Dragon Eyes

2012
4.4| 1h28m| R| en| More Info
Released: 11 May 2012 Released
Producted By: Dark Castle Entertainment
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Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In St. Jude, drug dealers and corrupt cops have destroyed an urban neighborhood. But newcomer, Hong, has the fighting skills and moral vision to save this town from itself.

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Comeuppance Reviews A man named Hong (Le) comes to a gang, drug, and crime-infested 'hood called St. Jude and rents a small apartment. It seems a gang war is brewing between the Devil Dogs, the 6th Street Kings and the Eastsiders. A corrupt cop named Mr. V (Weller) is orchestrating all the mayhem from behind the scenes. But the introduction of Hong into this milieu shakes things up for everyone. To innocent residents like Rosanna (Mantecon), he's a godsend, because he helps clean up the neighborhood (in a classic "cleaning up the neighborhood" montage that we always love to see) - but to his enemies, he's a thorn in their side. All Hong has to rely on is the Martial Arts training he received from his mentor, a man named Tiano (Van Damme). But what is Hong's true motivation? He will be put to the ultimate test - will he be the savior of the streets? Find out today...Dragon Eyes is more or less a "Homie Movie", but with a difference. The difference being that it is competently acted, directed, edited and has some tough, brutal and engaging fight scenes. But we wouldn't expect anything less from our new favorite director, Mr. Hyams, who delivered the utterly brilliant Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) immediately preceding Dragon Eyes. Throwback-style action, but perhaps with some added brutality, seems to be Hyams' trademark. After all, this movie is about a loner who comes to a harsh new town, pits two gangs against one another, and contains the casual racism of the old days - as well as the Prerequisite Torture of the hero and the final fight in the...you guessed it, the abandoned warehouse. So all the proper elements are present and accounted for. But this movie has the first instance we can recall of Rakefighting, and Hong wields that rake like nobody's business. We applaud that.With the casting of Peter Weller and Van Damme, we finally have Robocop vs. Timecop. Well, not really, as they don't share any scenes together. Van Damme's role is extremely limited, he only appears in dark, shadowy flashbacks as Hong's mentor. It's more about the mysterious Hong in a setup that's like Blood and Bone (2009) meets Urban Justice (2007). Peter Weller, as Mr. V - not to be confused with Danny G from the previous year's Forced To Fight (2011) - because in Dragon Eyes Mr. V wears a hat. Otherwise the roles are very, very similar. But Weller has a ton of screen presence, so you want to see him do roles like this. It seems just a few years ago, you wouldn't see stars like Weller in down-and-dirty DTV product like this and Forced To Fight. But if Robert De Niro is going straight to video now, that signals the way for the movie industry, and all actors beneath his stature.Mr. Hyams is clearly a talented director and knows how to direct a quality fight scene. The movie overall has some good grit and basically delivers what you want. While we prefer Regeneration, Dragon Eyes is certainly worth watching.
J D This film is entertaining.The bias we hold coming into a film will always steer our opinions of it. Mine was the foregone conclusion this would be boring and low budget and I was wrong! Well, I was wrong about boring.Most people on here seem to rip the story line and the main actor's demeanor but I don't watch fight films for character development. Does anyone really do that? The fight scenes are pretty cool and at times sweet. I enjoyed the use of camera angles throughout the film and wasn't ever bored.In the end it was entertaining and that is what I look for with fight films.
laurin600 When a "artist" runs the camera shots, the story gets lost in "great... picture effects". I would rather see a movie done in super 8, than look at someones photo album. I'm afraid there just isn't enough of a movie there for the super shots they were looking for. I was amazed that the whole town of St. Jude was shot in a cul de sac apartment building! It was like 2 guys got together and just wrote up the days work that morning and some poor super artist tried to put it all together on the editing floor. Hmmm, is that possible? From the first 2 minutes I figured this to be a "B" movie, all that was missing was the awfully done sex scene- oops and there it was!! Well, that 1 and a half minute will get the teenagers interested. Unfortunately for the rest of us it was passe'. I am guessing that the "stars" will be glad to see this buried. Better luck next time. I was going to give it one star, but I just can't be that mean.
kosmasp Storywise this really aims high. Something that people might not really be into that much, but whatever the case, you have to admire the filmmakers for trying at least. There are some very fine ideas in this movie (loyalty, friendship, respect amongst them), but none get explored too much. Not to mention that the emotional connection between the viewer and the main character unfortunately isn't the strongest. And that has nothing to do with the storyline, but has more to do with the way the movie is handled.The action scenes are decent enough (some are even spectacular), but hopefully you're not renting this to watch van Damme fight. He's playing a major part, but is a supporting player. But Cung Le knows how to fight. In the charisma department on the other hand ... One really good coup the movie made is installing Peter Weller as the main bad guy. He is terrific and shows what Charisma really is!