Fist Of Dragon (2012) Gala Premiere

Fist Of Dragon, a collaboration of local and international stars makes it's debut in Malaysia with the Gala Premiere happening over in Malaysia last night. A quick check online, and I found out Fist Of Dragon was already shown in Singapore way back from July last year. Thanks to Evo Pictures, I had the opportunity to catch this premiere screening at Pavilion with the stars of the show in the same hall.

Having a short "likeastar" feeling here

The premiere tickets for Fist Of Dragon

Arriving a couple of hours ahead of the screening, I managed to catch the red carpet arrival of some of the stars in Fist Of Dragon and also local celebrities. It was good too that I arrived earlier this round because for us, some cocktail drinks were served and finger food, but what matters was that I could catch up with a few fellow bloggers before the screening in GSC Pavilion.

Fist Of Dragon photo collage taken from the net

A few of the bloggers that arrived that evening

Fist Of Dragon is unique in a sense that it is directed by our award-winning Malaysian filmmaker Michael Chuah Ghiap Hun who not only directed but starred in this movie as well. The Singapore action film titled Fist Of Dragon or Long, Quan (previously known as Long De Quan Ren) also features Singaporean artistes Fiona Xie, Henry Thia and China starlet Wang Xiao Che. 

Some of the celebrities that arrived for the Gala Premiere of Fist Of Dragon

Spot me out at the premiere screening of Fist Of Dragon

Fist of Dragon tells the story of Li, who comes to Southeast Asia upon the request of his father to help out his uncle who has been facing financial difficulties. Li, upon arriving in town, feels out of place due to cultural differences. When he discovers that his uncle has been facing many hardships posed by the local mobsters, Li decides to stay and help his uncle get rid of them.

However, Li encounters numerous resistances from the locals as his actions incur the wrath of the triad and drags the whole town into turmoil. Moreover, his uncle’s daughter, Lily is on the triad’s side, and their relationship is badly affected when the confrontation between the two groups reaches its peak.

Our hero in action

Now I entered the hall with high expectations seeing that it had my favourite "Money No Enough" Singaporean star in it, and seeing the words "Producer of Ip Man 2" splashed all over Fist Of Dragon's banners. Since it was shot in Malaysia, Malacca to be exact, I expected local Malaysian flavor being thrown in. It was not to be, as I soon found out when the movie dragged on. Fist of Dragon is an action film where there were loads and loads of fist punching, without enough background scenes (it was either on this dark street in a "China like" village, or at this empty coffeeshop) or a strong enough plot.

Yes, there were so many gangsters fight scenes in it, Fist Of Dragon was pretty cool in the beginning, but then I start to wonder if it was overdone. Some scenes were captured nicely, but some had this special "fast forward" effect to it, which made me think that the moves aren't really as fast as they played it out. Overall, it was a watchable film, with really nice kungfu and fighting moves. For what it's worth, I commend the director Michael for bringing Malaysian talent to international shores and beyond, making us Malaysians proud.

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