Dragon Lord (1982)

Wow! Such a good movie.

To me, this movie is perfection.

Thanks for the memories!

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Work-shy student Dragon (Chan) and his madcap pal Cowboy (Mars) spend their days getting up to mischief, frustrating the elders, chasing girls, and competing in the village sport - in which contestants scramble to the top of a tall wooden pyramid, the "bun tower", to retrieve a golden ball, rugby-fashion. When Dragon overhears a fiendish plot by smugglers to sell China's national treasures overseas, the pair leap into action. Also, Cowboy's wealthy father is kidnapped by the villainous and lethal Big Boss (In-Sik), and the scene is set for a furious martial arts showdown.An attempt to claw back some native credibility after his first US outing The Big Brawl (1980) flopped Stateside, Dragon Lord saw Chan returning to Taiwan to work on a sequel to his directorial debut Young Master (also 1980). It would be ultimately abandoned - along with months of wasted footage - for a confused, if enjoyable affair, with no real script.Accordingly, Dragon Lord also crashed and burned at Hong Kong theatres, much to the director's chagrin, who'd attempted to "make a new kind of action picture". As Chan told 'Combat' magazine years later: "I got rid of the kung fu and tried to put in sports, but I found that the audience didn't want that." But if Dragon Lord almost shot down Chan's rising star there and then, it did set a template for successive hits; tightly-choreographed acrobatics taking precedence over traditional Shaolin combat-styles; outtakes featuring aborted stunts over the credits; a winning goofy charm.Stand-out sequences include a Badminton-like game played with shuttlecocks (but no bats), and the climactic fight between Mars, Chan and real-life Taekwondo master In-Sik, which is both simultaneously deadly and near-clownish (if this film had an overall sound it would be "Boiinngg!", or possibly "Kuhumperwhumpf!").

His father wishes that Young Dragon would be a great student and attend to his classes, but Dragon himself is full of youth and is just as interested in fighting and chasing girls. Full of arrogance and confident in his own knowledge, Dragon continues down this path until he finds that he has stumbled onto a plot to steal Chinese artefacts.Everyone has said it before me but I will add my voice to those here that believe, for the vast majority, this is a very poor Jackie Chan film which sort of redeems itself towards the end. This surprised me because I have been watching a few early Chan movies recently and, for all their faults boring is never a word that I have had occasion to use – until now. It is probably because the plot is so weak for the entire film – even by the standards set by martial arts films of the period. For the first two-thirds of the film what we get is light comedy and some sports action involving a game where you chase an egg and also a cross between football and badminton. These are interesting ideas I'm sure but they do not come off in practice, with even the impressive moves in these sequences being lost in a sea of banality. The usual bed of comedy that can normally be relied upon in Chan films is also much weaker than normal, with basic pratfalls and little in the way of witty dialogue.A lot of this comes from the writing but reaction shots are also weak – not down to the cast being unable to deliver but rather Chan the director not catching them. It is hard to describe but, if you wrote a list of the things that normally work in a Jackie Chan film – pretty much none of those come off here. Fortunately we do have a very strong final twenty minutes and I credit any roundly positive review with only having remembered this part of the film. It is here that finally we get a decent fight scene and it turns out to be a really good one where everything fires on all cylinders. Firstly it is shot really well and I mention that first because of the barn location making it difficult to get a good shot, but here we get good use of angles and long static shots to show that the action was not created in the edit room but on the set. It is also tough and really well choreographed with plenty of impressive and engaging moves all well pulled together. It is literally the reward for making it through the previous 70-odd minutes to get to this sequence.So Dragon Lord as a total product deserves to be remembered as pretty poor film. The plot is weak, the comedy basic and the total delivery leaves much to be desired. Thanks goodness then for the final fight that does wash the taste out of your mouth by how much fun it all is in a generally excellent final 20 minutes that makes you wonder where this Chan was for the rest of it.

This is an above average Jackie Chan flick, due to the fantastic finale and great humor, however other then that it's nothing special. All the characters are pretty cool, and the film is entertaining throughout, plus Jackie Chan is simply amazing in this!. Jackie and Wai-Man Chan had fantastic chemistry together, and are both very funny!, and i thought the main opponent looked really menacing!, however the dubbing was simply terrible!. The character development is above average for this sort of thing!, and the main fight is simply fantastic!, plus some of the bumps Jackie takes in this one are harsh!. There is a lot of really silly and goofy humor in this, but it amused me, and the ending is hilarious!, plus all the characters are quite likable. It's pretty cheap looking but generally very well made, and while it does not have the amount of fighting you would expect from a Jackie Chan flick, it does enough to keep you watching, plus one of my favorite moments in this film is when Jackie (Dragon) and Wai-Man Chan(Tiger), are playing around with a rifle and it goes off!. This is an above average Jackie Chan flick, due to the fantastic finale, and great humor, however other then that it's nothing great, still it's well worth the watch!. The Direction is good. Jackie Chan does a good job here with solid camera work, fantastic angles and keeping the film at a fast pace for the most part. The Acting is very good!. Jackie Chan is amazing as always, and is amazing here, he is extremely likable, hilarious, as usual does some crazy stunts, had fantastic chemistry with Wai-Man Chan, kicked that ass, and played this wonderful cocky character, he was amazing!, i just wished they would stop dubbing him!. (Jackie Rules!!!!!). Wai-Man Chan is funny as Jackie's best friend, i really liked him, he is also a very good martial artist. Rest of the cast do OK i guess. Overall well worth the watch!. *** out of 5

`Dragon Lord' is more of a comedy than a martial arts movie. There are a few action sequences in the movie - a strange ball tournament at the beginning, a scuffle between Jackie and his friend over a girl, an interesting shuttlecock game in the middle of the movie - but there are really only two fight sequences in the movie, both near the end. Despite this, the movie's great. It's never dull. There are some funny moments, and the final fight scene between Jackie and the baddie is awesome. Definitely worth seeing over `Shanghai Noon' or `Rush Hour'.