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THE
MAGIC CRANE (1993)
Ground
Zero Entertainment
93 Minutes
Directed by Benny
Produced and Written by Tsui Hark
Cast: Wai Yee Chan, Norman Chu, Rosamund Kwan, Damien Lau, Anita Mui,
Jay Lau, Lawrence Ng, Shun Lau, Kelvin Wong
Video:
Widescreen (1.85.1)
Audio: Dolby Digital Mono 2.0
Subtitles: English
Packaging:
Keepcase
Chapter Stops: 8
RIVALS
OF THE DRAGON (1981)
Ground
Zero Entertainment
90 Minutes
Directed by Joseph Lai
Produced by Yeng Kwan, Florence Yu
Written by Raymond Lee, Paul Ko
Cinematography by Adam Blacksmith
Fighting Instructions by Wallace Tsui, Joespeh Lam
Music by Michael Tse
Cast: Hak Yuen, Bruce Chan, Joseph Yeung, Jeffrey Chan, Ken Thompson,
Dickson Wong, Pardon Au, Stephen Chiu, Thomas Hope, Lily Taylor
Video:
Full Frame (1.33.1)
Audio: Dolby Digital Mono 2.0
Subtitles: None
Packaging:
Keepcase
Chapter Stops: 4
Ground Zero Entertainment has a couple different brands of martial arts classics including The Wu Tang Clan series and the Black Belt Theater collection. Recently they have added another brand to their line-up, dubbed The Brooklyn Zu Collection. The idea behind these double feature DVDs is to showcase a particular style of martial arts that is based upon animal or insect forms. For instance, previous entries in this series include TIGER OVER WALL, GOOSE BOXER, LADY IRON MONKEY, 7 STAR GRAND MANTIS, etc. (you get the idea). But as far as Ground Zero is concerned, the movies don’t really have to showcase the origins or authenticity of a particular style; all a movie has to do to qualify for the Brooklyn Zu Collection is have an animal name in the title. Case in point, Ground Zero’s recent pairing of two odd couple companion pieces, Tsui Hark’s 1993 Wuxia tale, THE MAGIC CRANE and Joseph Lai’s 1981 failure, RIVALS OF THE DRAGON. You won’t find any Crane style in THE MAGIC CRANE, and there aren’t any real dragons (or even Brucploitation) in the setting of RIVALS OF THE DRAGON. For those who may not be familiar with these films, THE MAGIC CRANE is a cable-fu extravaganza from Tsui Hark. It’s one of the many Wuxia films he created during the early 1990’s like GREEN SNAKE (1993), IRON MONKEY (1993), and the SWORDSMAN trilogy. Joseph’s Lai’s RIVALS OF THE DRAGON is completely different from the polished THE MAGIC CRANE in every way. Lai is one of the preeminent schlock producers in the Hong Kong film industry, right up there with Godfrey Ho. He directed a series of Ninja movies like NINJA HUNT (1986), NINJA KILL (1987), and COBRA VS NINJA (1987). This zero-budgeted Hong Kong/U.S. co-production RIVALS OF THE DRAGON was his directorial debut, and the only movie he directed without a Ninja theme in it.
The
plot of THE MAGIC CRANE is fairly complex and words won’t really do it
justice, but here goes: Martial arts schools from across ancient China
combine to form a large congregation. The two most ambitious and ruthless
Kung Fu masters of the group, Pang Hoi (Lawrence Ng) and General Tsao Hung
(Kelvin Wong), possess super powers and battle each other for leadership
of the clan. Simultaneously, two equally powerful female priestesses Pak
Wan Fei (Anita Mui) and Butterfly Lam (Rosamund Kwan) clash with one
another using weapons that resemble musical instruments (shades of DEADFUL
MELODY). Walking blindly into this maelstrom, are noble sifu Yat Yeng Tze
(Damian Lau) and bumbling student Ma Kwon Mo (Tony Leung). These two
humans get caught in the cycle of deception, betrayal, and death around
them, as they try to right the wrongs and reunite the World of Martial
Arts, which totters on the brink of destruction.
Even
though the plot is difficult to make sense of, THE MAGIC CRANE is not the
type of movie to try and analyze. It’s a typical Tsui Hark Wuxia-fest
made during the height of his creative streak. You put your brain in
neutral, and let Hark and director Benny Chan take you for a wild and
wondrous ride through the myths of historic China. In addition to the
usual flying people, sorcerous hijinx, and bloody mouths, you will witness
sights not seen before in Hong Kong cinema. A flying Crane ascends from
the heavens to give flight to one of the heroines. The protagonists battle
an immense tortoise to use it’s magical organs for wizardry. An army of
killer bats terrorizes the people of this ancient world. THE MAGIC CRANE
is a film that relies on special effects for it’s unique visuals, and
those viewers spoiled by the high-tech razzle dazzle of modern Hollywood
Blockbusters will find fault with the analog effects here. But these dated
effects certainly possess more charm than today’s cold CGI—kind of
like Japan’s suitmation techniques (for kaiju movies) or Ray Harryhausen’s
stop-motion animation. The actual martial arts sequences in the movie are
few, with the emphasis on actors and actresses in cable harnesses zooming
through the heavens. Instead of delivering punches and kicks, the
characters fight by hurtling objects at one another. THE MAGIC CRANE is
after all, an epic fantasy and not the movie to see for authentic martial
arts action.
RIVALS
OF THE DRAGON takes place in contemporary times, and the locale is Los
Angeles, CA of all places. The elder Dr. Chen works as an alternative
practitioner using acupuncture and ancient herbal techniques to help out
his patients. Dr. Chen is also the trainer for two Kung Fu students,
brothers named Ah Cheung and Ah Wong (Tak Yuen). Ah Cheung gets mixed up
in local gangland activity and steals a map from the criminals, prompting
the crooked gang leader to have him killed. As Dr. Chen tries to comfort
the grieving brother Ah Wong, the gang turns their attention to Dr. Chen
whom they believe has possession of the map. They kidnap him and take him
to the a field to interrogate and intimidate him, while other gang members
attempt to capture Ah Wong back at Dr. Chen’s school. Ah Wong and his
friends from the school out-fight the bad guys, but agree to return with
them to learn where their master is being held. By the time the gangsters
return with their reluctant captives, they discover that Dr. Chen has
single-handedly taken out his captors!
It’s
really impossible to put into words how horrible this movie truly is. One
major drawback to RIVALS OF
THE DRAGON is that it is one of a bunch of older martial arts films to
take place in contemporary times (the 1970s or 1980s) like DUEL OF THE
BRAVE ONES, DEATH RING, or THE AMSTERDAM CONNECTION, and unlike the period
films of the 1970s and 1980s, these dated efforts do not age well. The
cast is clad in Addidas Sportswear and Members-Only jackets. Joseph Lai
stages the action in sleazy side of Los Angela, California where hookers
and pimps can be seen everywhere. Being a low-budget production shot on
location, there are a lot of Caucasians in the cast. RIVALS OF THE DRAGON
feels like a patchwork production with the narrative going in several
different directions. In addition to the main plot, there is a subplot
about a sadistic fight promoter and his brutal Tai Kwan Do fighter who pay
non-fighters to get in the ring with him so he can beat them to a pulp.
You barely notice the plot inconsistencies though because the inept
direction of Joseph Lai will have you fast forwarding to get to the good
stuff. There are a few good fights in the end, and the contemporary
approach does allow for a few creative wrinkles, such as using golf clubs
in the fight choreography (which is overcranked in a few scenes). The
action choreographers Wallace Tsui and Joseph Lam weave some gunplay into
the climatic moments. Except for protagonist Tak Yuen, there are no other
big name stars in the movie. Yuen toiled in the independent martial arts
scene for years appearing in such varied martial arts flicks as THE MASTER
(1980), MY TOUNG AUNTIE (1981), AMBITIOUS KUNG FU GIRL (1981), and THE
ROVING SWORDSMAN (1983). Like many former old-school stars, he finally
achieved a measure of success as an action choreographer in such Hong Kong
New Wave efforts as DRAGON
FROM RUSSIA (1990), OPERATION SCORPIO (1991), and HIGH RISK (1995).
SIGHT
THE
MAGIC CRANE is presented in non-anamorphic 1.85.1 widescreen transfer. The
image quality is essentially the same as any cheap HK import you might get
from Universe or Mei Ah. Things are a little dark in the image, but
otherwise a decent transfer for a budget disk. The one major flaw in the
presentation is the framing of the sub-titles. They go off the screen
constantly and your mind is forced to fill in the blanks because you can’t
read all the translations. This is very distracting, but the strength of
THE MAGIC CRANE is in the visuals and not the plotting. So while THE MAGIC
CRANE is pretty good, RIVALS OF THE DRAGON is a horrible, full frame
transfer that brings to mind the quality of a bad PanMedia disc. RIVALS OF
THE DRAGON has a cheap sleazy look to it anyhow, and this murky, grainy
presentation really adds to the sleaze factor of Los Angeles. One of the
worst transfers yet to emerge from Ground Zero.
SOUND
The audio for both THE MAGIC CRANE and RIVALS OF THE DRAGON is Dolby Digital Mono 2.0. THE MAGIC CRANE is the typical decent Ground Zero mono mix, lacking any stereo sound. This is pretty much equal to the HK import version of this film, which also lacked a stereo sound mix. THE MAGIC CRANE features some bizarre sound effects to match the otherworldly visuals. The original Cantonese dialog is rendered without distortion or audio anomalies. There is also some Canton-Pop in the form of lounge music performed by Jacky Cheung. The sound for RIVALS OF THE DRAGON is equally atrocious as the dismal video transfer. The soundtrack for this film is very low, and you must turn up the volume to hear the dialog. This results in a thick layer of background noise and distortion. The score is terrible except for when Joseph Lai incorporates music from Sergio Leone’s THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. The best thing I can say about the audio portion of RIVALS OF THE DRAGON is that the dubbing is professionally done by the same people who did the Shaw Brothers movies. A very lazy audio mix from Ground Zero.
FEATURES
None.
CONCLUSION
Though I love the idea of Double Feature discs, this particular pairing is a weak offering for fans of classic martial arts movies. THE MAGIC CRANE is an enjoyable action fantasy with strong performances. For eye-candy I highly recommend it, but purists may be put off by the overall lack of Kung Fu. RIVALS OF THE DRAGON just plain sucks and the transfer is one of the worst I’ve seen from Ground Zero. If you like THE MAGIC CRANE, you can’t go wrong with purchasing this budget priced version over the higher priced import (assuming it’s still in print). If you don’t like Wire-Fu or HK fantasies, stay away from this Brooklyn Zu disc.
THE MAGIC CRANE/RIVALS OF THE DRAGON available from HKFlix.com
-- Tony Mustafa
| Movie: |
3.0/1.5 |
| Video: |
3.5/1.5 |
| Audio: |
3.0/1.0 |
| Extras: |
0.0 |
| Overall: |
2.5 |
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