Enter The Dragon (1973) Movie Review

The most mainstream and respected of the multitude of Kung Fu flicks, Enter the Dragon shoulders this burden ably in a kinetic blur of flesh and blood. Tucked away in the colony of Hong Kong, Lee (Bruce Lee) trains hard and teaches in a school of the martial arts. Competing in tournaments is a regular occurrence and the invitation from a certain Mr. Han (Shih Kien) is no exception. However, that all changes when Braithwaite (Geoffrey Weeks), an agent of the British government, drops by to chat with Lee. It seems that Han likes to mix his martial arts with a dash of drug smuggling, arms running and prostitution. Not surprisingly, Braithwaite would dearly love to dispose of Han and his private little island, if only he had some solid proof. This is, of course, where Lee comes in, a one-man expeditionary force.

Luckily the forces of good have already managed to place an operative on the island, though nothing has been heard from Mei Ling (Betty Chung) for many months. While Lee contemplates what could be a suicide mission, a few of the other international fighters arrive. Fresh from the States, Roper (John Saxon) is running from mounting gambling debts while Williams (Jim Kelly) has had his fill of racist police officers. Meeting these old acquaintances isn't what makes up Lee's mind though; the crucial factor is that Han's bodyguard Oharra (Bob Wall), a sadistic bully, directly caused the tragic death of Lee's sister. Now while revenge fails to play a part in Lee's philosophy, the opportunity to make amends is just too tempting to refuse.

Taken at face value, Enter the Dragon is just another Kung Fu picture with a postcard plot and hordes of bad guys who fall over rather easily. What rescues the film from this badly dubbed hell is the inclusion of Bruce Lee. Currently revered as something approaching a god, the roots of this popular passion are blindingly apparent even in a vehicle such as this. Over and above his extraordinary physical ability, Lee has an electrifying screen presence, a charisma that blazes from the screen. It's hard to pin down exactly what elusive quality gives him this edge but to see Lee in action is similar to appreciating modern art; you know what you like when you see it but trying to explain the gut feeling to anyone else is usually doomed to failure.

Arrayed against Lee is army of highly trained warriors (including a youthful Jackie Chan), all of whom fold as easily as any other cinematic minion in the service of evil. Standing out from the crowd, muscular Bolo (Yang Tse) eats ordinary martial artists for breakfast while Oharra reveals himself to be just as dirty a fighter as his jagged facial scar would suggest. None of these prove much of a challenge for Lee though, when backed up by jive-talking Williams and decent but unspectacular Roper. However, where they're not fighting, both of these second echelon good-guys get lumbered with risible dialogue and clothes that were anachronistic the moment they came off the production line. It's only by chance that these elements don't scupper Enter the Dragon entirely. Fortunately there's so little to the script that such throwbacks don't jar too often.

Most of the time Enter the Dragon rushes along from one action sequence to the next, all choreographed by Lee and designed to harness his prodigious talent. Accompanied by some brutal sound effects, violence is raised to the level of an art form (aided by the almost total lack of gore), allowing one to overlook other glaring deficiencies in the movie. However, what's really surprising is that Lee makes you want to take up martial arts immediately; even if you've never executed a leg kick before, he makes it look so elegant and easy that it just seems like the thing to do. This euphoric feeling tends to fade after the film has concluded but during the time that Lee has you under his spell, Wing Chun is all that matters. This is the miracle of cinema and star quality all wrapped up as one.

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