Dragon Tiger Gate is a 2006 martial arts action film starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse. It is based on the manhua Oriental Heroes.
It is the story primarily of two half-brothers, Dragon and Tiger, separated at a young age. The younger Tiger was raised at the titular dojo, whereas Dragon was adopted by a mob boss after his mother's death. Years later, the two of them come into conflict by chance. A third warrior, Turbo Shek, eventually joins the fight as well and they eventually band together to take on Shibumi and the Luocha Gang.
This film contains examples of:
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Pretty much everyone to some degree.
- Turbo Shek seems to play it straightest, but is eventually subverted by the fact that his arrogance is largely faked because he was tired of being bullied.
- Dragon is a much quieter example, more of a "Confident" Kung Fu Guy rather than "Arrogant"
- Shibumi plays it very straight.
- Bad Boss: Shibumi fatally wounds Luocha, presumably for failing to keep Dragon from interfering with the assassination of Ma Kun. As an added bit of cruelty, he gives her a medicine that can heal most any wound... and forces her to give it to the man whom she loves
- Batter Up!: Ma Kun's weapon in his sole fight. Justified since he was watching his daughter play softball and it was the only weapon on hand.
- Big Damn Heroes: Dragon comes in to save the day when Turbo and Tiger seem defeated in the Final Battle.
- Blood from the Mouth: Both Master Wong and Dragon have blood dripping from their mouth after being stabbed in the guts.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Dragon arrives too late to save Ma Kun
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience / Limited Wardrobe: For easy distinction, Dragon wears a blue shirt, Tiger wears a light brown leather jacket plus red shirt and Turbo sports silver hair.
- Crater Power: No wall is left unharmed during the Final Battle.
- Creator Cameo: Master Qi is played by the author of the original manhua.
- The Cameo: Chen Kuan-tai, veteran key player of Shaw Brothers, as Ma Kun.
- Death Is Dramatic: Slow motion sequence when Dragon (child) loses his mother in a fire.
- The Dragon: Dragon to Ma Kun until he leaves the gang.
- Extremity Extremist: Tiger with kicks, Dragon with punches.
- The Faceless: Shibumi is never seen unmasked.
- Flashback: Flashbacks to Tiger and Dragon's childhood give insight into their relationship.
- Flyaway Shot: The movie ends with a zoom-out upon the city skyline.
- Flunky Boss: Scaly throws mooks at his problem, then tries to go in for the kill when his opponent is weakened. Even that never works for him.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Turbo has one over his eye, he gives several explanations for it over the course of the movie.
- Instant Chucks: After being impressed by Turbo's skills, the children of the Gate improvise nunchucks out of slippers. Master Wong completely defeats Turbo with a pair of these, thus knocking Turbo down a peg.
- Is That the Best You Can Do?: "Is that all?" - Shibumi taunting Tiger and Turbo.
- It's being ironically echoed by Dragon when kicking Shibumi's ass a minute later.
- Kingpin in His Gym: Shibumi is seen outside his training area once during the movie.
- Live-Action Adaptation
- Meaningful Background Event: Scaly is seen lurking around the background of the softball stadium before Ma Kun gets attacked.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Master Wong gets to know this the hard way.
- Not Quite Dead: Dragon learns this the hard way when being stabbed by the not-so-dead baddie with the two daggers.
- Not Worth Killing: Shibumi doesn't bother killing Turbo or Tiger, and doesn't consider them worthy of dying by his fist. Master Wong, however...
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Dragon and Tiger each have half of a jade pendant. Naturally, it's how they recognize each other.
- Redemption Equals Death: For trying to leave the Luocha Gang, Shibumi has Ma Kun killed.
- Rugged Scar: Invoked by Turbo Shek. He has a scar on his face that he gave to himself in order to seem tougher and make others respect him.
- Rule of Three: Dragon, Tiger and Turbo.
- Sadistic Choice: Shibumi gives Luocha a medicine that can heal any wound, and tells her to give it to the man she loves... and then fatally wounds her as well, so she has to choose between healing Dragon, or herself. Of course, she chooses Dragon.
- The Starscream: Scaly tries turning on both Dragon and Ma Kun at different times, and gets beaten for it each time.
- Three-Point Landing: Dragon does this in the final battle
- Tiger Versus Dragon: Played with, but ultimately averted. Though they do fight multiple times in the movie and begin on opposite sides, Tiger and Dragon are ultimately very close and friendly.
- Took a Level in Badass: Turbo and Tiger after training with Master Qi, Dragon takes a less obvious one after being healed by Luocha.
- Worthy Opponent: Shibumi seeks out strong fighters. After Dragon defeats the Double Devils Shibumi considers him one. He also considers Master Wong enough of one to kill him after defeating him, while he spared Turbo and Tiger because they were Not Worth Killing.
