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Review by
Calvin
McMillin: |
Before
Jackie Chan hit it big with Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
and Drunken Master, he starred in a string of kung
fu flops under the direction of Lo Wei. After working with
Bruce Lee in The Big Boss and Fist of Fury,
the prolific director sought to make Chan into a similar type
of action star. Of course, Chan wisely abandoned that philosophy
and went the kung-fu comedy route when he was loaned out to
Seasonal Films for a quick two-picture deal. Since Dragon
Fist was released the year after those previously mentioned
hits, Chan apparently had a few more films on his contract
with Lo Wei. Though by no means a classic of the genre, Dragon
Fist is much more than a typical chopsocky flick.
Chan stars as Tong How-Yuen,
a devoted disciple of nice guy sifu San-Thye. His master has
just won a hard-fought martial arts tournament only to end
up getting killed by a dastardly misfit named Chung Chien-Kuen
(Yang Yee-Kwan). Try as he might, Tong can't beat the guy,
and the evil king fu master leaves without so much as a scratch
on him. Now here's the moment that most kung fu flicks would
just go on autopilot. Naturally, the audience would watch
as Tong was forced to endure grueling training exercises with
a new sifu as he honed his martial arts skills to their true
potential. This, of course, would lead up to a final confrontation
with Master Chung, right?
The funny thing is, none of
that happens. Sure, Tong's skills improve considerably as
the film progresses, so he must have prepared for the big
showdown, but strangely, we don't see him experience a single
Rocky Balboa-style training sequence. Furthermore, the villain
ends up suffering a tragedy of his own, which causes the poor
guy to atone for his sins in a way that most rational people
wouldn't even begin to understand. And in another departure
from traditional Jackie Chan fare, even Jackie's character
ends up flirting with the dark side as his thirst for revenge
temporarily gets him mixed up with some lowdown, dirty scoundrels.
Of course, all is worked out by the finale, but the film's
attempt to bend the conventions of the average chopsocky film
is certainly admirable, and most definitely a welcome change
of pace.
However, despite Jackie Chan
carving his own comedic niche with Snake in the Eagle's
Shadow and Drunken Master, the specter of Bruce
Lee still surrounds the film. The presence of frequent Bruce
Lee co-stars Nora Miao and James Tien serve as unintentional
reminders of the martial legend as are the Jackie Chan-coordinated
fight scenes. The brutal efficiency of the battles are straight
from the Little Dragon's repertoire as is the trademark exaggerated
yell, which Chan conjures up for a few of the fight sequences.
To his credit, the fights do contain traces of humor, but
these hijinks are relegated to the reactions of Jackie Chan's
combatants rather than the clown prince of kung fu himself.
Still, the intricacy of the choreography exudes that undeniable
old school charm. Ultimately, Dragon Fist may not feature
Jackie Chan at his very best, but he's pretty darn good in
what could have been a totally uninspired film. (Calvin McMillin 2003) |
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