I've heard so much about Bruce Lee films, and most of it has been about "Enter the Dragon,: "Enter the Dragon" is supposed to be the best of the Bruce Lee films, but after seeing this, I don't want to watch any of his other movies.

But before we begin the review, I noticed an odd fact I noticed when watching the trailers on the DVD. When the movie was first advertised, it was promoted as John Saxon's movie. It was John Saxon, with his plucky sidekicks Jim Kelly and Bruce Lee. Only after it was re-released (or in release), the advertising changed to emphasize Bruce Lee.

Here's the plot: three martial arts experts are among the many invited to a brutal tournament, held once in a great while on a remote island. There, they discover that the owner of the island and the tournament's host is evil and does bad things. The black guy dies. The white guy fights the host's right hand man and triumphs. The Asian guy fights the tournament's host, killing him by impaling the fiend.

The story was later revamped in the early 90s and renamed "Mortal Kombat."

The opening credits pan across Hong Kong, showing John Saxon ("Roper") arriving with a lot of luggage, which is where the Johnny Cage luggage joke comes from in "Mortal Kombat." Also seen is Jim Kelly ("Williams"), a large man with a large 70s afro. Whenever the camera is on him alone, the music "gets funky." Bruce Lee plays "Lee," just as in every Jackie Chan movie Jackie plays "Jackie."

Among the first scenes in the movie are the flashback scenes, which apparently illustrate our heroes' motivations for the tournament. These all happen as the three are on boats to Han's junk.

Lee has the longest and most complicated flashback. Lee flashes back to his sensai having a flashback about Lee's sister and himself (the sensai) fleeing from O'Hara, Han's bodyguard, Jackie Chan, and a few other extras. The sensai gets knocked down, O'Hara and his men chase Lee's sister, who, cornered, kills herself rather than submit to an implied threat. Anyway, they flash-forward to Lee's flashback where the sensai asks Lee to pay respects to his (Lee's) sister. Lee then somehow has a flash-sideways to him standing in a cemetery, then the flashbacks are over, and he's on his way to the tournament.

Roper has the next flashback. He's an obsessive gambler fleeing from some loan sharks. He hopes to win the money at the tournament and pay back the loan sharks or just start over again or something.

Williams, who up until now had no lines in the movie, has a flashback. He leaves a martial arts class after giving the Black Power/Right On hand gesture to the class' master. Outside, he's hassled by The Man, here represented by two racist white cops. Williams kicks their patooties and flees, ending the flashback. Why this serves as a basis to flee to a martial arts tournament off the coast of China, I don't know.

Much later in the movie, we've got Lee sneaking around Han's palace. We're treated to a scene where Lee follows a guard through the dining area, but the scene is shot so poorly that it's hard to understand where they are in the room. Several jump cuts as the guard stops and looks around make it appear as if the guard is actually teleporting.

Williams, taking a break from Han's gifts, is spotted outside of his quarters by a guard. This leads Han to believe that Williams was the one who tried to break into his Underground Lair. Later on, Han beats Williams to death in an opium den, then later, unexpectedly, tries to recruit Roper into his drug organization, offering such incentives as Williams' mangled body as a signing bonus.

There's a tournament that's been going on, too. Roper and Williams manage to set up an aging Adolf Hitler in a sucker bet (before Williams died, of course), and Lee squares off against O'Hara. The Lee/O'Hara match is rather one-sided. Lee has a flashback to his sister killing herself, which was just fifteen minutes before.

Later, Lee successfully sneaks into the Underground Lair and has a four-minute long fight scene, in which he defeats about two hundred opponents (including Jackie Chan -- don't blink though, or you'll miss him). Lee gets captured and is brought before Han, who orders Roper to kill him (Lee). Roper declines, and we witness the beginning of the end fight: Han sends in groups of three or four of his cronies to kick Roper's and Lee's collective tuckus. Han continues to send in groups from the large crowd by calling out individual names. Eventually, the crowd of Han's martial artists get a clue and just jump right in without being called upon. The imprisoned martial artists whom I have haven't mentioned have now just been released join Lee's side and a big ol' brawl breaks out.

Han and Lee square off for the final fight, Han switching from a goofy looking bear claw prosthetic hand to one that looks like four steak knives sticking out of a block. They fight and wind up in a mirror-lined room where we have the best shot of the movie: Bruce Lee does a stunning left roundhouse into Han's chest. You'll know it when you see it. Anyway, Han gets offed, the good guys win, and the British calvary arrives after everything's over.

Scenes to watch for: Han's spaz attack after he puts the bear claw on; victorious martial artist in black playing "four square" with a defeated opponent in white at end of film.

Best line: "Man, you come right out of a comic book."

Things that make you go "Huh?": So why did Han have all the imprisoned men in his Underground Lair in the first place?

Response From RinkWorks:

I had exactly the same reaction you did. I wanted to see a Bruce Lee movie, understood that "Enter the Dragon" was the best, watched it, and was sorely disappointed. Since watching it, I've come up with several explanations why. For one thing, it's obvious this movie is badly dated, hopelessly bound to the seventies. People who watched it then wouldn't have been bothered by that, but watching it for the first time in the nineties is different. (I still count that as a strike against the movie. Good movies are more timeless than that. I'm not saying they can't show their age, but if they're borderline unwatchable only 25 years later, something's wrong.)

The second reason I didn't like it was probably personal preference. I'm a big Jackie Chan fan. Going into a Bruce Lee movie being only familiar with Jackie Chan, I missed Chan's self-effacing humor, screen charisma, and wild stunts. While Chan doesn't take himself seriously at all, Lee takes himself too seriously, as if every punch and every kick has to be the culmination of centuries of martial arts learning. I also didn't like the gruesomeness of the violence -- there was way too much neck-breaking for me. I prefer Chan's no-kill fight scenes. These criticisms I concede are personal preference, however, and I can see how martial arts fanatics would like this movie. Another thing that dampened my enjoyment that isn't the movie's fault is that I did not see it letterboxed -- this is one of the worst movies to see non-letterboxed that I have ever seen. All the fight scenes, in particular, look zoomed in too close to make anything out. Again, not the movie's fault.

But my last criticism, which most certainly *is* its fault, is its shoddy storytelling, which you've detailed quite well here. It's not a very well told story, and its superficial yet belabored nods to characterization are less effective than if they hadn't bothered.

So I guess I can see how martial artists and martial arts fans who saw this movie when it came out would be excited about this movie. But I would think a regular old movie buff watching this today would more likely than not walk away bewildered and unsatisfied.

-- Sam.