Its that time where I get back on the keyboard and compose another review, so this one is a classic action film from the 70s, Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee, and with that let's have a look.....
So starting with the usual plot stuff, the film begins with martial artist Lee (Bruce Lee of course) who is based in Hong Kong at the Shaolin temple, is approached by Mr Braithwaite (Geoffrey Weeks) a member of British intelligence. Braithwaite tells Lee about a tournament that is coming up that is run by a man named Han (Shih Kien) and that Han is rumoured to be involved in drug trafficking and prostitution, Han himself was a former Shaolin student. Braithwaite asks that Lee attend the tournament undercover in order to try and gain evidence of Han's illegal activities, which Lee agrees to. However before Lee goes, his teacher tells him that Han's bodyguard O'Hara (Bob Wall) was involved in the death of his sister Su Lin (Angela Mao). Lee decides to go to the island intent on taking revenge for his sister's death.
At the island Lee meets up with other martial artists who have been invited which includes Roper (John Saxon) a playboy gambler, and Williams (Jim Kelly) an African American who is on the run after assaulting two white racist policemen, both of whom are good friends and get a scam going on taking bets on their fights. Lee at the island finds a Chinese girl Mei Ling (Betty Chung) who is an undercover agent sent by Braithwaite, although Mei tells Lee that she has been unable to leave the island due to Han's strict observation. Later that night Lee starts to investigate around the island and finds a passage that takes him to an underground base where drugs are being manufactured and tested on prisoners. Lee however runs into some guards but he takes them down with ease.
The next day however Han has the guards that Lee incapacitated, killed by his sadistic chief bodyguard, Bolo (Bolo Yeung). Lee takes on O'Hara in his first tournament match, who Lee totally outclasses, and O'Hara out of anger tries to attack Lee with some smashed wine bottles, but Lee kills O'Hara by snapping his neck. After the matches have been played, Han asks to see Williams (as Williams was seen outside at night as well, although he was out just for some fresh air) and asks him who else was outside with him. Williams angrily refuses to tell him and say he wishes to leave the island, at that point Han's henchmen arrive, who Williams takes down with ease, but then Han and Williams engage in hand to hand combat, and Han ends up gaining the upper hand and results in beating Williams to death with his iron prosthetic hand. Later that night Lee makes a second attempt to go down to the underground base where he investigates and finds further evidence and he sends a message to Braithwaite, but an alarm is set off, where Lee fights off many of Han's guards, after this he is lured into a trap and captured. After this Lee has to face the consequences of his actions as he must try and find a way to take Han down and escape the island.
There is no doubt that Enter the dragon was not only Bruce Lee's last film, but it was also his best, and it was a great pity that his untimely death, at the age of 32 (having suffered a cerebral edema on 20 July 1973), occurred just shortly before the film was released on 26 July, which would have propelled him into worldwide stardom. The film also naturally features some terrific fight sequences and Lee's fitness and flexibility are just incredible (although Lee did use a stunt double for some of the sequences, such as the backflip he uses on O'Hara). Lee also partially directed a sequence of the film, namely the opening sequence at the Shaolin temple and took a big hand in the writing of the story and the script. The film also featured several real life martial artists such as Bob Wall, who played O'Hara, Jim Kelly who played the cocky Williams, and Bolo Yeung who was the sadistic muscle bound Bolo. Enter the dragon also features an early onscreen appearance from Jackie Chan who also performed various stunts in the film, and is one of Lee's victims as he has his neck snapped by Lee in the fight scene with the guards in the underground base.
Performance wise Enter the dragon isn't really about top class acting, its more about the action, and you could say that the acting takes a bit of a back seat to that. But despite that there is no question that this is Bruce Lee's film, and while he wasn't a great actor, he was a great film star, and he presence and charisma are really strong throughout the film. Lee has various highlights in the film especially in his action sequences where he fights off Han's guards in the underground base, probably being the main one. Lee also get's some good lines of dialogue, such as when Lee teaches a lesson to one of his young students, Lao, at the start of the film, and he Lao performs a move, which Lee says to him "Yes! How did that feel to you?" and Lao replies "Let me think..." and Lee smacks him on the head and says "don't think think! Feel! It is like a finger pointing away to the moon!" and Lao looks at Lee's finger, who smacks him on the head again "don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory!". Also later on when he is about to fight against O'Hara who takes a wooden board and chops it in half, to which Lee says "boards don't hit back!". Although amusingly in this scene Lee, who previously instructed Lao to never take his eyes off his opponent even when you bow to them, didn't heed his own advice as he took his eyes off O'Hara when he bowed to him!
The supporting performances are not bad at all either, and John Saxon is pretty good as the American playboy, Roper, and he has quite a few amusing moments in the film, one such scene is where he has a liaison with Tania (Anna Caphri) one of Han's ladies, and Tania gives him a massage in bed and he says "boy am I finding out about myself!". Roper also has a good scene with Han just before he shows him around his underground base, he asks him to place his head on a guillotine as an act of faith, but he refuses, and instead Han places his cat on it, which Roper takes off, and Han pulls a chain which reveals the guillotine to be a lift the takes the down, and Roper replies "faked out, again!". Saxon's fight sequence as Roper against Bolo is also really good as they start off fighting martial arts style but then Roper outdoes Bolo with some fist fighting (although given Bolo's big physical frame it seems unlikely that Roper would defeat him!).
Jim Kelly is also pretty good in his role as Williams, the cocky American martial artist, and he has a few good scenes, the main probably is his last where he confronts Han in his office and he says "Mr Han, suddenly I would like to leave your island!" and Han replies "that is not possible" and Williams says that infamous line "bullshit Mr Han, man!!". Williams is certainly the most vain character in the film as Han asks how will he deal with defeat when it comes and he replies "I don't waste my time with it, because I'll be too busy looking good!" (which is ironic because he doesn't in the end). And finally Shih Kien is excellent in his role as the villainous Han, although it is not his own voice that appears on the soundtrack, but it was in fact the voice of Keye Luke, who played Kato in the original Green Hornet films and later on played Mr Wing in the two Gremlins films among many other roles.
Direction wise Robert Clouse does a fine job with the Enter the dragon, although his job is primarily a perfunctory one in which he keeps the action and the flow of the film going more than anything else. But as a final note it has to be said that one of the film's most notable features is of course its music score by Lalo Schifrin which is excellent and it mixes both funky and traditional musical themes, that fit the films Asian and American styles nicely.
So that's it for my look at Enter the dragon, which remains one of the most popular and entertaining martial arts films of modern cinema and it was a fine swansong for the incredible talent that Bruce Lee had as a martial arts practitioner and a film star.
And with that I will leave ya there, wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
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