Starring:
Jackie Chan as Dragon
Mars as Cowboy
Wai-Man Chan as Tiger
Hong-Yip Cheng as Ah Dee
Chang Chung as Cowboy’s Father
Tai Do as Ah Dum
Fung Feng as The Referee
Hark-On Fung as The Killer King
Kam-Kwong Ho as The Commentator
Young Moon Kwan as The Hatchetman
Yuen-Yee Ny as The Matchmaker
Feng Tien as Dragon’s Father
Ing-Sik Whang as The Big Boss
Sidney Yim as Alice
Special Features:
None
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.35:1) Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
French and Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Synopsis:
This is a vintage Jackie Chan film from 1982. He co-wrote and directed this film.
Dragon and Cowboy are two young men living in old China. The two are best friends and are from rich families. They spend their days playing sports, avoiding studies, and generally goofing off. Things change, though, when they both fall for the same girl. Now rivals, they fight for her affection. But when they run across a smuggling ring stealing artifacts from tombs, the two must join forces to save the day.
Dragon Lord is rated PG-13 for martial arts violence.
The Movie:
I’m a fan of Jackie Chan, but I’ve found that I enjoy his later movies more than his earlier ones. I like his outrageous stunts and fight scenes in Rumble In The Bronx and Supercop more than I do the ones in Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and his other films from the early 80’s and late 70’s. When I got Dragon Lord, I knew I had a 50 / 50 chance of liking it. Fortunately, this movie appears to be some of his better early work. It combines the comedy, spectacular fight scenes, daring stunts, and total lack of coherent plot that he is typically known for.
There are a couple of really cool fight scenes in this movie. There’s the obligatory fight scene at the end where he battles the bad guy. It takes place in a barn and Jackie fights with ladders, bags of grain, and lots of kicks. Then there’s another scene on a roof where the bad guys try to skewer him through the shingles with spears. But this film is really unique because it features Jackie in a couple of sports. The opening scene of the film features Jackie and his team playing some sport similar to Australian Football. Four teams start out by climbing a tower to try and get a ball, then they try to get it back to their base and into a bag. Along the way there’s a lot of jumping, dog piling, and tackling. It’s quite impressive. Then there’s another game later in the film that’s a combination of hackey sack and soccer. It’s pretty cool to see Jackie and his teammates kick the sack back and forth and into the goals. (OK, you’re just going to have to see it to appreciate it.)
Like most of Chan’s movies, the plot makes very little, if any sense. It jumps here and there randomly and seems like it has no other purpose than to string the action sequences together. That being said, though, it does have its funny moments. In one scene Dragon is quizzed by his father about what he learned from his tutor. Dragon then sneaks peeks from cheat sheets that he has hidden all over the house. At another point the girl that Dragon and Cowboy are courting gets the best of them by throwing fruit and eggs at them. That’s what makes Jackie Chan more entertaining than most action stars. He allows himself to be the butt of the joke in order to make the joke work.
The Extras:
There are no extras included on this DVD.
The Bottom Line:
Dragon Lord is mainly for Jackie Chan fans, but action fans will probably find it worth checking out, too.
