By Jason Haskins
Bruce Lee was the late great martial arts expert/philosopher who was one of the first Asian American actors to hit it big onscreen and introduced a culture to smarter kung fu flicks. While he only made a handful of pictures in his lifetime, these stand up as some of the best the genre has to offer. Enter the Dragon was the last completed picture he starred in and was released a little bit after his death in 1973 of cerebral edema. While the last movie he worked on was The Game of Death, I find the film (though great) much unfinished and certainly not a high note of this caliber to end his career on.
Lee stars as a martial artist spy is who hired to infiltrate a tournament run by a madman, Han, at his fortress on a deserted island. He arrives with two Americans he grew to trust, Jim Kelly as Williams and John Saxton as Roper, and agrees to fight in the tournament against a man responsible for the death of his sister. He must find evidence that this man, Han, is running a prostitution and drug operation before he is found out--but all hell breaks loose and he must find a way to combat Han and his soldiers of kung and survive...
This movie inspired countless rip offs in the martial arts genre including Mortal Combat, but nothing comes close to the coolness of Enter the Dragon. This was Bruce Lee's first American financed film and while it does have certain exploitative transgressions, it's a fun movie for the most part. You have the white American Roper who's a great fighter, but is a dashing playboy and a black kung fu guy straight out of the seventies with afro and all who, honestly, steals the picture for me. I love Bruce Lee--he's the reason to watch the film definitely, but Jim Kelly is fantastic in this, too.
There's a lot of action in the movie, as would be expected including many of Bruce Lee's signature moves. This film also highlighted his acting skills and really drills home the fact that he had so much talent that probably never surfaced due to his death. This is one of the few occasions where a martial artist successfully moves over in cinema and does a great job. I have to mention one of the coolest parts of the film where he uses nun chucks to mess up a ton of fools around him. Whenever anyone mentions Enter the Dragon I think of that scene and the finale where Bruce Lee fights Han in a hall of mirrors. This whole thing was well shot by Robert Clouse (who later worked on The Game of Death with Lee).
Enter the Dragon is a movie rooted in the seventies so you can expect spunky outfits, awesome editing, and, of course, groovy music to please your ears. I love all of the music in the film and it really accentuates the time period well as well as heightens the impact of the story and the humor (occasionally). It takes a simplistic tone, but it gets stuck in your head and won't let you go. What might distract some people is that the movie was obviously shot without sound and everything had to be redubbed. There are some jarring transfers and editing moves that might just kill you, but bear with it because the experience is worth it. That said there's a special edition DVD and Blu-Ray that has probably shaped the sound quality better, so keep that in mind.
I had my girlfriend watch this for the first time a few nights ago and while she was digging Bruce Lee without his shirt off she also thought the movie was well done. Perhaps I've made a fan out of her...? There's a ton of action in it along with some great cameos from people who would later make it big in the genre like Jackie Chan and Bolo Yeung. This is definitely his most iconic picture and while some purists may write it off for being mainstream, it has enough impact and passion in it to make you dig it. Bruce Lee truly was a genius and if there was any movie to prove it this would be it. Never seen a Bruce Lee feature? Enter the Dragon is the perfect place to start.
5 out of 5 Stars
© Jason Haskins, 2011
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