The Last Dragon (1985)

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Another bucket list movie which I never watched when it first came out. Coming from the mind of Berry Gordy & director Michael Schultz (Car Wash/Cooley High) this camp tale of a Bruce Lee wannabe (hell his name is Bruce Leroy) is on a mission to find out what his purpose in life is whilst fighting bad guys & protecting a video vixen (the late, great Vanity). It's hard to take this film seriously when it screams camp from the first reel but hey people really love this film. Look out for Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy from the Cosby Show), Chazz Palminteri & William H. Macy (billed as W.H. Macy) all in early roles. Taimak where are you?

The Last Dragon is just embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for the actors who are part of it, I'm embarrassed for the filmmakers who created it and I'm embarrassed that I watched it. Yes, it's very mockable, but it's also very painful to endure. I don't know if this movie is intentionally trying to be campy or terrible, but it's one I'll probably never watch again.

A super-cheesy US fight flick which has an unserious comic book-style atmosphere to it, along the lines of BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA or THE GOLDEN CHILD maybe, but with less fantasy. Watching this film is one huge dated experience, as every second is filled with bad '80s music, bad '80s fashions and some really REALLY cheesy bad guys dressed in ski masks. In fact I am halfway convinced that they went out of their way to make this film as cheesy as possible. Whatever the reasons, I didn't enjoy this film too much, due to the fact that there are far too many extraneous characters in the plot, too much comedy and not enough violence, far too much sitting around and talking in place of action, and far too long a running time to retain the interest. I counted only two martial arts fights in the entire movie until the finale, when predictably everything goes into overload, and the bits in between are pretty much boring. The film doesn't know whether it wants to be a blaxploitation movie, a comedy or a thriller and the different plot elements just do not gel.The acting is weak from an unmemorable cast, aside from a tiny role for William H. Macy if you keep your eyes peeled. Taimak is muscular but seems vain in the leading role and the bad guys are just bad over actors all the while. On the plus side, there are lots and lots of clips from different Bruce Lee movies to enjoy and some fairly decent fighting at the end of the film, although I could have done with less of the Chinese kid who just appears and starts kicking backside all the while. The final fight in the film is truly bizarre, as the two fighters suddenly start giving off different coloured auras and zapping each other with some of those cheesy computer effects I hate. Why the film becomes an out-and-out fantasy with superhuman fighters at this point I just do not know, as the scene is at odds with the realism of the rest of the movie and just doesn't make sense.

Welcome to the 1980s. The 7th Heaven for the adolescent's ingenuous dreams. Some hate the 1980s; maybe because it has nothing to do with them nostalgically, or because the lost relationship between them and the *dreamer adolescent* inside them. For me, dancing with the 1980s is forever my hobby, my fun. Whatever the "date" is, I must enjoy something. Always romantic or meaningful. Its fever is still sweet and electrifying. This time, you may feel that the dancing floor has a beauty queen. Beautiful ? For sure, queen ? Not that sure ! This time, (The Karate Kid) meets the very noisy kids from (The Goonies), meets the honorable MTV ! Actually, the case wasn't that bad at all. You have some charismatic young martial arts fighter, some real dashing girl with charming, too sexy, presence; look at her eyes and her smile.. Pure magic (Taimak, Vanity.. Where are both of them now ?!), some shadows of comedy and action. Plus the fantasy factor. The formula looks nice, it has elements of a world I love. But OH MY GOD, some movies aren't meant to be made !The 1980s was overweight with too many fantasy adventures. For instance, at the same year of 1985 there were : (Red Sonja), (The Black Cauldron), (Ladyhawke), and (Legend). Though (The Last Dragon) didn't even have the opportunity to challenge them or else. But at least it's not the negative version of many innocent dreams that filled the era. It's like a rapid reverie among them.It was the right ambition in the wrong hands, or in the wrong way. While trying to achieve the ambition of one fantasy / musical / romance / comedy / action movie; serious hastiness seriously interrupted, to end up with a campy version of that ambition instead. It's the quick little of everything; knowing that it was so poor as well. In fact, the low budget transformed it into cheap comic-book.Let alone, few provocative elements : The storyline of the bad singer, the idiot characterization of the evil man, the savage presence of that 11 years kid who was screaming so faithfully and unbearably too "Take your hands off my woman" !! To tell you the truth, I hoped that the evil man cooks him and eats him fast enough ! I hated his acting, his role, or even his existence in life. Basically the role must have been for OLDER boy, but if we just bring up the subject of what was necessary to be here and wasn't, I think I'll exceed the limited space of reviewing movies on the IMDb ! Sorrowfully, the final result was bizarre mix of modern fairytale which has gone destitute, and one musical which has been miscarried.Still some moments, or echoes from the original ambition, are available. On the top of course is the great "First Time on a Ferris Wheel" by Smokey Robinson and Syreeta at the finale. Look at the way it's done with pausing the frame and all, WAW it's the best end for a movie I didn't watch. All in all, this dancing was modest. But despite being not one of the 1980s' best performances, it has some of its loveliest ambitions. So look at the remnants : the atmosphere, the soundtrack, Taimak, Vanity, the nostalgia,… Well, still a beauty, like a possible runner-up. And still at heart, as an adolescent dream, yet done adolescently too.I'm nearly whispering : Enjoy it.