Enter The Dragon Review

 

        This is the second martial arts film that I have seen. The first one was back in 2006 in New Mexico of all places when I watched Jet Li’s Fearless. Enter the Dragon is considered the cream of the crop of martial arts movies. The definitive in terms that it actually was Bruce Lee’s final film before his passing. Nevertheless, I felt it’s appropriate to talk about this movie and just how influential it was going forward. SPOILERS will appear. 

1. Martial Arts Action

        The main highlight is the fight scenes. There’s no dispute about that, we watch the film for the fights and it delivers on that. Well, to make sure that there’s more to it than the fighting, it’s about Lee played by Bruce who’s invited by a special agent named Braithwaite. Who tells him that he’s investigating a crime lord named Han. The agent needs Lee to go to Han’s tournament to gather evidence to help Braithwaite put him away. 

        I feel that the mixture of genre such as spy and martial arts works well in the film. Since it’s not just seeing action being performed by Bruce Lee and John Saxon. If it’s just the action, it would be boring. Having Lee do more than just fighting shows that the whole tournament has a bigger purpose than what anyone might assume if they just tuned in. Also, the stakes is personal for Lee. Since his father explains to him that his sister was killed by Han’s men and it means more for Lee to find and stop Han from hurting more. 

        The action is pure, simple and to the point. Nowadays, you can’t have a fight scene without multiple cuts of different angles of the skirmish. The beauty in this film’s combat is that Bruce Lee was involved with the fight choreography. Which explains why the fight doesn’t go on for too long. His combat style is something to behold, it’s an art in and of itself. Interestingly, Jackie Chan makes an appearance. It’s a brief moment, but I think it was the unintentional passing of the torch between two men who knows martial arts. 

        Aside from Lee, the other supporting actors do their best and are competent for being fighters. We also follow Roper and Williams, played by real life martial artist Jim Kelly. It would’ve been lazy to have them just to have them. As competition for Lee to fight in Han’s tournament. In actuality, both Roper and Williams know each other and there’s a connection right there. We understand why exactly most of the fighters are being invited by Han, so that they can be in on his drug business. I must stress, having a reason, a believable one makes the action more interesting. 

2. Brucesploitation

        Before his passing, Bruce Lee was supposed to star and direct the film Game of Death. He unfortunately passed away from a brain injury. Director Robert Clouse was assigned to finish Game of Death, and it was bad. Having seen snippets of it, he crafted a story using the existing footage that was shot by Bruce Lee. 

        Additionally, with the rise of exploitation movies in the seventies. Meaning that a movie that tries to be successful by exploiting current film trends and that results into films just being bottom of the barrel garbage. Martial arts films were popping up left and right, such as film’s that were exploiting Bruce Lee by putting an actor who isn’t the actor but daringly putting on the poster that the film has Bruce Lee. Sometimes spelling his name varyingly such as Bruce Li, Bruce Lai, and so forth.

        The trend ended when Jackie Chan made a name for himself in Honk Kong action films. Films like Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow cemented Chan’s role as the new king of martial arts films. I will probably attest that more marital arts action stars such as Jet Li and Donnie Yen has expanded the genre to be an artform for the niche.  

 

3. Legacy

        Like most things, this film started a trend amongst various entertainment mediums. Marvel Comics decided to create a character who is like Bruce Lee called Shang Chi who’s an expert in martial arts. Might as well put it out there, he’s getting his own movie. Enter the Dragon has been referenced by various movies years after the fact. Like being referenced in one of The Pink Panther movies and some comedies. 

        I was not aware that it was an inspiration for manga creator Akira Toriyama to create the Dragon Ball series. Now thinking of it, Goku is like Bruce Lee who’s an absolute master of martial arts and fighting in general.  It was only a matter of time for video games to borrow some elements from the film. Arcade classics such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat places an emphasis on tournament and on silky smooth fighting. One last thing is that, since it has elements of espionage, it was the most successful spy film that wasn’t tied to James Bond. 

4. Overall 

        This film has done so much for various mediums. It’s the king of kung fu films that many movies that are released recently miss the point of what made this film so successful. Bruce Lee ultimately deserves to be a pop culture icon after the release. And it’s such a shame that it was his last film before his death. 

        Enter the Dragon gets a five out of five.