Year Of The Dragon (DVD)

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The tone of "Year of the Dragon" suggests a serious crime drama, yet the execution of the story is so exaggerated it comes off close to a standard comic-book adventure. Bullets, blood, and bodies fly, but little rings true. Stanley is portrayed as the only honest cop in the city. Everybody else either takes bribes or looks the other way, which may or may not be true; but Stanley's gung-ho, Rambo manner of attacking every problem with his brawn instead of his brain gets old fast. He tells his men he wants to disrupt the commerce of Chinatown; he wants chaos. And chaos is what we mostly get in the movie.

Video:
The picture quality is excellent, probably as good a transfer as possible from the source material. Thanks to Warner Bros.' newfound commitment to high-bit-rate transfers and their usual anamorphic widescreen, the colors and image definition are first-rate. The screen size is very wide, measuring just short of the movie's original, 2.35:1 theatrical-release aspect ratio. Colors are bright and vivid, black levels are intense, and facial tones are realistically rendered most of the time. A very small degree of grain provides a slightly gritty look to the film, and there are some minor line shimmers here and there. It's nothing worth fretting over.

Audio:
The movie's stereo soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, but you'd hardly know it. The front-channel separation is very wide; the dynamics are strong; and the frequency extremes, while not being too extended, are adequate. Rear-channel information, however, is at a premium, and I was hard pressed to hear much of anything from the surrounds most of the time. Still, the only cause for minor concern is a touch of hollowness about the sound, possibly the result of the 5.1 processing.

Extras:
There is really only one bonus item of note on the disc, an audio commentary by director Michael Cimino. Fortunately, it's a commentary worth one's trouble. The director says it's been a long time since he made the film, but he'll tell us what he remembers as best he can. That is plenty good enough and a heck of a lot. Rather than his simply explaining what's going on in each scene, Cimino tells us why and how each scene was shot. More important, he offers a wealth of peripheral information in the process--stories, anecdotes, background, and the like. It's good to see that he has not forsaken his notorious penchant for detail as he recounts how much attention went into the look and feel and authenticity of the film. While you may not agree with him, he makes a fascinating listen.

Among the other extras are thirty-three scene selections (but no chapter insert); a widescreen theatrical trailer; English as the only spoken language; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Shots:
Fans of crime thrillers should enjoy "Year of the Dragon." They may find its relentless, if enigmatic, hero appealing; as well as its nonstop action and its well-defined good guys and bad guys. But for viewers looking to find a plausible story, realistic characters, or any kind of coherent themes, the movie leaves more than a little to be desired.

"Year of the Dragon" is rated R for violence, sex, nudity, and profanity, selling points for any action drama.

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