Time once again to warm up the region-free DVD player and check the pre-order page at your favorite import reseller — the Weinsteins are apparently still searching for their own Crouching Tiger-sized hit, and the process they’re using to discover it is to acquire domestic rights to every Asian film that crosses their field of vision. And then tuck them all away for a long, long time before unceremoniously dumping them onto DVD.
The latest film succumbing to Weinstein gluttony is Dragon Tiger Gate, a Hong Kong chopsockey flick starring Donnie Yen and some younger hotshots. The story, adapted from a popular comic book, is about various martial arts masters who team up and punch evil in the groin, or something. Either way, you probably won’t get to see it until you pick up the foreign DVD release, since the Weinsteins have stuffed it into their ample pocket.
I swear that sometimes I think the Weinsteins do this just to make Asian film fans bitch and moan about the shabby treatment, like they did with Shaolin Soccer and so many others. They’re also sitting on the rights to Tom Yum Goong and the Ong Bak sequel, not to mention Donnie Yen’s last solid hit Sha Po Lang, and probably dozens of others. Is it any wonder why we’re big fans of Tartan, who actually releases their Asian acquisitions?