Year of the Dragon is what would now be called a hot mess: a sub par, below mediocre cop drama that aims for gritty but ends up grimy, that mistakes arrogance for attitude and comes off as insipid, uninspired and unbearable.
In 1985, when Dragon was released, it was called racist as protests in a number of cities broke out over the film's depiction of Chinese and Chinese Americans.
Well, it's 2024 and Year of the Dragon is still racist. Set in New York City's Chinatown, the film chronicles the push and pull, tug of war between Captain Stanley White played by Mickey Rourke and the new organized crime boss Joey Tai portrayed by John Lone.
Tai is looking to make his organization much more aggressive compared to the policies of the past and he finds a nemesis in the equally if not more aggressive White who has been conducting raids on Chinatown and trying to crack down on gang warfare.
Part of this story includes dogged TV news reporter Tracy Tzu played by Ariane who is covering the Chinatown police raids and who ends up getting romantically involved with White as well n as White's superior Louis Bukowski portrayed by Raymond Barry and his ex wife Connie played by Caroline Kava.
The movie moves like the usual cinematic game of chess between cop and crime boss up until its admittedly beautifully framed and photographed showdown on a bridge between White and Tai which is the best sequence in an otherwise inferior film.
There are a few interesting moments between Raymond J Barry and Mickey Rourke as they sometimes clash over Rourke's overly pushy tactics. Some of the scenes have the seed of something approaching a real relationship.
John Lone is also a magnetic, powerful figure as Joey Tai. Lone basically steals the movie from everyone else. When he enters the frame, he commends attention with his casually confident, manner. It's easily the best performance in the movie
By contrast, Mickey Rourke constantly wearing a hat and scarf looks more like a GQ model than a Police Captain. His Stanley White has all the charm of a high school bully. He seems more thug than cop and so repellent and odious that it comes as no surprise that he admits at one point in the movie that he has no friends.
Ariane playing reporter Tracy Tzu is a exponent here of Plank Acting- giving a wooden performance. Her work here is nothing more than a series of Bad Acting Class scenes each one worse than the other. The idea that a beauty like Tracy would be attracted to Stanley can't be sold to the audience here because Ariane's construction of the character is as interesting as a vacant lot.
The script credited to Oliver Stone and Michael Cimino -technically an adaptation of author Robert Daley's novel- is a pestilent swamp of crude ethnic stereotypes colliding with cop movie cliches. It's largely a variation of action set pieces and speeches with no depth.
The Chinese gangs and criminal organizations come off as trigger happy and dagger stabbing brutes willing to commit homicide in a millisecond . Lone's Joey Tai is the closest to something approaching a rounded character in the film's Chinatown population but one figure however cannot make up for scores of terrible stereotypes.
Director Michael Cimino might have had the talent to make a really good cop film. Too bad he failed with Dragon. He shows some ability with action scenes but the dialogue driven sequences are often cringy and uncomfortable.
Cimino at least could fill a frame with life in his previous features The Deer Hunter and Heaven’s Gare. Here the scenes seem dead on arrival.
In the end, Year of the Dragon might be rationalized by filmgoers of today as more a film of its time, a Time capsule movie.
If so, this is one time capsule that needs to stay buried.
Albert Lanier was a film critic & reviewer for 8 years. He was a contributor to the film site Ain't It Cool News and covered film festivals . Lanier now serves as a film analyst.