Mahjong Dragon
Review
Format: VCD
Stars: Kenneth Lo, Chu Man-Cheuk

A lady tries to get together with a man in order to win some money. She knows that he is the famous "Quick Hands", an expert gambler. He will get a passport out of the relationship. However, Quick Hands' rival, Southern Hands, wants Quick Hands' talent as well because his gambling power was lost when his right pinky and ring finger were broken. So, Southern Hands goes after Quick Hands.

Sadly, I had a version that was dubbed in Vietnamese. Know what that means? That means that every ounce of sound and music was either cut completely and replaced with crap or was nearly silenced until they stopped talking, then it got less quiet. Really bad, so that made me think badly of the acting, but I bet it was fine. Chu seemed like an invincible character and that turned me off. Ken Lo plays almost no role, but I put him up there because HE PLAYS THE BEST ROLE ANYWAYS. If he had had more of a role (like that ever happens), then I bet MD could have been ACCEPTABLE. He shows the most vigor, and he and Chu fight at the end. He's still one of the most talented in my eyes.

But the plot is so boring, so tedious, and so, well, it made me think of toilet germs. The scenery was bland or just dirty, which didn't fit the gambling plot at all. The final fight was the only good looking location, a fruit stand. Of all places. They fought on boxes of fruit, too. The lighting was good and the music (finally) sounded pretty nice. But for a last fight I was STILL disappointed. Chu fights with one hand for most of the battle because he's got a broken finger (I'll just ruin the plot for you) that he gave himself in order not to serve Southern Hands. It still looks ok though, but so many of the good looking moves are wire assisted... well not too many, but enough to notice and say, "Damn." Still, it gave me a feeling about Ken Lo that I still didn't know until then: He's not only good, he's one of the best (but did they use a double on him for a few seconds there?). He's the reason to watch this piece of crap if you ever bother. There's one move that looked as though it had to be on wires, but it was so fast that I doubt it. I'll post it so you can all feast on it. Anyways, action=1/10 (because Cheuk has a solo against some thugs and uses some good looking slapping techniques) until the end, where it picks up for a minute. But the mass slaughters aren't much better either. Too much happening and too many cuts by that time.

Then there's some romance crap that tries to happen. It doesn't work at all, and there isn't an OUNCE of humor. No feelings, and I actually wanted the main lady character to die off so she'd shut up and more interesting things could happen.

What do I have to say about Mahjong Dragon? Don't see it. Just wait until I put up a clip and watch that instead. I think you can get by.

Rating: 3/10

UPDATE 10/9 - Rating System Change

1/5 - Junk really.

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