Blu-ray Synopsis: Enter The Fat Dragon is a hilarious chronicle of the events that transformed super-fit super-cop Fallon Zhu(martial arts phenomenon Donnie Yen) into a glorified records clerk with a major snack cake habit. After a desperate request from an old colleague, Zhu teams up with a wily, wok-wielding restaurateur to solve a mysterious murder – and take his one last shot at regaining both his job and his fiancée. (97 Mins)

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Views: Superstar Donnie Yen stars as Fallon Zhu, a dedicated super-cop that gets the job done no matter what it takes. But these actions usually result in his co-workers and friends being left endangered or disappointed, and none more-so than his fiancée Chloe – a small time actress who can't wait to marry her man. But on the day of their wedding photos, Zhu opts for stopping a robbery that sees him miss the big event and destroy half the police station. With Chloe now gone after their big argument and a demotion in place, Zhu tries to continue to enjoy his life, but a bike accident the following day leaves him with a badly broken leg that sees him lose his position as the top cop on the force. Depressed and demoted, Fallon spends the next six months watching Bruce Lee movies, guarding the evidence room and keeping the vending machine in business as he snacks all day long out of boredom. As obesity sets in, Fallon is given a new lease of life when he is assigned the job of escorting a wanted criminal back to Japan – an assignment that soon sees him up against the Japanese Yakuza and back in a familiar position with his former fiancée!

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I really enjoyed Enter The Fat Dragon! It took me a couple of years to finally see it, but I certainly wasn't disappointed with the outcome. While it could have been better to some degree, the film still offered enough amazing action, a bit of heart, and big laughs to make it another enjoyable slice of action cinema with plenty of moments that harked back to the Hong Kong cinema from the early 90s. I remember seeing a pillow commercial that Donnie had starred in a number of years back, where he raced a fatter version of himself downstairs – pulling off some cool moves along the way – and I can't help but wonder if that was the seed that spawned the idea for this particular movie. Produced by Donnie Yen and Wong Jing, with the latter penning the script alongside Philip Lui and Ronald Chan, the film was directed by the very talented Kenji Tanigaki; a Japanese-born actor and choreographer who joined a stunt team in the 1980s that got him started on a host of Japanese television shows. Kenji made the move to Hong Kong in the early 90s and appeared in films such as Ghost Lantern, Once Upon A Time In China 4, Fist Of Legend, Legendary Couple, and others such as Once Upon A Time In Triad Society that would also mark his first job as an assistant martial arts director (along with its sequel the same year). While he would continue this role on films such as Moonlight Express and Tokyo Raiders, Kenji would soon join forces with Donnie Yen on Legend Of The Wolf – Yen's underrated directorial debut. From there, the pair would work together on a host of titles including Ballistic Kiss, Shanghai Affairs, The Twins Effect, and modern hits such as SPL, Flashpoint, Bodyguards & Assassins, Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen, Wu Xia, Special ID, Big Brother, and Raging Fire – as well as lending his talents to many other Hong Kong titles including Silver Hawk, So Close, Fatal Contact, The Liquidator, Shinjuku Incident, and more including the awesome Rurouni Kenshi series. For his directorial debut, Tanigaki does a great job with Enter The Fat Dragon and delivers plenty of fun moments that allow for repeated viewings – which is never a bad thing – and a host of amazing action sequences choreographed by himself, Donnie, and their action team. It was also fun to see them use clips from Flashpoint and SPL in regards to Donnie's super-cop image, using the real footage from both but having the wonderful Philip Ng double Wu Jing for a comedic take on the latter.

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Ten or twenty years ago, this would have been an amazing project for Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung who, incidentally, was originally planned to play the role of Thor. But that idea was soon scrapped and producer Wong Jing stepped into the role himself, which wasn't disappointing by any means. I'm a huge fan of the director/producer/writer/actor and thoroughly enjoyed his portrayal of the portly restaurant owner and sidekick to Yen. And while I say it would have been great to see Chan in the role, I can't deny the fact that Donnie does comedy so well. Since the amazing Drunken Tai Chi and brilliant Mismatched Couples, we've rarely seen Donnie Yen get the chance to flex his comedic muscles – which is a damn shame, because he does it so well when given the chance. Of course, as the producer, writer and co-star of Enter The Fat Dragon the film is crammed with typical Wong Jing humour although its certainly not as wild and crass as many of his other efforts that often seem to put western audiences off. Personally - I find his works hilarious! Donnie does a great job as Fallon Zhu (as always) and seems to be having a great time in the role as he delivers plenty of fantastic moves throughout. The lovely Teresa Mo (who looks like she hasn't aged a day) stars as Wong Jing's wife, which works a treat. I've always been a huge fan of hers since she entertained me in titles such as Legend Of The Dragon, Magnificent Scoundrels, Hard Boiled, All's Well Ends Well '92, and more recently in An Inspector Calls alongside Eric Tsang – and it's always a treat to see her on-screen. The young Chaney Lin Qiu Nan returns for his second Donnie Yen title after impressing in the superb Big Brother (although only gets the chance to show his moves in one short fight scene) and Niki Chow from Naked Ambition, Heavenly Mission, and Chasing The Dragon stars as Donnie's fiancée. Louis Cheung, from David Lam's 'Storm Series' co-stars as one of his cop friends and new actress Jessica Jann, who starred with Teresa Mo in An Inspector Calls, plays a translator who has found a new job with crooked Japanese cop played by the wonderful Takenaka Naoto – a prolific actor who appeared in Jackie Chan's Shinjuku Incident and John Woo's Manhunt, as well as Japanese titles such as The Waterboys, Red Shadow, Samurai Marathon, 20th Century Boys, and so much more. The gorgeous Joey Iwanaga (aka Joey Tee) stars as the main antagonist of the film, and gets to give Donnie a run for his money when the action kicks-off. Joey has impressed over the last decade in films such as Crows Explode, Tokyo Tribe, Tokyo Vampire Hotel, High & Low: The Movie 2 & 3, Samurai Marathon, and Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, and does a great job here as the Yakuza grandson with a chip on his shoulder. Long time Hong Kong film fans can also keep an eye out for cameos from actors such as Anthony Chan, Jerry Lamb, Wong Cho Lam, Yan Hua, and the aforementioned Philip Ng among many others and a strong Japanese cast.

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While I had only wished they had done a bit more with the 'fat look' in regards to comedy elements, and made it obvious just what part of Bruce Lee they were spoofing – instead of just playing re-treads of Bruce Lee movie scores - I still have to give Enter The Fat Dragon the thumbs-up for being such an entertaining film. And although it's completely on the other end-of-the-scale compared to Sammo Hung's classic film of the same name (and not a remake as many would think), it has it's own charm and makes for a great watch. Perhaps it would have suited the title of Way Of The Fat Dragon a little better...

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Overall: Action-packed and funny, Enter The Fat Dragon is an exciting piece of martial arts cinema that has enough good going on to hide it's flaws!

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Blu-ray Extras: Trailers

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Watch my unboxing video of this WellgoUSA release HERE