Rent Way of the Dragon (1972)

The Little Dragon dazzles the Eternal City - Way of the Dragon review by CP Customer

Bruce Lee stars and directs this excellent kung fu flick. The "Little Dragon" plays Tang Lung, a boy from Hong Kong's countryside sent to Rome to protect a Chinese restaurant from a gang of thugs (the "Mafia" is not mentioned, although the implication is not so subtle). Lee puts in a great performance, showing also great acting ability, particularly when it comes to the more comedic moments. Although the plot is fairly simple, the excellent action more than makes up for it, particularly a scene where Lee shows his proficiency with traditional weapons such as the staff and the deadly nunchaku, and the epic fight scene in the Colosseum against Chuck Norris.

An absolute must for fans of the genre. The extras are also very good, including the retrospective on the movie and interviews with the producers and co-stars.

5 out of 5

Famous Martial Arts Film - All A Bit Daft - Way of the Dragon review by GI

The surprising popularity of the martial arts films of the early to mid 1970s gave the BBFC (the UK's film classifiers then called 'censors') a bit of a headache. They were clearly comic book in style, faintly laughable and yet young people swamped to see them and a craze began in kids buying or making martial arts weapons. Ultimately the films were classified for adults only and yet they are clearly a teenage type film. Epitomised by Bruce Lee who made the successful transition from poorly dubbed Hong Kong cinema to Hollywood and who has now become a film legend, Way of the Dragon is a fan favourite. Viewed today it's borderline silly and sits as a film to be considered as part of film history. This one has a somewhat drawn out story, poor script and an awful soundtrack although snippets of Ennio Morricone can be heard. It's played for comedy and all the characters are cartoonish. Depending on which language you watch this in the very bad dubbing is all part of the nostalgia here if you remember these films from the 70s. Here Lee plays a naïve young man sent to Rome to help the niece of his boss who is having a hard time with baddies wanting her restaurant. After a very slow start Lee brings in his unique fighting skills to deal with the villains and the big bad boss summons a killer to deal with him. This is Chuck Norris and the film climaxes with the Lee/Norris fight in the Colosseum (although despite some scenes actually filmed there the fight is on a sound stage with a poor backdrop). The outcome is never in doubt though and the final battle does have some bone crunching violence. This is a film you'll chuckle at due to its bad acting, poor use of editing and shots including a slow motion section where all the falseness of the fighting is highlighted. It has its fun moments but if you really want to reminisce about those Kung Fu films you loved back in the day then Enter The Dragon (1973) remains arguably the best.