Enter the Fat Dragon: Ill-Advised Remake of Spoof Comedy Wastes Its Bankable Lead

By Thom Ernst

Rating: C

The good news is? Co-directors Kenji Tanigaki’s and Wong Jing’s film, Enter the Fat Dragon is more sophisticated than its title. That said, how difficult is it to outclass a title as clunky and vaguely insensitive as Enter the Fat Dragon? Apparently, not difficult at all.

Enter the Fat Dragon is billed as a remake of Sammo Hung’s (Martial Law) 1978 film of the same name, although the new film’s star, Donnie Yen, suggests it’s not “necessarily” a remake, and I don’t necessarily disagree. The films share a title (why?) and both deal with an overweight super-cop, but the similarities stop there.

Hung’s Enter the Fat Dragon (1978) is a parody of 70s kung-fu/Bruce Lee-exploitation movies. Its title is in obvious reference to Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon (1973) even though the film has more in common with Lee’s The Way of the Dragon (1972) than it does with its namesake.

Hung had to wait until the late 90s before his Enter the Fat Dragon got an official release in North American theatres. By then, despite plenty of dedicated enthusiasts still championing the genre, the heyday of martial arts films tapered into a narrower audience. So, while the 70s were ripe for a direct send-up of a Kung-Fu/Bruce Lee spoof, a 1999 re-release of a so-so movie seems risky, while a 2020 remake looks like a gross miscalculation. That, and renegade cop movies, regardless of where they come from, are hardly in public favour right now.

But if bad timing was the only thing working against this latest version of Enter the Fat Dragon, then the film might have slipped by as fitting entertainment for fans. Unfortunately, whatever relevance remains from the original to effectively spoof the genre is shoved further aside by its most viable asset—Donnie Yen.

Not that Yen doesn’t have the chops to pull this off; he is in full athletic form as Fallon Zhu, an officer demoted to a desk job in the evidence room. Unfortunately, his desk is next to a junk food vending machine. The problem is that Yen isn’t just stepping into Sammo Hung’s role, he’s stepping into a fat suit. And without the benefit of having Hung’s cherub features, Yen’s transformation from buff to chubby twists the joke into an uncomfortable sight gag.

If Yen went full De Niro in the role, adding pounds for his art, then Enter the Fat Dragon might have resonated as more interesting than a curiosity. But no actor is going to purposefully go through such extreme physical change without the promise of a statuette dangling before them. And Enter the Fat Dragon can offer no such promise.

Despite the title, the film isn’t weighed down by fat jokes. There are mercifully few, beyond the sight of Yen in a costume. Most shots at humour come from supporting characters, including the brash Charisma (Teresa Mo)—the joke is that she has no charisma—Charisma’s ex-boyfriend, Thor (Wong Jing), and Chloe (Niki Chow) Fallon’s ex-fiancé, and a popular film and television star.

Of the film’s few and legitimately funny scenarios, the best is Chloe’s confounded reactions whenever confronted with the blatant and widely accepted belief that she is Hong Kong’s worst actress.

Martial-art film enthusiasts might discover a few references to other movies buried int this film. The rest of us are likely to remain in the dark. The movie does feature some impressive fight scenes, (how could it not with Yen in the lead?) a few clever set pieces, and even a cool car chase. But the rest of Enter the Fat Dragon is all padding. Enter the Fat Dragon is thin on plot and without any real belly laughs.

Enter the Fat Dragon. Directed by Kenji Tanigaki and Wong Jing. Starring Donnie Yen, Teresa Mo, Niki Chow, Louis Cheung, and Wong Jing. Available July 14 on digital and VOD.