Year of the Dragon

Year of the Dragon is about a hard boiled cop named Stanley White (Mickey Rourke (Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man)) who’s recently given jurisdiction over NYC’s Chinatown.  He’s tired of how the gangs run the place so he wages war against them in the most brazen hard headed way possible.  At the same time a young Chinese crime boss, Joey Tai (John Lone (The Last Emperor)), makes his move to take over all of Chinatown.  So it turns into a battle of two guys who don’t exactly know what they’re doing and both sides suffer.

There are several things I really like and don’t like about this film.  For starters the cinematography (Alex Thompson (Legend, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man)) and production design (Wolf Kroeger (First Blood, The 13^th Warrior)) are pretty awesome with its gritty and grand feel.  The grimy sludgy noodle pits underneath Chinatown are some of the grossest and depressing environments put to film.  On the flipside Joey Tai travels to Thailand at one point and magnificent green mountains are captured in the background as he rides into a cartel stronghold with dozens of foot soldiers lining the pathway.  A reporter named Tracy Tzu (Ariane (King of New York)) who plays the love interest has a glamorous penthouse apartment with three TVs at the foot of the bed, no walls (even for the bathroom!), an all white color palette, huge arched windows and an insane almost 360 degree view of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge.  What’s probably the most impressive feat of all though is Chinatown is a set constructed in North Carolina.  Apparently it was built to exact specifications and I believe it because I was shocked to learn they largely didn’t shoot in the real place.  In fact it was so convincing and extraordinary it was reused on dozens of other productions.

Another great aspect is the story.  Pitting an up and comer gangster maneuvering for power against a rabid cop new to the beat working on eliminating all the gangs is an interesting setup.  I mean that’s some bad fuckin’ luck for Joey Tai though.  He thought he would only have to contend with his fellow mobsters but now he has to split his attention to fend off the cops as well.  He tries to handle the situation as best he can but what he anticipated being an already tricky coup turns into a nearly impossible one.

Lone is fantastic too as Tai.  So charismatic with a deep undercurrent of menace.  Even though he dresses well in suits and his hair is always perfect and he can be as suave as hell he’ll cut off a dude’s head if necessary.  The frustration he goes through is palpable as well because his scheme kicks off fine but quickly plummets off a cliff when White enters the frame.  And he can’t turn back.  Shit has been set in motion.  His fury builds and builds until he finally lets loose during the concluding showdown.

In the negative department the script has some issues.  Characters and devices aren’t tied together as well as they should be.  For example White employs an undercover cop early on in the investigation to infiltrate Tai’s organization but then they don’t deploy the operation until towards the end of the film.  It’s like the filmmakers forgot and suddenly remembered they had this thread in their back pocket.  Or there’s White’s marriage that’s falling apart despite him trying to convince his wife to stay with him.  He blows her off for work which isn’t good and we can see he’s clearly a workaholic.  But then he also has an affair with reporter Tracy which kinda comes out of nowhere.  And they inexplicably fall in love by the end when White’s done nothing but force himself on her and shove his dumbass way into her life.  These events come across more separate and not interconnected like they definitely are.

However, the biggest problem is the character of White.  It’s two fold.  One is I believe Mickey Rourke was miscast.  He’s too young for the role and he’s too soft spoken.  Sure he can get intense but in a quieter way.  The role required someone more grizzled, more like Gene Hackman who looks like he’s been through some shit already and can do a good yell.

The larger beef though is White is a major league asshole.  He’s racist, a terrible husband, sexually assaults (nearly rapes?) Tracy and is so fucking stupid he thinks he can go after the Chinese mob no problem.  It’ll be easy and they won’t retaliate.  His naiveté is infuriating to sit through because you know Joey Tai isn’t going to take White walking directly into mob headquarters and telling them it’s all over, the raiding of his gambling halls, the tapping of his phones, the placement of undercover cops, the numerous insults and everything else lying down.  White thinks he can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants.  The sonuvabitch even moves into and sets up shop in Tracy’s apartment without her consent.  He constantly fights with everyone including his superiors and the police commissioner.  Plus the fuckin’ guy doesn’t even get results.  Maybe a fraction of his bullshit could be tolerated if he made an impact on the drug trade or put away top crime lords but nope.  He gets exactly bupkis done while making everyone else’s lives hell.  He’s an exasperating person to hang out with.

I don’t know if the movie would’ve benefitted from being only about Joey Tai.  I like the idea of splitting time between a crusader cop and a ruthless bad guy gunning for the top spot.  But the script really needed another bunch of drafts.  The story isn’t quite ironed out enough and White needed to be altered a fair amount.  Having a complex character that stirs up conflicting emotions is fine but he’s too racist, sexist, fanatical and flat out jerky for me to embrace him.

Urban crime dramas like these are right in my wheelhouse so I want to love this film a lot more than I do.  I half love it.  And I’d still cautiously recommend it if you’re into film noir, 70’s grit pics and the like.  The relentless attitude makes some sense when you realize Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter, Heaven’s Gate) directed and co-wrote it with Oliver Stone (JFK, Wall Street).  They’re kind of passionate guys.