MEN ON THE DRAGON (Malaysia, 02 Aug 2018)

Genre: Drama / Comedy

Running Length: 1:32

Cast: Francis Ng, Poon Chan Leung, Kenny Wong, Tony Wu, Jennifer Yu, Nancy Wu

Director: Sunny Chan

Screenplay: Sunny Chan 

What's this movie about? 

MEN ON THE DRAGON (逆流大叔) tells the tale of four men who work for a telecom company who decide to join the company’s dragon boat team in a bid to avoid a corporate layoff.

If I'm not mistaken, the direct translation of the Chinese title means "uncles going against the tide", which is a more accurate description of this underdog sports comedy-drama. The real focus here is more about these four lovable losers going through mid-life crisis instead of the sport of dragon boating.

Highlights!

• Conceptually a good story. I have always had a soft spot for HK movies. I grew up with it and I could relate to their stories. But in the past decade, high quality HK movies are as rare as hen's teeth. So kudos to director and scriptwriter Sunny Chan for crafting out an original story about working class middle aged men and mashing it up with a sports theme.
• A movie for HK people. This is not a China funded production and I'm not sure if it's even going to be screened in mainland China - which is great. Without Big Brother watching over, the filmmakers were free to develop a true HK movie, resulting to nuances and pop culture references which I truly appreciate eg. kids today speaking in Mandarin, using Chow Yun Fat's classic A Better Tomorrow as a reference point. But the biggest theme that stood out for me is the 'Lion Rock' spirit (HK people's can-do spirit), told from the perspective of both the individual characters and Hong Kong as a country.     
• Intimate cinematography. A big shout out to the person behind the camera for successfully capturing the realistic HK life cinematically eg. small and crowded flats, interesting angles during the dragon boat races.  
• The theme song by Rubberband. Great guitar riffs and a catchy chorus. Instantly likeable. 

Lowlights

• Mediocre execution. Although the premise is interesting, the film falls short in its execution. Perhaps there were just too many themes the filmmakers wanted to explore in 90 mins. The story tries hard to balance between the challenges of the personal lives of our 4 men and a sports movie. As a result, it lacked depth in both areas and when the finale came, there was no emotional payoff. 
• Casting. I can sense that everyone in this film really gave their best in their performance. However because some of them were placed in the wrong role, they ended up being unbelievable.     

In summary
MEN ON THE DRAGON (逆流大叔) is not going to end up as a classic HK movie but it's definitely one of the more enjoyable ones in recent years. It's not your typical underdog sports movie but more of a bittersweet tale about men in mid-life crisis. 

RATING: 8/10