Dragon Loaded 2003 is the most morally repugnant film I have seen this year. It features, among other things, scenes of a rascist, sexist and blasphemous nature, scenes of violence involving a minor, organ piracy, police vigilantism, sexual deviancy, full-frontal male nudity, substance abuse and nastiness with a bear trap. But… it’s funny.
Dragon Loaded wants to be a Stephen Chow film. It’s about half way there … it has no brains, sure, but it also has no Stephen Chow. Ronald Cheng tries hard, but he’s actually at his best when he’s not just aping Chow’s patented moves. That said, it’s difficult to tell where Cheng starts and writer/director/producer Vincent Kok stops. Kok has put together a fairly neat little film, but he also makes some bold moves into experimental territory here, eschewing conventions such as ‘narrative’ and ‘character development’ in order to pack as many gags into 101 minutes as possible. It works, too; there are enough potential laughs in Dragon Loaded that anyone should score at least once. PTU gets a name check, as does Bunman in one particularly bizarre romantic interlude. Hegel’s dialectic realism or Eric Tsang warning he’s “carelessly splashed shit around” — take your pick!
Dragon Loaded isn’t perfect, but it is enjoyable. I’d rather have no brains than no fun any day… besides, who said police vigilantism couldn’t be funny?