this is one of the greatest american cop movies ever made. Features some of the most stunning cinematography and camera work ever. I saw it again today and its kinetic energy left me with my mouth wide open. In those days, Michael Cimino was a genius. Compare this with American Gangster and you'll see where genius is and where great talent is.
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You're right Raoul. All films are so sanitized and dumbed down nowadays!
10x better than 'The Departed', which has to be one of the silliest and overrated films ever. That film is all over the place and seems like a TVM at certain points, about as believable as an episode of 'Miami Vice', minus the charm.
'Year of the Dragon' is 'gritty' and Rourke is utterly believable. Can't think of any other cop film being close to this. 'Blade Runner' is the closest.
Meatball walks into a restaurant,Manager says,"We don't serve f@ggots"
a great neo noir, i watch the first time when i was child. i was fashinated by chinese, police, the dark colors, the dirty city.
Don't take it too far kid. That you're not a The Departed fan is clear by now, but it definitely was a great movie. There wasn't any over the top acting like you see quite a bit of in this movie. But I think that has more to do with the period it was made in than anything else.
I wouldn't call the beginning of the movie a masterpiece, just your ordinary 80's action flick, then as the viewer knew what was going on, the story went deeper.
I hated that Chinese reporter though. Her acting was just plain bad.
Stryker-X:
There wasn't any over the top acting like you see quite a bit of in this movie.
following a side-track here, but i'm very happy to encounter someone who dislikes the departed too, which i find a very bad movie, hollow/shallow/overrated.
year of the dragon i found very flawed too, but entertaining and occasionally fascinating. at least it looks great, has a couple of impressive scenes, and some sort of raw energy.
the departed is plastic, one of scorsese's worst.
I wouldn't say its a masterpiece. Its far from a perfect film, and it took me a while to warm up to the film's flaws (the music, Ariane's acting, the racial aspect feels at times underwritten, the plot with his wife wasn't exactly integrated into the narrative smoothly, etc.) but it is a film that when it's good, its great, and there's more than enough there to make you get used to some its failings.
It's not a masterpiece the way Heaven's Gate is, but god, it is a great, great - if flawed- crime film, and sometimes you can't help but love those less than perfect films as much as you do full-on masterpieces.
Just watched this again after many years. Why I bought it is beyond me. This has to be one of the worst movies ever made. Everyone's acting is over the top except the female lead who was possibly the worst actress to ever grace the big screen. She couldn't deliver a good line if her life depended on it, but since this was posibly the worst script ever written we will never know. I doubt she ever acted in a movie again. I couldn't help laughing throughout this flick, I kept waiting for Mickey to yell STELLA, in front of his house when his wife kicked him out. It is just plain B A D.
shareTotally agree. One of the most exciting and cinematic misfires ever. Great showcase for Rourke and Lone. Incredible trailer too. Just too dumb and goofy at critical moments to call it an unqualified success. Maybe not at the box office, but artistically Rourke owned the '80s. Diner. Rumble Fish. Pope of Greenwich Village. Year of the Dragon. Angel Heart. Barfly. I know he's thought of as a "what might have been" talent, but for about seven years he was on fire.
shareRaoul, I agree. This movie has its flaws, the ending is flat out disaster, sure, but it's energy is absolutely infectious. Rourke is off the charts, he even makes the model rise up in certain scenes, the mark of a brilliant actor. And the cinematography is simply another level. A flawed, forgotten masterpiece, that emotionally complex, and deals with race in a really interesting and real way. White is just as hard on his own people as he is on the Chinese. He's obnoxious, indulgent, egotistical, selfish, self destructive, psychotic but he's no racist. Cimino is definitely one of a kind, his balls alone are insane.
shareA masterpiece? Are you joking?
The film is an inconsistent mess.
It's very close to a masterpiece.
I saw it today again on BluRay (French) and it looks incredible.
This is maybe Cimino's and Alex Thompson's best-looking film.
A visual masterpiece.
The visual style reminded me a lot of David Fincher's "Se7en",
who was maybe influenced by it.
It definitely had an influence on Hongkong cinema.
I like Ariane's acting: I bought her character and she was well cast
as an American-born Chinese upper-class girl.
There are very few flaws: White's strange-looking hair, the cheap-looking exploding car…
Otherwise it has a great screenplay and strong performances.
It's more exciting than "American Gangster" and has better cinematography than "The Departed".
I want a Criterion Collection release!
Yeah it’s an excellent movie I’d recommend to anyone.
shareA high quality movie indeed.
shareNot that much. It is still good and definitely worth a watch but it either aged badly or wasn't that great to begin with. I wasn't impressed by The Deer Hunter either but I will watch more films by this weirdo Cimino and rewatch the Deer Hunter just to clarify for myself whether he is a glorified hack or I'm missing something.
The Pope of Greenwich Village is a somewhat better Rourke movie from the same period.