Heart of Dragon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Heart of Dragon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 26, 2023

If you live long enough to get to a certain age, you may come to the realization that certain aspects of language, especially terminologies, are fungible, and what may have been "acceptable" at one point finds itself, to use a term being bandied about quite a bit in modern parlance, "cancelled". In that regard, it may be almost shocking for some to hear the voiceover on the English language trailer included on this release as a supplement refer to the character played by Sammo Hung as "mentally retarded", since that second word of that description in particular has become especially troublesome, with the entire term typically replaced these days by something like "developmentally disabled". Vis a vis the ins and outs of language, and English in particular, it may also strike some as odd that the title of this film is missing a definite article before Dragon, and in that regard, it's kind of funny to note that the always very proper British got a film (properly?) titled Heart of the Dragon. Adding to all the nomenclature issues are a number of other alternate titles, some of which show up in some of the supplements here, like The First Mission. What's perhaps even odder than the use of now antiquated terms or alternate titles is the fact that despite starring Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, and being touted in some of its marketing materials included on this disc as supplements as an action film, Heart of Dragon is really more of a character study than a slam bang martial arts spectacular, and in fact the action elements that are utilized here can kind of feel shoehorned into a property that may arguably not have needed them.

It's almost a blatant example of "bait and switch" in terms of the "action spectacular" promised in some of the trailers included on this disc, and what is ultimately the story of two mismatched brothers. Ted (Jackie Chan) is a cop who might be accused of having gone rogue a few too many times, but adding to any professional pressure he may be feeling is the weight of having to care for his developmentally disabled brother, the unfortunately named Dodo (Sammo Hung). A lot of the film attempts to wrest perhaps questionable comedy out of Dodo's escapades with a bunch of ragtag kids, but perhaps equally questionable to some will be the overtly saccharine attempts to get to heartstring tugging material with regard to the siblings, especially when Dodo is either threatened figuratively or, finally, literally.

The film was evidently designed to be something different for Chan and Hung, and in that regard it certainly succeeds, but the tone here is often a bit iffy, and two bookending action sequences (the first of which turns out to be a complete shaggy dog story) just feel like they were cut and pasted onto a film that might have done better simply focusing on an unusual family relationship.

Heart of Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Heart of Dragon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfers:

Heart of Dragon is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with its original Cantonese, Mandarin and English monoaural soudntracks. Both the original Hong Kong Theatrical Cut and Extended Cut released in Japan were restored in 2K resolution from original film elements by Fortune Star, who supplied these masters to Arrow Video for this Blu-ray release. Additional elements appear on this release with thanks to Shochiku Co., Ltd.

It's perhaps salient to note that the back cover of this release clarifies that "original film elements" evidently means "original negative". This is by and large a very appealing looking presentation, with a nicely suffused palette and some generally very appealing detail levels. The few minutes in the Japanese version may arguably show slight downgrades in quality, and both versions can be momentarily afflicted by some chunky, almost pixellated looking, grain (see screenshot 19), but for the most part grain is tightly resolved and helps to add a properly filmic appearance. Fine detail is especially impressive on some of the patterns on costumes as well as overall renderings of the textures of fabrics. A glut of outdoor material offers some good depth of field and consistent detail levels even with some peripatetic camera movements in the two bookending action set pieces. My score is 4.25.

Heart of Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Depending on which version of this film you choose, there are different audio options, though all of them are delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. The Hong Kong Cut offers Cantonese, Mandarin, or English, while the Extended Japanese Cut offers Cantonese either with or without the Hong Kong score, and English. All three of these tracks across both versions of the film can sound slightly brash in the upper registers, and there is occasional slight but noticeable crackle or other distortion in some of the music. The English track struck my ears as having a fuller sounding midrange and low end, and the Mandarin struck me as being a bit too bright on the high end, but these differences are all admittedly fairly minor, and any of the three tracks provides a generally enjoyable listening experience that delivers dialogue, effects and score without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Heart of Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Hong Kong Theatrical Cut (HD; 1:31:25) and Extended Japanese Cut (HD; 1:39:11) are accessible via the Choose Version option on the Main Menu.


• Commentary by Frank Djeng & FJ DeSanto


• The First Mission Behind the Scenes offer featurettes produced by distributor Shochiku for the film's Japanese release. Both of these almost play like extended music videos at times.

  The Making of The First Mission (HD; 48:43) is subtitled at various points in a variety of languages, including English.

  
  

  The First Mission: Pre-Release Event (HD; 15:23) is subtitled in English.

• Archive Interviews

  Interview with Jackie Chan (HD; 9:27)

  
  

  Interview with Rocky Lai (HD; 10:05) is subtitled in English.

  
  

  Interview with Sammo Hung #1 (HD; 7:29)

  
  

  Interview with Sammo Hung #2 (HD; 11:24) is subtitled in English.

  
  

  Interview with Arthur Wong (HD; 15:12)

• Alternate English Credits (HD; 2:32)


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (HD; 5:57)

  
  

  English Export Trailer (HD; 1:44)

  
  

  Japanese Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:38)

  
  

  Japanese Theatrical Teasers (HD; 2:38)

  
  

  Fortune Star Re-Release Trailer (HD; 2:31)

• Image Gallery (HD)

Additionally, Arrow provides another very nicely appointed insert booklet, this one with two good essays by Dylan Cheung and David West, along with the usual cast and crew information and technical blurbs. The keepcase features an insert with reversible art, and while the back cover doesn't mention this, the keepcase also houses a folded two sided mini poster. Finally, packaging features a slipcover.

Heart of Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hung and Chan are to be commended for wanting to try something a bit different, but I'm not quite sure Heart of Dragon has stood the test of time and/or political correctness as well as might have been hoped. The film has some effective moments, even if the emotion is slathered on to an extreme degree at times, but anyone thinking this is going to be a typical Chan-Hung martial arts extravaganza is probably going to be seriously disappointed. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements very enjoyable for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.