Year of the Dragon has a lot going on. A Vietnam Vet is now a Police Captain trying to clean up Triad criminal activity. While he cheats on his wife with an Asian reporter, he also has to deal with slightly racist views towards the Triad criminal element. Given that it was 1985, nobody really concerned themselves with stellar roles for minority actors. Basically, every other person from Big Trouble in Little China exists in this movie to get attacked by Mickey Rourke.
Michael Cimino is one of my favorite under the radar directors. It’s weird to call Cimino a little appreciated director, as I’m aware the 1970s existed. Still, he’s not a go-to guy for modern film fans. It’s a crime as he helped perfect the writer/director model that fueled a decade. While the script on this flick had input from Oliver Stone, it didn’t quite have the full Cimino effect. Sure, that restaurant shoot-out is stellar, but I expected a little more. That being said, Warner Archive has created the most astounding transfer for Year of the Dragon. I never thought I’d see it look this amazing.
Year of the Dragon special features
- Commentary
- Trailer
