2019 Blind Spot Series: Enter The Dragon
What I knew going in: That there would be excellent fighting scenes.
Growing up, I had family members in Karate, I would play Mortal Combat with friends on their Nintendos. I would watch movies like 3 Ninjas, Karate Kid and anything with Jackie Chan, but of course I didn't see a damn thing with the famed Bruce Lee. I'm not sure how that was possible. I even saw The Crow with his son but yet I had seen nothing but clips of Lee's work. Now here I am in my 30's trying to make up for that oversight.
Enter The Dragon is actually kind of a mess. It's not only about Lee (Bruce Lee), who plays a secret agent infiltrating a crime lord Han's ( Kien Shih) tournament. His henchmen are also responsible for the death of Lee's sister. But it also features two Americans, Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly) who are also there dealing with their own things.
It's a bit distracting, but I was drawn to Williams, not only because Kelly is insanely hot but he was escaping racist cops so I was immediately on his side..and he's the first to die of the bunch. It just had weird pacing and I found myself getting annoyed whenever Roper was on screen because I didn't care for him the way I did Lee and Williams. Lee's character weirdly gets treated like an afterthought at times despite this being his movie.
The martial arts however was fantastic and did not disappoint. Lee is a joy to watch. Over all, I was expecting this to be a bit faster pace but I still had a good time watching it. I think my expectations were just slightly too high.
Recommended: Yes
Grade: C+
Memorable Quote: "A board can't hit back." - Lee (Bruce Lee)
My husband loves martial arts movies and he's been trying to get me to watch a Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee flick with him for ages. I'll have to give in eventually but I might steer him away from this one!
ReplyDeleteIt's not terrible I just thought it would be way better since it's considered THE Bruce Lee film.
DeleteThis is to me, the definitive martial arts film. It's just got incredible action and fighting including the film's climax in the mirror. Jackie Chan is in this film as well as an extra who gets his ass kicked by Bruce Lee. Fists of Fury, The Big Boss, and Way of the Dragon along with the unfinished version of Game of Death are the ones starring Bruce Lee that I would totally recommend seeing. Just for the fighting alone.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that and had a good laugh. I'll definitely check those fight scenes out. First of Fury I've heard great things about.
DeleteBig Ballet Day's comin' out on DVD on the 27th
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I still really like Enter the Dragon but a case could be made that it hasn't aged well in some regards. Parts of it can be kinda funny to watch.
ReplyDeleteOh for sure, but I think kung fu movies in general area always kind of funny, so aging kind of adds to it.
DeleteI basically have to turn in my man card on this one, but if memory serves, I totally agree with you. The pacing is painfully slow, and at times, the flick is straight up boring. Lee is electric, though, and I would basically watch anything with him in it.
ReplyDeleteI once tried to show some of it to my son and he was like, uh, Dad, WTF is this?
I'm not sure how my son would take to this either. The extent of his kung fu knowledge is playing Mortal Kombat on the Super Nintendo. lol
DeleteJohn Saxon became a really good friend of Bruce Lee and often is interviewed about him. I have not seen this film and have no real desire to since this type of film never interested me
ReplyDeleteI read that about Saxon, Jim Kelly seems to have spoken highly of him too.
DeleteInteresting movie. I'm with you on the no Bruce Lee movies wagon, unfortunately. But I did see a lot of Jackie Chan movies growing up, my local TV station was a fan :)
ReplyDeleteI did too, he kind of got big in America when I was still in single digits so I was at the perfect age to like that sort of thing. Rush Hour was a big hit in my house.
DeleteI've seen this a thousand times since I was 4 years old, so I never had any issues with pace. When you know every line of a movie, it helps move it along. In other words, I love this movie. One of my all-time faves and is a showcase for Bruce. I will concede that Roper annoys the hell out of me, too.
ReplyDeleteThe reason Lee is treated like a supporting character is racism. It was the 70s, and studios fully believed they couldn't sell a movie without a white guy in the lead so they pushed him to the background and pushed Roper forward. They were also trying to capitalize on the blossoming Blaxploitation market, hence Williams. Now, here's where it gets really shady. Williams was supposed to live throughout the movie while Roper died. John Saxon, who really thought it was his movie, bitched, moaned, and played the white privilege card until it was changed to how it is in the finished film. I didn't find this out until recently so it doesn't stop my love for this movie. Sorry it didn't work quite as well for you.
Wow, what an absolute twat. I shouldn't be surprised by the racism but the way this movie is talked about now, I did not expect anyone other than Lee to have a main part in it. Bizarre marketing after the fact.
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