Invincible Dragon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Invincible Dragon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 10, 2020

Considering the knock down, drag out fights at the very tippy top of some of Hong Kong’s towering skyscrapers featured as climactic set pieces in such recent films as Enter the Fat Dragon (the trailer for which is included on this disc) and now another film with that same mythical beast in its title, Invincible Dragon, it might be wise for local officials in that region to really address some evidently lingering safety issues like, well, the ability to have knock down, drag out fights at the very tippy top of some of Hong Kong’s towering skyscrapers. That’s all said in jest, of course, but with regard to jesting itself, Enter the Fat Dragon was obviously played at least partially for laughs, while the tonal focus of Invincible Dragon might be a bit more opaque. At times the film seems to be deliberately trafficking in comedy, with some goofy moments that are unabashedly humorous whatever the actual intentions were. At other times, the film is decidedly more serious, with a vengeance subtext that ultimately discloses the tragic death of a child.

There are parts of Invincible Dragon that play like the remnants of some other, inartfully edited, film. That's certainly the case with the very opening sequence, which seemingly isn't just joined "already in progress", but which contains all sorts of unclear context, so that the whole thing is kind of a chaotic mess. Unfortunately that tendency continues at least sporadically for much of the rest of the film as it follows the exploits of yet another "out of control" police officer, this one with the rather unusual name of Kow Loon (Max Zhang). That aforementioned opening sequence finds Kow apparently being tortured in some kind of vat filled with boiling water (how he got there is never shown and/or explained). There's another guy in another vat next to him who is apparently another police officer (that is also left unexplained), and the two have evidently chased down some kind of drug kingpin. The other police officer is soon executed when it's found he has a tracking device on him (one evidently unfazed by being dunked in boiling water), at which point Kow suddenly leaps into action, taking out everyone but the kingpin himself. When his chase of this major domo erupts into a nearby wedding celebration, the resultant mayhem expectedly gets Kow into hot water (of another type), leading to his exile at a rural enclave with very few police.

The bulk of the film then follows Kow as a series of murders of policewomen start occurring at his new location. Even this section has some really odd elements, as in the police finding the corpse of a female cop in some water, with one forensic type saying she had died by strangulation and suffocation, and then another character suddenly mentioning that the killer must still have his gun. The fact that the killer does have a gun later in the film doesn't exactly make this first interchange any clearer, and it's in "little" moments like these that Invincible Dragon may seem to fall prey to "lost in translation" syndrome. Suffice it to say that Invincible Dragon doesn't really try to mask who the villain is, and the fact that the U.S. trailer for the film in particular posits Invincible Dragon as a martial arts smackdown between Max Zhang and Anderson Silva should probably eliminate any lingering doubt in that regard.

A number of truly odd structural elements are part of the film's narrative hurdles, and Invincible Dragon might be perceived as almost stumbling into the ultimate reveal as to why Sinclair, the character played by Silva, is wreaking such havoc. But there's a similar presentational ambiguity as to who exactly Zhang's love interest is going to be, as well as what is arguably the film's weirdest element, a kind of fantasy aspect involving a maybe, maybe not dragon that supposedly saved Kow from drowning when he was a little boy (the incident is memorialized in a tattoo on the character's chest). In that regard, one of the trailers for this film included on the Blu-ray as a supplement touts Invincible Dragon as the "first fantasy action film," which may strike some as exceeding the bounds of even typical press relations hyperbole to the point of being downright ludicrous.

Invincible Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Invincible Dragon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. For once the IMDb actually has some data (though kind of interestingly the film's title includes a definite article in their listing), with Arri Alexas and a 2K DI being listed. This is a nicely sharp and generally extremely well detailed looking presentation, one that benefits from a glut of well lit scenes, including some outdoor material. While some grading does occasionally come into play, it's rather fleeting, and as such the palette retains a warm, naturalistic look almost all of the time. There are some stylistic flourishes on display, including some black and white flashback material (some of which notably features the "is it or isn't it imaginary" dragon still in color). The CGI dragon is perhaps too "slithery" to ever offer really great opportunities to observe fine detail, but it generally looks fine even in its underwater domain.

Invincible Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Invincible Dragon features a pretty bombastic sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track mostly in Cantonese (two sets of English subtitles are available, one translating only the Cantonese, and another providing complete English subtitles for the entire film, which also includes some passing moments in English). The track expectedly comes briskly to life in some of the action sequences, and there's an almost comical prevalence of characters crashing through various glass objects in some of the big set pieces, something that allows for some good, wafting sound effects. Punches, kicks and other hand to hand elements resound with nice force and there's good attention paid to ambient environmental placement in the outdoor material. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free presentation.

Invincible Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• International Trailer (1080p; 1:35)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:52)

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 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.

Invincible Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I almost felt like I was watching several different movies which had been kind of whipsawed together in some kind of magical cinematic Cuisinart (to mix mixing metaphors), there were so many disparate elements fighting for attention in Invincible Dragon. The fact that at least one of the trailers for this film included on the disc touts its "fantasy" element while the film itself barely even uses that element is just one indication that this effort may have undergone some pretty serious tweaking at some point, and that that tweaking either wasn't able to ameliorate any issues, or in fact may have even added to them. The fight scenes are often fun in this piece, but the narrative will probably make you feel like you been punched in the head repeatedly by Max Zhang. Technical merits are solid for those who are considering a purchase.