Dragon Eyes

After solid supporting turns in everything from Fighting opposite Channing Tatum, True Legend, Bodyguards & Assassins and Wong kar-wai’s as yet unreleased take on the life of Ip Man, The Grandmaster, former Strikeforce champion Cung Le gets to headline his first movie, Dragon Eyes directed by John Hyams and produced by Joel Silver. Cung plays Ryan Hong, a mysterious man who tries to unite two warring gangs against the corrupt lawmen who have been using them for their own agenda. Cung’s character gets lessons in life and martial arts while imprisoned from an elder inmate Tiano, a former heavy hitter dealing with life behind bars played by Jean-Claude Van Damme in a nicely played supporting role. While the colourful villain of the piece is played by Buckaroo Banzai himself, Peter Weller, who plays the sharp dressed crime lord Mr. V.

Dragon Eyes is entertaining but just doesn’t really go anywhere, the story works, the action is ok, and the performances and direction are all adequate, but it just doesn’t catch fire. The two performances which really deliver are the cameo by Jean-Claude as the jailhouse mentor for Cung’s character, and Weller who seems to be enjoying himself immensely playing the sharp suited quick witted bad guy, you find yourself wishing both of them had more screen time then the rest of the cast.

As for the action, Larnell Stovall from Undisputed 3 and Mortal Kombat was the stunt choreographer for the project, while Cung Le choreographed the fight sequences. Sadly the fight sequences don’t serve Cung very well, he’s always pulled off some incredible techniques in the ring but as yet we don’t feel he’s made the transition to looking good in his fights on screen, the choreography seems rough and ready but it’s not crisp enough and often looks clumsy rather than powerful and impressive. We know he’s doing some nice moves, but the choreography and camerawork doesn’t showcase his abilities. A gray haired Van Damme makes the most of his cameo, espousing jailhouse advice and letting loose with some still impressive legwork which once again has us wishing he’d really let loose martial arts wise again on screen.

Cung has a natural charisma that as yet hasn’t been captured on screen, just as his martial arts skills have yet to be showcased properly in any of his film roles to date. Here’s hoping that future projects will really showcase Cung and his abilities to good effect. Dragon Eyes is enjoyable, but it’s very much a case of what could have been instead of being must-see martial arts entertainment.

Cung will also be seen in a supporting role in the RZA’s Man with the Iron Fists, and perhaps one day we’ll get to see him in the long lost Blizny Boy, a Russian financed fight flick which sees him opposite Bolo Yeung, David Carradine and more, trailers and stills from the movie have appeared at various times but the movie seems never to have been released…