One of the most beautiful of Hong Kong's 'New wave' sword-fight films, "Dragon Inn" has virtually nothing wrong to be said for it. A dark Romantic tragedy over-layered with a romantic comedy almost as dark, and filled with living breathing characters brilliantly portrayed by an excellent cast; still, the film's primary asset is its breathtaking imagery and carefully subdued (given the material) editing. You never have any doubt as to where your eye should light, nor are you ever disappointed.

After viewing any narrative film, we have the right to ask ourselves, "did I go any interesting places here? did I meet any interesting people? did I see anything I could not have seen otherwise?" The answers for this film are: "yes, yes, and again yes" Although this is not a 'magic kung fu' film, yet there is magic in virtually every frame. It takes us to another world and introduces us to interesting people, and then, when the end comes, it simply says 'adieu' and the film closes and we are home again - but far better informed on the nature of the world, and of the human heart, than we would be other wise.

True cinema magic, and certainly one of the best of its kind - perhaps one of the best of any kind.

I'm not really a big fan of the new wave of period kung fu films that filled Hong Kong cinemas throughout the 1990s. Of the ones I've watched, I like maybe a few, including the first couple of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINAs and MOON WARRIORS; the rest I can take or leave. NEW DRAGON GATE INN belongs to the latter category. It's not that it's a particularly bad film, because it isn't; it's just that the overly-complex storyline is so routine and sketchy that long periods of the film go by that are pretty boring. I can't help feeling that the rating I've given it is a bit harsh, but then I rate for enjoyment over accomplishment. Sure, there is talent involved; Tsui Hark makes his presence felt as producer, and all of the actors were or are famous at one time or another in their native country.

It's simply that there's not really anything going on here that I liked. The story of different groups of people holed up in a single location trying to discover each other's identity and kill each other has been done to death so there was no interest there. The action scenes are wire work heavy, something I'm not particularly fond of, and watching people simply spinning or flying through the air is not something that I call martial arts; it's not about skill, but show. On the plus side, some of them are nicely imaginative, with gory flourishes and a clever fight-cum-strip-show between Lin and Yeung. The ending in particular is bloody marvellous as skin is flayed off and blood spurts all over, but it's too little, too late.

The direction seems a bit faceless and confused and the quality of the print is poor – in the sand fight climax, the scene often faded to white for long stretches which surely can't have been intentional? More like we couldn't see what was happening...another negative is that I didn't like many of the performances. Leung always seems to be uninteresting, even bored, to me, and Yeung gives what is surely one of her most irritating turns as an impish young woman. Lin is good, old-school quality and Yen is typically fantastic in what amounts to little more than an extended cameo, but for the most part NEW DRAGON GATE INN is a frenzied and dull mess.

Cao, a power-hungry eunuch, is attempting to create his own evil regime beyond the gaze of the Emporor. When Minister of Defence Yang threatens to reveal Cao's plans, he is executed; his two children are spared so that they can be used as bait to lure Yang's allies into a trap.

A band of brave rebels manage to rescue the children, and ride out to The Dragon Gate Inn, a refuge in the desert which is run by brigands. Here they plan their next move, aware that Cao and his followers are hot on their trail...

Having seen some clips of this film on TV and been impressed with the sheer craziness of what I had witnessed, I laid down my hard earned cash for what I hoped would be a prime slice of mad Wuxia action; with Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin all starring in this Tsui Hark produced epic, I figured this was going to be something special. But an hour in and I was starting to wonder if I had got the wrong film.

Fight fans will be sorely disappointed since the martial arts scenes are so poorly edited that they become confusing and once the characters reach the inn there is next to no action for quite a while; in the meantime we get to watch some rubbish about visitors to the inn being turned into pork buns (a la The Untold Story) and Maggie Cheung unsuccessfully tries it on with Tony Leung.

The crazy action eventually kicks in when Cao's army arrive at the inn. There is a brief fight in the inn which results in a nice bit where someone gets crushed between two mill stones and a gratuitously gory battle in the desert in which everyone gets injured or killed. If the whole affair had been as deliriously barmy as the final 20 minutes then Dragon Gate Inn would have been a classic rather than just another average kung-fu movie.