007: Unleash the Dragon

Unfinished. Controversial and not unmarked by critical acclaim, Unleash The Dragon became its own worst enemy the moment director Frogman hit the green light, previously reknowned only for Hangman, which by all accounts can be considered a moderate success with a mediocre reception. The story of Unleash The Dragon stems far beyond the amount of hype that surrounds it; 3dmm’s equivalent of a certain Star Wars prequel most of us would happily gouge out our peepers for admitting we had anticipated such dross. In a word, hyped movies often amount to cack themes. Unleash the Dragon however is probably (despite being unfinished) one of the most visually breathtaking action adventure films ever made. Not simply for the wondrous awe that surrounds the ship’s sabotage opener, the mud-riddled quad bike chase or the dazzling battle of wits in a forest snowstorm. Unleash The Dragon is intelligent. It’s intelligent because it tries to be something, and that’s exactly what it is.

For a 007 outing, it’s a visual treat to reinforce such strong themes of grittiness, this Bond being more of a stealth fighter than the in your face endeavour of Die Another Day. Ironically that was a movie that didn’t know what it wanted to be at all. And worst still, Bond was flung in so many directions that the set pieces were generally deemed irrelevant, thanks to poor CGI and ludicrous plotting. Unleash The Dragon is quite the opposite. Rather it sets out to be a granular, illustrative thriller that matches Hideo Kojima’s poignant ideas of what may or may not go on in Nuclear weapons disposal facilities that we don’t now about. This is a covert Bond, last seen about ten years ago if you’re keeping score (Bond did a round of that in GoldenEye). Though he has delightfully retained his subtleties, here destroying helicopters and casually outfoxing the trademark henchmen. In a word, this is still Bond. But as if being given an Art gradation on a silver platter, his look has changed considerably. Unleash The Dragon is essentially a quieter, more distinct arena for the agent to flash his Walther, enjoying the pleasures of a delicately balanced narrative and an easily absorbable and believable (as in Bond could get into such situations) narrative.

It has to be said, this is all Frogman’s doing. Proving that he is capable of fluid 3dmming and above all a real eye for exquisite direction he absolutely relishes the opportunity to splatter the screen with beauty and splendour, which only adds to the movie’s hugely entertaining set pieces. This isn’t your average Joe Blow walk in the park. Just looking at Unleash The Dragon is enough to make your eyes melt. The shoot-out in the forest, swathed by temperate snowfall is the most beautiful instance of cinematography you're likely to encounter in an action adventure genre. Fittingly it’s the kind of scene you could and would expect in a deeper Bond film, but it’s here that we encounter the finer points of the story. Sadly, this also adds to the film’s crucial flaw. Frogman is almost too good at making his scenes look and appear striking. Consequently too many alienated fans will remember Unleash The Dragon not for its impending intricacy and mellow wisdom but for the holy shit spectacle Litterbug 2 boasts. Admittedly, even I was tempted just to stop and drool, but instead I’m here churning out my thoughts like a Wachowski on an acid trip. If this is something to complain about though, you won’t see me doing so. There’s just too much intrigue to be had admiring the balletic air of the film; in such a way that Frogman is directly leaning toward political darkness. The fact that he feels the need to blow up a few choppers and a ship along the way only adds to the appeal of the license.

The best Bonds were always the ones where it didn’t have to be a Bond movie. GoldenEye would still have worked if Bond hadn’t been the agent in question for example, as would License To Kill being another. The same applies to Unleash The Dragon. This doesn’t have to be a Bond movie, but as a result of recognising that fact it’s all the more entertaining. It’s not a stranger on that quad bike spraying the camera with sludge anymore. All the more interesting is Frogman seems to spend a great deal of time playing up to this. There’s no quirkiness to this Bond, no biting one-liners or smug exterior. If anything we’re as unsure of this hero as we are who to trust. There’s a greyness to the film that suggests an intricate storyline that gets as close to Kojima as possible. As a consequence of taking 007 in this direction, Frogman gets the stylistic freedom he always wanted. If Psycho Mantis were to appear in other character form, it wouldn’t have surprised me. Stranger things have happened. 007 fans should know that if they’ve seen the absolutely glorious climax to the award winning Moonraker. Nobody could have thought of a laser battle in space: and in the seventies too. Originality at it’s most prominent. But judging by Unleash The Dragon’s unfortunate vagueness, again another upshot of an fragmentary film, it’s hard to tell exactly what Frogman would have ended up doing. Certainly what can be seen here suggests however that he knows precisely what he is doing and where this is all going. Which is nice.

Even if you still hold the grudge that Unfinished means that the director must provide nourishment for your sharks, you can’t deny Unleash The Dragon is just an all round gently absorbing experience, offering a potentially darker and always acidic side to the hero that you can’t help but lap up. In any case, it’s a Bond movie for fuck’s sake. Purge yourself of the more recent drivel and open your ears to that theme tune. Often Intelligent, sadly deficient, Unleash The Dragon is easily the only 3dmm action adventure that spends the time to envision some grace.