Revenge of the Green Dragons

Last updated

Revenge of the Green Dragons
RevengeoftheGreenDragonsusaposter.jpg
United States theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Andrew Loo
  • Michael Di Jiacomo
Based onRevenge of the Green Dragons
by Fredric Dannen
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Martin Ahlgren
Edited by Michelle Tesoro
Music byMark Kilian
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Golden Scene (Hong Kong)
  • A24 (United States)
Release dates
  • September 10, 2014 (2014-09-10)(TIFF)
  • October 24, 2014 (2014-10-24)
Running time
95 minutes
Countries
  • Hong Kong
  • United States
LanguagesEnglish
Cantonese
Mandarin
Budget$5 million [1]
Box office$107,412 [2]

Revenge of the Green Dragons is a 2014 crime drama film directed by Andrew Lau and Andrew Loo, written by Michael Di Jiacomo and Andrew Loo, with Martin Scorsese as an executive producer. The film stars Justin Chon, Kevin Wu, Harry Shum Jr., Eugenia Yuan, Geoff Pierson and Ray Liotta. The film is based on Frederic Dannen's New Yorker article that chronicled the true story of Chinese-American gang life in 1980s and 1990s New York City. [3] The central villain Snake Head Mama is based on gangster Sister Ping. [4]

Contents

Plot

An immigrant named Sonny (Chon) joined the Chinatown gang "The Green Dragons" when he was a kid, and worked his way up through the gang hierarchy. But as he quickly rose up the ranks and became notorious in the community, his life falls apart around him.

Cast

Production

Principal photography began in June 2013 [5] in Chinatown, New York City. [6] Scenes were filmed in some parts of Queens and Brooklyn, New York such as Elmhurst.

On November 2, 2013, Mark Kilian was hired to score the film. [7] Varèse Sarabande released the original soundtrack album on October 27, 2014. [8]

Release

The film had its world premiere on September 10, 2014 at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, and then went on to be screened at a number of other international film festivals. The film also received a day-and-date theatrical and VOD release in the United States on October 24, 2014. [9] [10] In December 2014, co-director Andrew Lau said that the film was able to make profit. [11]

Reception

The film has received largely negative reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 15%, based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 4.14/10. [12] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 36 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [13]

However, co-director Andrew Loo had traveled all over the United States with the film, and said: "I've found that this is actually a real-audience film.....In terms of audience reception, I don't think we've ever had a 'bad' screening. It's interesting that the critics hate the film because it's not an easy film to watch. It's a genre film dressed up as an art house film because you have Marty's [Scorsese's] name on it." [14]

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References

  1. 伍月. "古惑仔之青龍過江". U Magazine.
  2. "Revenge of the Green Dragons (2014) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo . Internet Movie Database . Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  3. "Fine Art Magazine Blog: REVENGE OF THE GREEN DRAGONS". October 16, 2014.
  4. "A Tale Of Asian Gangs Unleashed In 'Green Dragons' Film". NPR . Archived from the original on September 30, 2022.
  5. "Revenge of the Green Dragons Filming Begins". isatv.com. June 18, 2013. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  6. "'Revenge of the Green Dragons' filming in NYC's Chinatown on July 2". onlocationvacations.com. July 2, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  7. "Mark Kilian to Score 'Revenge of the Green Dragons'". filmmusicreporter.com. November 2, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  8. "'Revenge of the Green Dragons' Soundtrack Details". filmmusicreporter.com. September 23, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  9. https://www.facebook.com/events/817748151611214/ [ user-generated source ]
  10. "Revenge of the Green Dragons NEWS – UPDATED JAN. 4, 2016". September 22, 2014.
  11. 伍月. "古惑仔之青龍過江". U Magazine .
  12. "Revenge of the Green Dragons". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  13. "Revenge of the Green Dragons". Metacritic . Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  14. "Directors join forces for film based on real Asian-American gang". December 8, 2014.