- Complete Monster: Joey Tai, the sociopathic rising star of the Tongs, has the chief Triad leader of Chinatown murdered before also executing an elderly Italian candy shop owner connected to the Italian mob for not paying protection money. Having his young proxies massacre a nightclub to sow unrest, Tai also has two of his loyal men killed after they're injured in the attack. Framing the Triads' heroin supplier White Powder Ma for the attack, Tai kills him and presents his head to the prime source in Thailand to inform them things have changed. Arranging for more potent drugs to be shipped directly so Tai can deal it to desperate junkies, Tai orders a hit on his nemesis police chief Stanley White and White's wife, killing the latter. He then has White's informant in his outfit killed and orders the gang-rape interrogation of Stanley's reporter lover.
- Retroactive Recognition: This is the film debut of Dennis Dun, who would later achieve fame with Big Trouble in Little China and The Last Emperor.
- The Scrappy: The character of Tracy Tzu has been singled out by critics as the weakest part of the film, due to her actress Ariane Koizumi's inexperience in acting, and her depiction as an Asian Airhead has been criticized as filled with Orientalist stereotypes.
- Values Resonance: The race relations issues between Chinese and white Americans discussed in the film are as present in the 2020s as in the 1980s, especially with political tensions between China and the United States, as well as the COVID-19 Pandemic. “The Reason You Suck” Speech delivered by Herbert Kwong to Stanley White especially highlights the underappreciated contributions of Chinese immigrants to the United States, and calls out the casual racism of the main characters.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Ymmv/YearOfTheDragon
Go To
