In high spirits and high regards, I recommend this new film from the Mase Brothers.
2023’s DRAGON COP is, in the words of it’s creators, “A love letter to 80’s/90’s Hong Kong and U.S. martial arts movies”. And it succeeds in doing so.
I can’t tell you how good and refreshing it was to see this movie after months of enduring bad and worse made films on my Prime account.
Dragon Cop’s eye for cinematography surpasses and triumphs over other independently made action films. A really well lit and good looking movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and doesn’t handicap itself on puns and humor. Did I mention already that the action scenes are good too. Yes, there are actors in this film that can really execute choreography with precision. For being a short campy film, this is entertaining. Mixing elements of Martial Arts, Buddy-Cop films, Action films with straight to VHS levels of dialogue – It rocks.
To summarize it in laymens terms, imagine your favorite Hong Kong Cynthia Rothrock film mixed with equal parts Lethal Weapon, Loaded Weapon 1, Replacement Killers, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Triple Impact (1992) and good splashes of Albert Pyun.
The only negative I can take away from this film is that it is too short. Yes, Dragon Cop is actually the best possible trailer you could have for a full blown feature film/follow-up sequel. As you read this, the Mase Brothers are hard at work on Dragon Cop 2: Dragon’s Revenge. Absolutely something I am looking forward to seeing once it is completed.
I was blessed to be able to speak with the Mase Brothers about this project via social media and ask them a few questions.
Pleasure to be able to chat with you guys. (Dragon Cop) Great departure from your previous short film
1. How long did it take you to make the film?
Dragon Cop took us 3 and a half days of filming and 2 months of post-production with the composition of the music in parallel.
2. I noticed that you were inspired by Hong Kong films from the 80s. Films like some of Jackie Chan’s early films. What other Hong Kong movie stars and movies have inspired Dragon Cop.
Dragon Cop is a tribute to all those urban action films of the 80s early 90s from Hong-Kong, the references are from films like the Tiger Cage film series by Yuen Woo Ping or In The Line of Duty by Corey Yuen, but a lot of Sammo Hung, Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen movies from the golden age of HK films.
Besides, the character of Cynthia is a reference to actress Cynthia Khan and Dragon to Donnie Yen. I also have an admiration for John Woo’s brutal and poetics like directing, especially with films like A Better Tomorrow (1986) or Hard Boiled (1992).
I had already collaborated on a previous shortfilms (Boglins Return) with the artist Jupiter-8 who is based in Vancouver and I really liked his work very much inspired by 80s neo noir films, he composes soundtracks for fictitious movies and it’s really awesome. His music mixes the atmosphere of Michael Mann, or John Carpenter movies with a good actioner from the 80s. He did a really great score on Dragon Cop very John Woo oriented.
As for the Swedish artist Holoflash, I contacted him because I am absolutely a fan of these different musical projects (Palace, Platforms) Specializing in everything 1980’s from smooth-jazz to popwave, to training-montage AOR .
I wanted a powerful theme for Dragon Cop like it was done in the movies of the 80s, and its title « Rise Of The Dragon » takes up all the codes of the genre! He really has an amazing voice. There is also talk of developing other songs in Dragon’s Revenge, the sequel to Dragon Cop, where the Colombian composer and longtime friend Meteor (already present on Cyborg Deadly Machine) will also be invited. I like being able to work with several artists from different countries, it’s really great and it would be impossible without the internet. In any case, I recommend that you go and discover its fabulous artists who are absolutely talented and quite unknown in the end.
Jupiter 8
https://jupiter-8.bandcamp.comHoloflash
https://holoflash.bandcamp.comMeteor
https://meteormusic.bandcamp.com
The shooting of the sequence taking place at the warehouse with all the fights lasted 2 days and one evening + 1 day for the final scene of the shooting at the Pagoda. There was not much time for preparation Jérome Bernard Var and Team Cascade 31 did a really great job of capturing the aesthetics fight of HK films. Julien Phuong Le and Arnaud Peries are Taekwondo champions, that helps 🙂 Line Phe is an actress / stuntwoman and the whole team that accompanied us is really 100% given! The energy is felt in the film I think.
Since its release 3 weeks ago we have received a lot of good feedback, and fans of the genre seem to have seized all the references! This is really Masebrothers’ approach, we want to bring back good memories for people through our films. I myself am a big consumer of this kind of films since I was kid and thru my childhood eyes I approached the making of Dragon Cop! With my collaborators Jérémy Vazzoli(who signed the photography) and the Team Cascade 31 we would really like to be able to
produce the sequel to the film called Dragon’s Revenge which will take place in a fictional city in the United States name New Jack City and will incorporate references to films like Lethal Weapon or Rush Hour and even a little bit of Big Trouble in Little China! While keeping this HK signature a la Jackie Chan and John Woo for action!
We have set up a crowdfunding page on Kickstarter where we offer people who like this kind of cinema to support this project!
Thank you NRW for this interview and for your support for many years! We greet your whole team warmly!Stay Retro!https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/masebrothers/dragons-revenge
So STAY Tuned, Chip In, and Keep your finger on that Rewind Button.
