everything in year of the dragon be over the top represent direction and acting and writing and editing and score . michael cimino be not the master of subtlety . he like the little kid who start cry to get attention and not in order to get just one thing but start cry for attention for everything . practically every scene in this film be direct in such a way a if they be the climax represent a car crash be not just a car crash and it a spectacular ball fire explosion of a car crash while a funeral be not just a somber affair but something as revere a a funeral for the pope while a gunshot to the head be not just to kill the bad guy but to be as gory a a tom savini scene in any horror film while the character be not just people affect by the circumstance of the drama but be as extreme a those type in a jerry springer show while the unusual attention to detail be not because the film want to be true to life but because the film confuses such anal retentive attention to detail a validation for the unpleasant and over baked story it try to tell and and in turn and become almost a parody of itself ( rourke hair be the best example of this ) while the dialogue be not just dialogue if it as loud a a rus meyer script while so on and so forth . the direction be really at fault here . the director doesn not know when or where to stop with the ott stuff and just tell a story . because of this and the film weight be totally lopsided . for instance and it spend more time on the wife after her death than when she be alive . or we really do not feel the loss when she kill and yet the direction make it so that it like the most important thing in the entire film . have we know her a bit well maybe it would have work but because the film only show her bitching and screaming at rourke that her death do not seem that important to u . hence and the ott direction . there be a few good thing in the film . john lone give an amazing performance and when everyone else be scream their dialogue at the top of their lung . some scene be effective and like the chase scene between rourke and the two chinese girl ( it the best scene in the whole damn thing ) . but the film be a cleverly disguise mess . too many pointless scene that really add nothing to the story . too many uninspired scene and like the overlong moment when the chinese mobster talk endlessly about the virtue of be in the mob . for a film where every scene be over direct and the resolution to be remarkably disappointing because it so low key . it fall flat and really doesn not work at all . we go through all that trouble for such a lame resolution . the last scene and when rourke presence cause a riot and then he and arianne kiss and be so corny that it truly embarrass . i have see year of the dragon on numerous occasion and will probably watch it again in the future a i be fascinate by this mess . while watch it and i always try to understand what the director ( and writer ) think they be do . and i still can not figure it out even after see all these time and aside from leave a bitter aftertaste .