Dragons Forever (1988)

The last film that the "Three Brothers" - Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao - would make together is a fine example of what made HK action cinema so special, and especially the contribution that those three made to the martial arts/action/comedy genre.

Jackie plays against type as a rather sleazy lawyer, whilst Sammo is a con man with a good heart and Yuen Biao is... mostly crazy :-) Yuen Wah is the villainous factory owner whose pollution is destroying Deannie Yip's fish farm, and wants her taken care of one way or another before the case gets to court. Jackie calls in his brothers to execute a three-pincered scheme, but ends up falling for Deanie's cousin (the lovely Pauline Yeung) and maybe deciding that he should do the right thing instead.

The film is a fast-paced tale of romance, comedy and action with some great "set-piece" moments for the three performers to show off their particular skills. Funny and exciting, though obviously about as deep as a pancake. The production values are high, the script reasonably tight and the action... superlative. Some really amazing fights and stunts, with both Jackie and Sammo's stunt teams at the peak of their careers.

Sadly, every dvd version of the film has had two scenes cut - both of which involve Yuen Biao and his psychiatrist (Stanley Fung). I have no idea why these were ever removed from the film, as having finally seen them I agree that their absence hurts quite a lot... several plot developments only make sense once you've seen these scenes. The HKL platinum edition features them on the 2nd disc, which is better than nothing - but definitely a wasted opportunity to edit them back into the film where they belong.