This is another Hong Kong attempt to adapt a Japanese Manga to a live action movie. Sometimes it can turn into something as Ricky Oh and become a classic, but it can also turn into a movie like "Dragon from Russia," which I consider far from being a very memorable martial art flick. Before seeing this movie, I never had the chance to read the manga, so I can't really compare the movie to the original comic, but I saw "Crying Freeman," the French adaptation of the same comic, which I found superior in almost every way. The premise of "Crying Freeman" is a story mixed with romance and action, but the Hong Kong version centers a lot more on the action side, which I think was a very good idea, since Hong Kong excels in that department. But unfortunately, it really removed much of the substance of the movie.

Based on the comic, the story was a little confusing because sometimes the timeline jumped around and we were not really sure how many years or months have passed during these periods. Except that small problem, most of the story is easy to follow and if you already have read the comic before, you will probably find the story even easier to follow. Without any real punch or surprises, the story was still enjoyable and fun, but it doesn't have a lot offer to those who are looking for a solid story.

The characters also didn't improve nor added anything to the already simple story. I really didn't feel anything particular for all the characters in the movie, some of them could have died in the middle of the movie and I would not have made a big thing about it. It was not because of their acting capability, most of them were decent actors, well maybe except Sam Hui the main character. His impersonations of Bruce Lee were very poor and annoying. As for Maggie Cheung, she made the best performance of the movie in her role of May. Another interesting character was the 800 Dragons Leader, he had that strange plastic mask on his face, it really looked funny and it also made him very hard to take as a serious bad guy, but still maybe that was what makes his charm. I usually don't like those 80`s character in most of the 80`s Hong Kong movies. It's only a personal taste of course. But I think that it is because of the resemblance with these cheap characters that I didn't like in "Dragon from Russia," which was made in the beginning of 90's. So if you don't mind late 80`s Hong Kong movies, then you will probably enjoy the character better than I did.

At least the movie has a lot of very good kung fu and action scenes to offer. Most of them were very spectacular and beautifully choreographed. These great action scenes consisted of mixing of traditional and wire kung fu, sometime using weapons such as katanas or special knifes used by the assassins, but you also have some gun fight sequences and car chase too. The two best fights are the metro fight sequence at the beginning and the fight conclusion at the end of the movie, only because of these two fights; the movie was worth the watch for those who are looking for great combat sequences.

Far for being the best Hong Kong Kung Fu movie that I saw, "Dragon From Russia" is a pleasant movie to watch for the action scenes, but maybe not worth it if you are looking for that Hong Kong hidden gem. In my own opinion, the French adaptation was a lot better. Of course the fighting was better in this Hong Kong version but the French version was better in the overall, especially for the cinematography. If you are a big fan of the original comic or one of those kung fu movies fanatics, "Dragon from Russia" will probably please you enough.