New Dragon Gate Inn (新龍門客棧), also known as Dragon Inn in North America, is a 1992 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by Raymond Lee and produced by Tsui Hark, starring Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung, and Donnie Yen. A remake of Dragon Gate Inn (1967), New Dragon Gate Inn was shot as a standard wuxia action thriller, with fast-paced action including martial arts, swordfighting and black comedy set in 15th-century China.
Both New Dragon Gate Inn and the original Dragon Gate Inn centre on the familiar wuxia motif of a corrupt Ming‑dynasty eunuch in power and a band of martial heroes striving to rescue the descendants of a loyal official. What distinguishes New Dragon Gate Inn is its incorporation of the innkeeper archetype Jin Xiangyu (金鑲玉), adapted from the proprietress Wan Jen-mi (萬人迷) in the 1973 wuxia film The Fate of Lee Khan. The remake weaves this character into the narrative and expands the story with a web of turbulent‑era passions, rivalries, and entanglements.
The film received a total of nine nominations across the 29th Golden Horse Awards and the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards, ultimately winning the prize for Best Action Choreography.
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Synopsis
The film is set in 15th-century China during the Ming dynasty. Cao Shaoqin, the powerful eunuch who controls the spy agency Eastern Depot, has gotten rid of his political rival Yang Yuxuan, the war minister. Yang's daughter, Yuying, has been sent into exile in a remote desert region in northwest China. Cao intends to use Yuying as bait to lure her father's loyal followers into a trap and eliminate all of them. Zhou Huai'an, one of Yang's former subordinates, has asked his lover, the swordswoman Qiu Moyan, to help him save Yuying and meet him at Dragon Gate Inn. Unknown to them, Cao has sent three of his best fighters to kill them.