DRAGON CHRONICLES: THE MAIDENS OF HEAVENLY MOUNTAIN (1994)

                                                                                                         

                                                                            
PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological*                                                                                                                       One online review of this movie suggested that its sheer incoherence would make DRAGON a good candidate for "so bad it's good" status. But I would say its hectic exposition is no match for the mind-bending craziness of SILVER HERMIT FROM SHAOLIN TEMPLE.                                                                                                       

Be that as it may, my main reason for seeking out this DRAGON was to see the internationally lauded dramatic actress Gong Li lending her beauty to a wuxia kung-fu film. Though her character Han-wen is the "good guy" here, I didn't think she was as important to the story as her opposite number, the villainous Chou-Shou (Brigitte Lin). The two of them are apparently disciples of a mentor named Siu, as is Chou-Shou's identical twin sister, the meek and mild Chong-Hoi (also Lin), and all of these kung-fu paragons and their enemies have mastered martial arts to the level that they can fly about and shoot power blasts. These FX-scenes are probably the second-best thing about DRAGON next to Lin and Gong, not to leave out Sharla Cheung as the comic support-character "Purple."                                        

There's a vague subplot suggesting that Han-wen has a lesbian affection for meek little Chong-Hoi, and that maybe this budding romance cheeses off Chou-shou somehow. But the main concern here is what it almost is in these stories: rival sects and their adherents ceaselessly trying one-up one another. In this case, Siu has an enemy from another sect, name of Ting, and at the outset Ting has poisoned Siu. The noble Siu is able to keep himself alive with his chi or something, though in the last third of the film he does succumb so that he can surrender his power to one of the combatants. Chong-Hoi really has little to do and apparently dies at some point (I must have nodded off), but Lin seems to be having a great time playing the avaricious Chou-Shou. Gong Li also doesn't get many dramatic beats, and in many ways director Andy Chin (reputed to be mainly a comedy guy) seems to relegate the best scenes to Cheung. The character of Purple, though subordinate, is a lighter, less extreme version of Chou-shou. She serves the evil Ting but plainly would like to sit in the catbird seat herself. On the other hand, she's forced to enlist the aid of a confused young monk (Frankie Lam) in reading her some sutras, and the monk gets mixed up in all these mystical shenanigans. Most surprisingly, Purple actually shows a certain dim non-romantic affection for the monk, and he for her, which is more character-change than anyone else gets. The story BTW was adapted from a popular novel, but there's no telling how closely Chin followed the source material.                                                                 

  After Siu dies, he conveniently passes on his super-powers to the most illogical vessel: the clueless monk. Ting shows up and engages everyone in power-blast combat, so Purple persuades the monk to whip up a "Dragon Ball" (heh) and fling it at the evil wizard. At first the extra energy just turns Ting into a younger, more powerful version of his aged self, but Lin and Gong team up to defeat him amid many pyrotechnics. I think Purple ends up ruling Siu's old sect, but I wouldn't swear to it. Though the Asian audiences had embraced a lot of the FX-heavy wuxia films of the 1990s, DRAGON flopped at the box office, and reputedly Gong Li regretted ever having been part of the project. Still, though I don't think either the director or his writer really "got" the appeal of this genre, one of DRAGON's best scenes is that of Gong and Lin, both clad in filmy white dresses, flying through the sky and trying to zap one another. It's not a good film, but it's hard to really hate it.