Enter the Dragon Review
Martial arts phenomenon Bruce_Lee never made a perfect movie, but his first (and last) English-speaking star vehicle comes closest to capturing his electricity and charisma. A US-Hong Kong co-production intended to introduce Lee to an international audience, Enter the Dragon has Lee sharing screen time with two co-stars, veteran John_Saxon and American karate champion Jim_Kelly, but Lee dominates the movie as assuredly as he does the multitudes of bad guys thrown his way. The formulaic story, a crude James_Bond riff with a hint of blaxploitation outrageousness, is wearying in the early going, but it hardly matters as the dynamite fighting sequences begin to dominate near the halfway point. Though it lacks the insane kineticism of the subsequent Hong Kong martial arts renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s, the movie is nicely photographed, and Robert_Clouse's direction keeps the attention focused on Lee's remarkable presence. The hall-of-mirrors finale, in which Clouse and Lee gleefully update Orson_Welles' classic sequence from The_Lady_From_Shanghai, has to be seen to be believed. Lee even shows a bit of acting ability in some of the quieter moments, but his tragic death at age 33, about a month before Enter the Dragon's US premiere, would put an end to his film career. Mark Pittillo, Rovi
Browse More Movies:
