Dreadnaught (1981)

Dreadfully Boring

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Dreadnaught is largely unknown these days compared to 1979's 'Magnificent Butcher" (Lin Shi Rong) despite the fact that they have a great deal in common from the director Yuen Woo-ping and writer Wong Jing, to some of the characters and a number of the actors - Yuen Biao, Hark-On Fung, Kwan Tak-Hing, Mei Sheng Fan and Ching Tan. This is a shame since despite Dreadnaught having fewer fight scenes of the quality of its predecessor, it has many things going for it.Kwan Tak-Hing has terrific presence as Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung and he gets far more screen time than in 'Magnificent Butcher' where he had a memorable role, but barely more than a cameo. He even gets more action in this one and though he is clearly doubled for much of these scenes, his manual dexterity for his age (around 76) alone is a great advertisement for the practising of martial arts to promote health.Leung Kar-Yan is dependable as ever as Wong Fei-Hung's headstrong student Leung Foon. Yuen Biao plays the cowardly 'Mousy' who wants to learn to fight, not knowing that he has been learning a special style of kung fu from his sister at the laundry. This means he does little fighting for much of the film which is not as bad as it sounds since he gets to show off his remarkable athleticism more. Yuen Shun-Yee steals the show as the mentally deranged serial killer and his high energy performance adds greatly to the impact and tone of the film.Yuen Woo-ping and his team have done another great job with the choreography, especially the lion dancing which is the clear highlight of the action. The taut fight scenes are very well done also, especially fitting the psychotic personality of the the main villain.Too many different themes have been trying to be built into the running time - horror, comedy, action and romance - for all to be really successful. It is a pity that the cheesy humour could not have been left out as this would have made a improvement to the atmosphere which is great in periods such as the chilling build-up to the final showdown. Also the romantic theme is dropped long before the end of the film with no real resolution.Nevertheless 'Dreadnaught' is well worth watching for the quality of some of the performances, the kung fu and also for anybody interested in the number of films loosely based around the life of Wong Fei-Hung.

Unusually good kung-fu of the old school. This is characterized by middle shots that emphasize the acrobatic ability of the performers instead of cutting around their short comings with extreme close ups of the actions that, let's say, show a single punch or kick.As others have mentioned the lion dance scenes alone make this movie worth watching. If you have ever had the opportunity to see a lion dance, this one is in a whole different class at least compared to the ones I've seen in Chinatown parades in the USA.Tak-Hing Kwan, steals the movie with his portrayal of Wong Fei-Hong. At the time Kwan would have been 76 years old. He was born in the last years of the reign of Empress Dowager Cixi Tai Hou, that is, before the last Emperor Pu-Yi came to power. Truly a link between the Kung-fu of yesterday and today.All this said, the film is flawed by mixing Hong Kong movie genres. At times it is a kung-fu revenge film, comedy, supernatural horror, master and disciple, as well as a truncated unsatisfying love interest.Still a must see, by any standard.

Even though the movie had stereotype characters like the cross-eye goofy cop or the bad guy with the facial flaw, Dreadnaught also had some way cool scenes. If you can bear sitting through the slow, run of the mill parts, you'll be rewarded with 3 major scenes [in order of awesomeness]: 1) the fighting Dragons 2) the opera theatre fight and 3) the tailor. It's a slapstick comedy too, so you'll have a few laughs, too. I just don't get the title.

"Dreadnaught" is a consistently entertaining flick about Mousy (Yuen Biao), a hapless and clumsy coward who stumbles his way into plenty of trouble. While trying to collect a debt, he inadvertently runs afoul of a homicidal lunatic called White Tiger, and spends the rest of the movie being stalked by this freak. The flick is a very early attempt at a kung-fu/horror hybrid, with White Tiger sporting spooky Chinese opera-style make-up and frighteningly leaping into frame time and again. Of course, once he sneaks up on folks he karate chops them rather than stabs them. Still, the guy who plays White Tiger is genuinely creepy, and you really feel this guy's menacing presence. Yuen Biao is great as the goofy Mousy, tripping and falling his way in and out of danger. The fight scenes are excellent, played about half for laughs and half seriously. Add in Kwan Tak-Hing in his classic role as Wong Fei-Hung, and a couple of gross scenes involving ripping heads off chickens and cockroaches, and you've got the makings of a very intriguing kung-fu flick. If you're a fan of the slap-happy style of fighting perfected by Biao, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan, and you like old school kung-fu stories, this one should be right up your alley.