The Way of the Dragon (1972)

There's a good chance the film will make you laugh out loud, but if it doesn't, there's an even better chance it will make you openly sob.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Now, you won't go to a Bruce Lee movie expecting the best dialogue ever or a plot full of nuances, but something more than what "The Way of the Dragon" has to offer would be welcomed.The story is simple, and a typical in martial arts movies ("Rumble in the Bronx", for example, comes to mind): Tang Lung is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help the Chinese there from some very bad people. Cue Tang Lung being very cool, looking very cool and fighting very coolly while all the enemies throw themselves in front of his fists and kicks.And then there is some Chuck Norris...The story is simple, but that shouldn't be a problem with good pace, fights and acceptable acting. The first isn't great, with a too long first part where Tang Lung scares children, looks derisively on Rome's touristic places and just talks a lot about how good kung fu is (better than karate, we get it). The pace gets better as it goes along, and the last fight is great in choreography, use of location and camera- work, very smartly directed. However, the fight per se is more technical than flashy, and it could have done with a little bit more sass. The acting is... well, it can be watched, let's say.On top of that, the movie has some other questionable points: it is not only that karate isn't good enough for kung fu (or jeet kune do); it is also overly patriotic, with lots of comments about how cool Chinese are (or their relics, or fighting styles...; that others do the same do not justify that reek of cheap nationalism). There are also the typical moments of awestruck woman falling in love with the violent and strong man.Maybe fans of the genre will enjoy it, but the movie, even if it has some good points, lacks and can't overcome its shortcomings.

Made in Lee's native Hong Kong in the year before the peak of his popularity with the release of ENTER THE DRAGON, WAY OF THE DRAGON is a film which demands to be seen in its original subtitled version, because the Cantonese/English language barrier is a basis for much of the film's comedy. The English dubbed version therefore makes a number of comic interludes appear bizarre and confusing! This isn't Lee's best movie but it's a lot better than many other kung fu flicks thanks to his legendary fighting skills. A lot of people are put off by this film's first half hour, which contains no action and instead is more of an introduction to the characters, with a heavy emphasis on the silly/knockabout comedy that fills a lot of Jackie Chan's early movies (such comedy was highly popular at the time in Hong Kong, thus its inclusion here). All I can say in response is "please wait!". Half an hour isn't a long time to wait and the action is well worth the minor delay beforehand.The film showcases a Lee once again in his prime, this time taking a lighthearted and funny role. A lot of the humour comes from "fish out of water" jokes as Lee explores an alien city (Rome) and fails to understand what everyone sees in the Roman ruins, which he compares to Chinese slums! The humour makes this an easy and painless watch. When the story kicks in, its very simple stuff, i.e. good restaurant guys vs. bad corporation, but then it doesn't need to be complex as its only purpose is to give reason for the action scenes.From the first fight with a gang of thugs in a back alley to the rightly legendary battle with between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in the Colosseum, WAY OF THE DRAGON offers up tons of fine martial arts fighting and even some fantastic nunchucks action which was cut out of the British version up until now. The sequences in which Lee takes on a huge gang of armed bad guys alone are fluid and exciting, but even these themselves are topped by the finale, in which he faces three skilled martial arts champions! The first two are pretty easy going but the final battle with Norris is hard and brutal stuff, and ends on a poignant and moving note. Lee is excellent as the likable lead, getting ample opportunity to strut his stuff in style (I had to rewind the scene in which he kicks out a light on the ceiling ABOVE him in one quick move to make sure I wasn't seeing things!) and the supporting cast of memorably off-beat characters fit their parts well - although I'm not too sure about the overtly homosexual translator guy who is a little too much to take! The fresh-faced appearance of Norris is a revelation too, with a real screen presence being built up for his character to fill. WAY OF THE DRAGON is an example of the kung fu genre at its wackiest best and is a must-see for Bruce Lee fans.

Tang Lung (Bruce) is a Chinese native and something of a wide-eyed innocent when he comes to the big European city of Rome to help his relatives, who run a restaurant in the Eternal City. But a big problem arises when gangsters declare that they want the restaurant and the property it's on for themselves. Initially Lung's family are helpless and confused about what to do next, then they find out that Lung is a Kung Fu master. Lung staves off the gangsters by fighting wave after wave of thugs and baddies sent by the higher-ups in the nefarious syndicate. For a while, the restaurant seems secure. But then the bad guys bring out the big guns by calling in Colt (Chuck), an American Martial Arts master who flies to Rome with the sole reason of defeating Lung in a fight. The climax of the movie sees the two titans have it out in the legendary Colosseum. Who will emerge victorious? The Way of the Dragon (or Return of the Dragon, as it was marketed after the success of Enter the Dragon), was a Golden Harvest production written and directed by Bruce Lee, and he also co-produced, starred in, and of course was credited as Action Director and Martial Arts Instructor on the film. Bruce's talent was immense and seemed to be growing at this point in his career; unfortunately for the world, he passed away the next year after the release of this film. Of course, this led to many producers trying to fill the void left by the legend and his huge popularity, leading to such names as Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and our personal favorite, Bruce Rhee. Just to name a few. But for our purposes here at Comeuppance, it was nice to actually see a BRUCE LEE film, as opposed to some of the movies that appeared in his wake. It puts things into perspective when you can go back and see the originator, instead of one of the imitators.Don't get us wrong, many of the movies featuring the "imitators" are fun in their own right and certainly have their charms, but there's nothing like an actual Bruce Lee film, and, sadly, there aren't that many of them to choose from. Here, though, starting from the cool, Spaghetti Western-style animated opening titles sequence, we go into a very 70's world: big cars, big collars, pea soup-colored home decor, and of course Bruce Lee was still alive. Maybe someday we'll be able to go back to the 70's. Of course, it was also a time when a young Chuck Norris, sans facial hair (but with plenty of hair everywhere else, as Bruce humorously points out during their fight scene), was just coming on the movie scene. Chuck doesn't appear until about an hour into the movie, as he's the baddies' "secret weapon" brought in to bring Bruce down, but, like Slaughter in San Francisco (1974), Chuck plays a villain with limited screen time. He had yet to establish himself as a hero, and of course when he comes up against Bruce Lee, the fur's gonna fly! The movie does get off to something of a slow start, and the pacing is kind of odd, especially by today's standards, but really there's no shortage of Bruce action. It was a time when terms like "Kung Fu" and "Nunchucks" were brand new in the American (and the non-Asian world's?) lexicon, so that was interesting to see. The dubbing is...unfortunate, but typical for productions of this time and place. That's how it is on the Inter-Vid VHS, and it's unlikely to be any better on many of this movie's other releases. A widescreen, subtitled, remastered DVD would be awesome, but it's probably an impossibility, because of the way the movie was shot. The only other real complaint we have is that it's kind of repetitive, plot-wise, but that's a minor quibble, we're just grateful this film exists in the first place. It would be fascinating to think what Bruce would be doing if he was around today.There's a really good chance he'd be making DTV movies with the action stars of our day like Scott Adkins and Gary Daniels, among others. Or perhaps he'd be making movies in Hong Kong with Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Or maybe both, there's no way of knowing. But Return of the Dragon remains an important part of the Bruce legacy.

Bruce Lee's filmography was short. A short role in "Marlowe", three Cantonese action flicks and one Hollywood venture with the near perfect "Enter the Dragon"*. "Way of the Dragon" was Bruce's only self directed work and while he'd started work on "Game of Death" he never got to finish it. His two other Cantonese films; "Fist of Fury" and "The Big Boss" were directed by Chinese pro Wei Lo who succeeded in bringing out Bruce's best when it came to his acting and, wisely, let Bruce loose when it came to choreographing the stunning fight scenes he's most known for. Although "The Big Boss" isn't very good, "Fist of Fury" is and it probably showcases best Bruce's acting and unbelievable martial arts skills. With "Way of the Dragon" Bruce wanted director's choirs and, sadly, he doesn't fare well. Taking obvious cues from Wei Lo but also influenced by American and Italian film making (my guess; Sergio Leone was a favorite of his); "Way of the Dragon" works best when simply focusing on breathtaking action and not the central story of a Chinese relative helping his kin keeping a restaurant safe from mafia enforcers. Bruce clumsily injects far too many scenes with silly and badly staged humorous sequences*. The location photographers went a little too nuts with Roman locals and the film practically slows to a halt midway through as Bruce and girl spend a day walking around the city. What drama there is is amateurishly handled and for too much over the top acting is let loose. The atrocious dubbing is among the worst I've seen and it doesn't help matters either. But the action scenes are simply sensational and ensure the film as a classic Bruce Lee flick. The one on one with Chuck Norris is legendary, the double nunchaku fight is intense and overall when it comes to fight scenes the film is impeccable. There's even a very surprising twist near the end that I didn't see coming and the dramatic ending is quite well played out. One must keep in mind how difficult and ambitious a project this was for Bruce. Only allowed to spend a limited time in Italy and with a crew that had a two week limit; it's maybe not so surprising that many of the location shoots turned out the way they did. It was a big thing for a Chinese film to be shot in Europe and there's a funny story involving the shooting in the Coliseum (extremely illegal and fast feet were required). Bruce's intentions were to bring Chinese films up to the level of American films and this was his debut feature. Taken as such; it's not at all bad. Bruce definitely would have polished his directorial skills and honed his craft even more. So we'll never know what he could have delivered but if the 40 minutes or so of footage he completed for "Game of Death" is anything to go by it would have been something special. As it stands; "Way of the Dragon" is a wholly uneven mixture of exceptional fight scenes coupled with a very rough mix of silly humor and amateurish drama (for the most part). *In the filmography listings above I left out his television credentials which of course included "The Green Hornet", "Batman", "Longstreet" and others along with many bit parts in Chinese films. *I must admit that one scene; where an opponent of Bruce gets hold of one his nunchaku's and accidentally knocks himself out is simply hilarious. I rewinded at least three times*