Chinese action-fantasy film

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is the-yan-dragon-copy.jpg
This movie features a many-headed monstrosity! — This movie features a many-headed monstrosity!

Starring Cui Erkang, Zhang Ruiyao, Su Suxia, Cheng Qi, Zhang Ying and Yin Shaosheng. Written by Liu Jiahong and Wang Runz. Directed by Ji Zhizhong and Tony Wei. Tencent Penguin Pictures

One of the hydra-creature's toothy heads — One of the hydra-creature’s toothy heads

A dying general transfers the power of the Cyan Dragon into the body of Xiang, a lowly footsoldier, who must learn to harness the energy to defeat an enemy nation led by a villain capable of beckoning a massive, multi-headed monster. The general’s sister, Ling, tutors Xiang on how to use his powers while they head for the frontline of the war, but Xiang must contend with his instincts to avoid the oncoming danger… and he also starts to fall in love with Ling.

THE CYAN DRAGON is a Chinese-made flick that starts with acrobatic 300-style war scenes, set within green screen-type virtual vistas, that are very cool and exciting to watch, with lots of wirework and characters utilising different powers.

Soldiers are routed by the villain's multi-headed serpent beast! — Soldiers are routed by the villain’s multi-headed serpent beast!

This is where we’re first introduced to a group of masked bad guys who look great on-screen. They each have their own supernatural skills: one killer leaves a smoke-like black trail as he swiftly moves about, another has a hand that transforms into a swollen lava-fist, and the chief villain is able to summon a hydra-creature from beneath the earth.

This dude can turn his hand into a big lava-fist!

The masked bad dudes and their hydra-monster!

During this opening skirmish we also get to see how the power of the Cyan Dragon can be used, as the doomed heroic general restructures the material of his sword, causing it to become super-extended, so that he can skewer many adversaries onto his blade at the same time. This battle set piece is great fun and thrilling to watch, so it’s a pity that it is the only such large scale fight featured in the movie.

With Xiang becoming the host to the Cyan Dragon energy, the plot takes time to show us how the protagonist is initially rather unheroic, needing warrior woman Ling to keep him on track. Xiang, Ling and a couple of escorts set off on their mission, where they are stalked by the masked dudes, who use a kind of floating, brass spying drone-device to track them.

Ling, the fighting femme heroine — Ling is the stern, fighting-femme heroine

The ending sees Xiang and Ling fighting the remaining chief villain in a snowy landscape, trying to survive as the baddie briefly subdivides into three different warriors and then expands in size to become a giant fighter with a fiery halo.

When Ling is killed by the villain, Xiang screams in anger and sadness, zooms upwards through the clouds, out of Earth’s atmosphere, entering the void of space! Then he powers back down to Earth, now dressed as the fully-armoured fighter Cyan Dragon!

Our hero slams back down to Earth and says... "My name is Cyan Dragon!" — Our hero slams back down to Earth and says… “My name is Cyan Dragon!”

Cyan Dragon mauls the masked chief, but the villain has one ace left up his sleeve, as he summons the many-headed super-beast once again!

For a while the villain becomes part of the gigantic monster itself, by melding with its throbbing innards

This finale, with the totally CGI Cyan Dragon warrior battling the CGI hydra monster in a CGI landscape, is little more than glorified computer game footage, but it’s fun to watch nonetheless.

When Xiang becomes encased in his armour he does look very CGI, there's no doubt about that, but the action's fun to watch anyway — When Xiang becomes encased in his armour he does look very CGI, there’s no doubt about that, but the action’s enjoyable to watch anyway

The movie is entertaining and thrilling in places, with lots of wirework and too-cool-for-school villains. It’s a shame, then, that the film is so short. It would’ve been more satisfying to see Xiang spend time to fully explore the growth of his powers, and the notion that his energy can be personified and interacted with (it leaves his body a couple of times and takes on the form of a small dragon-creature) should really have been dwelt on longer.

Above: three shots from a scene where Xiang chats with a tiny dragon, which is the embodiment of the energy now inside him

The movie is also known by the title BLUE DRAGON OF ALIEN BATTLEGEAR.

The armoured Cyan Dragon warrior versus the huge hydra-monster!

We never get a proper intro to most of these dudes

Directed and written by Jianhua Chi, starring Yuetao Liu, Xu Shaoqiang and Jinqiang Wang.

Surely a better movie title could've been dreamed up! — Promotional image for HOPELESS SITUATION. Surely a better movie title could’ve been dreamed up!

A band of warriors do their best to stop Japanese occupying forces from stealing ancient Chinese relics, leading to them exploring ancient tombs, being attacked by a giant lizard, a long-haired apeman and the reanimated corpse of a concubine. They also fight each other over the treasure they discover and must deal with ancient boobytraps too.

HOPELESS SITUATION is lumbered with a lame title and very artificial-looking digital effects. It also doesn’t help that the main group of characters (including a rifleman, a female fighter and a hunchback dude with an eyepatch) are not properly introduced to the viewer, so you’re not particularly invested in their plight.

An example of the film's less than photorealistic landscape special effects — An example of the film’s less than photorealistic landscape special effects

The obstacles these protagonists must face include ninjas, Japanese military bad guys and the aforementioned monsters…

The origin of the huge lizard isn’t explained: it’s just some big beast that lives in the mountain trails near Craggy Ridge. There are a couple of battles with this (sub-par) CGI reptile, which likes to fling people about, allowing for some kinetic-but-shoddy wirework stunts.

The big lizard sneaks up behind the one-eyed, hunchback warrior

Let's be honest: these CGI effects are not up to snuff — Let’s be honest: these CGI effects are not up to snuff

Once the Chinese adventurers reach caverns they are set upon by a shaggy, acrobatic ape-humanoid with a strange face. This white-furred wild man, portrayed by a stuntman in a creature costume, bounds around the cave walls and beats up some of the people, before he’s blown up with dynamite. This is a pretty decent sequence.

The simian-dude agilely leaps about the rocky walls

The apeman's face is quite nicely designed — The apeman’s face is quite nicely designed

The preserved body of a long-dead emperor’s concubine is the third otherworldly obstacle. She becomes a threat once someone foolishly takes a magic sphere from her mouth. She comes back to ‘life’, her face goes zombie-like, her eyes glow and she zips around the tomb, biting the throats of her victims.

Look into my eyes... — Look into my eyes…

Once the survivors escape the killer-concubine, they find themselves in grassland beyond the mountains, facing off against the Japanese villains… and then the huge lizard returns for a final fight!

With lots of action, decent comic book-like period costumes and a plot that includes betrayals and riddle-solving, it’s a shame that the special effects are just not good enough and the dialogue is too expository, preventing this Chinese action-fantasy flick from becoming the diverting adventure romp it had the potential of being.

Monster Zone

Tag Archives: Chinese action-fantasy film

The Cyan Dragon (2020)

Hopeless Situation (2022)

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