Lord Dragón

This movie is bufoonery! and I loved it! The "dragon lord" (Jacky Chan) and his buddy, "cowboy", totally made the movie fun, meaningful, and just plain silly. The movie is a rare blend of a good vs. evil fight and (somehow) the wonders and fun that is growing up. Long Shao Ye takes the viewer through the daily activities of the young "dragon lord" (so named because he is the son of a wealthy family) and "cowboy", which include implementing clever, elaborate ways to escape studying (with the help of the entire household, including the tutor), competing in rather boyish (and idiotically interesting) ways to gain the affection of a local girl, competing in "soccer" (you will see what i mean) and the list goes on. Somehow they find themselves in the midst of a fight to save the a shipment of valuable antiques and the lives of several people.

The movie has its serious moments. But they do not depress, but rather inspire. The playfulness of the boys are not lost in this exchange, but is actually employed against evil. What I really loved about this movie is how it ends. Not the typical confrontation (which in itself was awesome), but well, you'll see. Let me just say it truly captures the spirit of the movie.

silly, witty, meaningful, and nostalgic. great movie.

`Dragon Lord' is more of a comedy than a martial arts movie. There are a few action sequences in the movie - a strange ball tournament at the beginning, a scuffle between Jackie and his friend over a girl, an interesting shuttlecock game in the middle of the movie - but there are really only two fight sequences in the movie, both near the end. Despite this, the movie's great. It's never dull. There are some funny moments, and the final fight scene between Jackie and the baddie is awesome. Definitely worth seeing over `Shanghai Noon' or `Rush Hour'.

Work-shy student Dragon (Chan) and his madcap pal Cowboy (Mars) spend their days getting up to mischief, frustrating the elders, chasing girls, and competing in the village sport - in which contestants scramble to the top of a tall wooden pyramid, the "bun tower", to retrieve a golden ball, rugby-fashion. When Dragon overhears a fiendish plot by smugglers to sell China's national treasures overseas, the pair leap into action. Also, Cowboy's wealthy father is kidnapped by the villainous and lethal Big Boss (In-Sik), and the scene is set for a furious martial arts showdown.

An attempt to claw back some native credibility after his first US outing The Big Brawl (1980) flopped Stateside, Dragon Lord saw Chan returning to Taiwan to work on a sequel to his directorial debut Young Master (also 1980). It would be ultimately abandoned - along with months of wasted footage - for a confused, if enjoyable affair, with no real script.

Accordingly, Dragon Lord also crashed and burned at Hong Kong theatres, much to the director's chagrin, who'd attempted to "make a new kind of action picture". As Chan told 'Combat' magazine years later: "I got rid of the kung fu and tried to put in sports, but I found that the audience didn't want that." But if Dragon Lord almost shot down Chan's rising star there and then, it did set a template for successive hits; tightly-choreographed acrobatics taking precedence over traditional Shaolin combat-styles; outtakes featuring aborted stunts over the credits; a winning goofy charm.

Stand-out sequences include a Badminton-like game played with shuttlecocks (but no bats), and the climactic fight between Mars, Chan and real-life Taekwondo master In-Sik, which is both simultaneously deadly and near-clownish (if this film had an overall sound it would be "Boiinngg!", or possibly "Kuhumperwhumpf!").

'Dragon Lord' is not Jackie Chan's first directorial effort. It was his third movie already, but somehow it feels the most incomplete one. At first, it was intended to be the sequel to 'The Young Master' but Chan changed the setting as he wasn't able to properly tie this one to the first movie's story.

The film includes exceptional fight scenes and stunts, but the story seems unfocused. At first, too much time is spent to set up the big love story, but somewhere in the middle that fades away and the romantic angle doesn't get coherent conclusion. Also, the ark with the smugglers doesn't get much needed development at the beginning. So the movie feels like two different movies jammed together. But the fight scenes and choreography is amazing. Jackie experimented with a lot of new stuff in the fight scenes, and the experiments payed off - the fight scenes are exceptional. Jackie Chan is such an amazing performer that poorly constructed story doesn't take away much of the enjoyment from the movie. Also, it was nice to see Mars who usually played some thug, robber or henchman, to get more substantial role.

The fans of Jackie Chan and his type of martial arts slapstick comedy will not be disappointed. Don't expect too thoughtful story though.

For a Jackie Chan movie, then "Dragon Lord" was a fairly mediocre experience. There wasn't the usual Jackie Chan magic or personal touch to this movie. The movie tried too hard to mix comedy and serious action, and it just didn't go well together.

The movie was also weighed down by a storyline that was intended to be serious, but trying to incorporate slapstick comedy, and again it was to an extend where it just didn't fully work as intended. And it didn't help the movie one bit that it had a couple of scenes that were taking too long to execute. Especially the last fight scene, it was dragging on for a very long time, and it started to become stale and somewhat of a parody to watch.

So what worked in this movie? Well, the fighting and the action, of course. As to be expected, as this is a Jackie Chan movie after all. As with most of his other movies, the martial arts and action scenes were well executed and brought to the screen.

I am a big fan of Jackie Chan, and must admit that "Dragon Lord" is not amongst the best of his entire movie career. But bear in mind that this movie is from 1982. That being said, then it should be stated that it is not his worst movie either. But it is, of course, a movie that is well deserved a place in the DVD collection of any Jackie Chan fan. Just sad to say, that this isn't really the type of movie that you watch more than once.