Review of Year of the Dragon (1985) by Kevin M — 28 May 2010

Cimino's last big budget hurrah is soaked in New York grittiness despite being filmed on backlots in North Carolina. High production values and inventive anamorphic camerawork do little to disguise the routine potboiler of a police procedural. But of course since this is the 80s our hero must be a square-jawed misogynistic fascist racist psychotic buffoon, and the Stupid Chief must naysay every bit of concrete evidence, but he does not go so far as to demand Sgt. White's gun and badge on his desk in the morning. Rourke acquits himself admirably, even when his dramatic zenith involves delivering a speech to his fellow officers that begins with the phrase "Fuck their civil rights," and ends with him telling a female cop to "bend over".

One could make a case for Oliver Stone's screenplay being knowingly xenophobic, what with the aptly named Sgt. White shaking down every slant-eyed nogoodnik in sight, despite his "familiarity with Asian culture". Racial profiling must be a standard M.O. of the New York cops, since nobody bothers to mention the disturbing nature of their police work. Most of the supporting cast of "Big Trouble in Little China" can be found here, most notably Victor Wong as a grizzled old Triad boss, and there are a few token lines about Chinamen building the Transcontinental Railroad. Given Cimino's penchant for sledgehammer subtlety and in your face symbolism, perhaps it's some bleak commentary on race relations in the Reagan era. Or perhaps it's a confused mess that could have used some serious rewrites.

Despite a prohibitive running time, the narrative leaves several questions unanswered. How did Joey Tai conceal the severed head of White Powder Ma during his trek into Thailand? What would he have done with the head if the supplier had agreed to his deal? How did he get out of that compound alive? Why does the Asian reporter agree to endanger herself by publicly exposing this violent drug cartel? Why does she make up that story about "Roger"? Most importantly, where does the title come from?

1985 was the Year of the Ox. A year of stubborn tenacity, perseverance, and little change. The Year of the Dragon would not come round until 1988, so either "Year of the Dragon" is a 1976 period piece, a work of contemporary science fiction, or a complete misnomer.