Film Title probably wouldn't have fit on a standard marquee.

Enter the Fat Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Enter the Fat Dragon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists Arri Alexa Minis and a 2K DI as the relevant datapoints, and without much in the way of extras, Well Go USA has provided this on a BD-25. There's once again some noticeable banding during mastheads, something that seems to afflict Well Go USA discs for some reason, but things look better once the actual film starts. This is quite a colorful enterprise and the palette really pops with some vivid authority, even in some darker scenes. Detail levels are generally excellent, save for some clunky looking CGI which is noticeably softer than the bulk of the presentation. There also appears to have been some greenscreened material where backgrounds can look similarly a bit hazy. While contrast is generally strong, the climax in particular is beset with slightly milky blacks.

Enter the Fat Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Enter the Fat Dragon features a pretty relentlessly noisy DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in Cantonese (with optional English subtitles, which can be set to either play under the Cantonese dialogue, or under both the Cantonese and occasional snippets, sometimes just a word or two, in English). The film offers consistent immersion which is especially aggressive in several of the action set pieces, as in the aforementioned opening salvo in the back of a careening van, or the later climax on top of a scary skyscraper outcropping with a nearby helicopter completely out of control (courtesy of some of those aforementioned boneheaded characters Fallon encounters in Tokyo). Even supposedly "quieter" scenes are often rife with either ambient environmental effects or score, and so this track may strike some as ultimately overwhelming. Fidelity is excellent and I noticed no problems of any kind whatsoever.

Enter the Fat Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers

  International Trailer (1080p; 1:38)

  
  

  U.S. Trailer (1080i; 1:33)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the supplements have been authored to follow one another automatically (so that clicking on the International Trailer is essentially a Play All button). After the U.S. Trailer for this film plays, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Enter the Fat Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Enter the Fat Dragon has some well executed set pieces and at least a glimmer or two of amusing comedy (even if tons of players, including Yen at times, are playing to the veritable second balcony), but it's just a really weird film due to its underlying premise that is frankly unnecessary. Yen fans will probably still get a kick out of this, and technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.