The problem with many Chinese swordplay epics is that they are spectacular to look at, but tend to be lightweight plot wise. One action set piece tends to follow after another with little time for character development. Hence I had a huge surprise watching the genre-bending Dragon, which has more similarities to films like A History of Violence and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films than say Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon.

Liu Jin Xi (Donnie Yen) is a paper mill worker and a devout family man. One day he appears to have blundering saved the life of the local shopkeeper and his wife from two gangsters seeking protection money. He is feted as a local hero.

However, when detective Xu Baijiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) arrives, all is not what it seems. He talks through what happens and runs through the crime scene with Jinxi. In one of the great scenes in the film, the audience is taken through the original crime but from a different perspective as Baijiu methodically walks through the scene. Is Jinxi secretly a martial arts expert? Throughout the rest of the film, we find out about Jinxi’s background and how he’s trying to escape from his troubled past.

Donnie Yen is surprisingly effective in the dramatic scenes, but of course he really excels during the action sequences, which he has also choreographed. The standout sequences are with two other Hong Kong veteran martial arts stars, Kara Hui and Jimmy Wang-Yu. Fighting a woman and a 70 years old patriarch never looked harder, whether it’s leaping from rooftops, fighting with buffalos or just battling Wang-Yu’s blade-resistant body. It’s nice to see a tribute to Wang-Yu’s most famous role as the one armed swordsman.

Takeshi Kaneshiro normally plays the dashing hero and is asked to play the nerdy detective here, coming across as convincing and believable. His lack of fighting prowess is more than made up for by his acute knowledge in acupuncture and human physiology.

Director Peter Chan made a name for himself in the 1990s making romantic comedies and dramas such as Comrades: Almost A Love Story. Subsequently the company he set up helped to make films like the Eye series. It’s only in recent years that he’s been involved with period martial arts film like The Warlords. This really helps to give a sometimes tired looking genre a new perspective. Chan has an eye for a great story and knows dramatic narrative is as important as endless glorious looking action scenes.

Martial arts aficionados might bemoan the increasing use of digital assistance in the genre. Whilst its use is obvious in this film, it’s never overpowering and surplus to the requirements of the storyline. It does, however, come across more as a Hollywood film than the Shaw Brothers martial arts film churned out of Hong Kong in the prime of their film industry. There’s no surprise one of the first names to come up in the credits is the name Harvey Weinstein.

Dragon is one of those rare breeds; a great martial arts epic with a cracking storyline. If you’ve never seen a martial arts film before, definitely give this a chance.

Released in UK cinemas on Friday 3 May 2013.