Dance of the Dragon is Korean/English film about a young man’s ambition to become a dancer.
SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Jang Hyuk, Fann Wong and Jason Scott Lee in "Dance of the Dragon"
Tae Kwon (Jang Hyuk) is fascinated by ballroom dancing since he was a child when his mother brought him to the dance theater. He secretly learns dancing but when his dad finds out about it, he forbids Tae from dancing. Tae’s father teaches him that education is the fundamental of life. Tae plans to go to the university but his father gets him a job in the factory as the family needs the money. He works at the factory for ten years before he finally gets the chance for a dance audition in Singapore.
Tae tells his parents about the audition and decides to take the opportunity despite his dad’s disapproval. Tae meets Emi (Fann Wong), his dance instructor whom gives him the chance to join the class.
Emi has a boyfriend, Cheng (Jason Scott Lee) who works as a martial art instructor. When Cheng comes to find Emi in her dance studio, he sees Emi dances with Tae. He discourages Emi from joining the dance competition by telling her it’s best to retire as a champion rather than being second place or fifth place — as then no students would want to join her classes. Cheng then warns Tae to stay away from his girlfriend and even offers his two thousand dollars to join other dance studio.
When Tae decides not to take Cheng’s money, he goes to find Cheng in his martial art dojo and returns him the money. Cheng, in return, challenges Tae to a duel in 7 days — the winner gets to keep Emi. Tae attempts to learn martial arts but ends up hurting himself. He then finds a book about Shaolin Style Kung Fu and since he is a dancer, he challenges Cheng for a Tai Chi duel instead. During the duel, Tae loses concentration and falls to the ground and thus, has to pack his bag and go back to Korea.
Earlier, Emi has signed up for the dance competition with Tae as her partner. Somewhat, she is left disappointed when she sees Cheng and Tae battling without her knowledge. Tae’s father gives Tae all his life-saving so he can go back to Singapore to realize his dream. Tae manages to reach the dance hall in time by running instead of stuck in a traffic jam. Tae and Emi dance to a slow start but as Emi attempts to do a few rounds of circle, she twists her ankle and falls down. Instead of losing hopes, Tae tells Emi to wake up as it is not about winning but to enjoy their moment of dancing as Emi has once told Tae. They continue dancing and finishes the dance beautifully much to the cheering audience. And Cheng was standing there all along to witness Emi and Tae dance — even he salutes them. And the end credits appear.
Overall, Dance of the Dragon is a great film, not because it is a great dancing film or has superb actors who can dance brilliantly, but it is a great film because it explores the artistic side of the world while still having a great cinematography, excellent performances by the actors and superb music. The movie invites the audience to dare to dream and dare to love as Tae once said, “Only fools dare to dream.” And let us all be fools.
My ratings: 8 out of 10.
Popularity: 1%
