Enter The Dragon
BLU-RAY 
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Director:
Robert Clouse Actors: Bruce Lee John Saxon Jim Kelly Rating:
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WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
A Hong Kong Shaolin martial artist, Lee (Bruce Lee) is recruited by British Intelligence to infiltrate a deadly martial arts tournament held on the island fortress of Mr. Han (Shih Kien); a notorious drug kingpin. Han’s bodyguard, O’Hara (Bob Wall) also happens to be responsible for the murder of Lee’s sister. Bent on revenge, he agrees to enter the tournament. While there, he forms an allegiance with two fellow competitors, the brash Williams (Jim Kelly) a black activist on the run from the law, and Roper (John Saxon) a down-on-his-luck gambler running from a large mob debt.
IS IT A GOOD MOVIE?
ENTER THE DRAGON is the film that-for me-kicked off a love affair with martial arts that to this day, has never really ended. I first saw this movie at a sleepover when I was thirteen. Within the week, I was enrolled in Karate classes. While there are (arguably) better martial arts movies, to me ENTER THE DRAGON is maybe the most influential movie of the genre and a kind of pop masterpiece which is still a touchtone for fans despite having come out forty years ago.
Having only been born in ’81, I can’t say I was around for the Bruce Lee-mania this kicked off, but I can see how this absolutely took North America by storm. Other than imports from Hong Kong, nobody had ever really seen anything like this, with the mystique from Bruce Lee’s tragic demise a few months before the film came out giving him a James Dean-like aura that- if anything- made him even cooler. In Asia, Lee was a megastar long before ENTER THE DRAGON ever saw the light of day, but this made him palatable to a North American audience. Lee had a lot of qualities his contemporaries in martial arts movies didn’t have. For one thing, he went to university in the States, and spoke perfect, unaccented English. He also had a certain rebellious attitude that made him fit in with the anti-authoritarian cinema of the era, making him almost seem like a kind of Chinese Steve McQueen (who coincidently was one of Lee’s pupils).
ENTER THE DRAGON itself is paced like lightening. Running just under 100 minutes, it’s absolutely jam-packed with brilliantly choreographed action (staged by Lee himself), and a fun spy plot that establishes Lee as kind of a Kung-fu James Bond- all to a kick ass score by Lalo Schiffrin. If ENTER THE DRAGON has a failing, it’s that too much time is spent on John Saxon’s Roper, rather than Lee or even the late Jim Kelly, as Saxon- while fine- wasn’t anywhere near their league as a martial artist. Thankfully, Lee never really takes too much of a backseat to Saxon (who mainly exists to romance Han’s island madam- Ahna Capri), and all of the memorable action sequences are Lee’s. Highlights include his nunchaku battle with Han’s guards (look quickly for Jackie Chan as the guard who gets his neck snapped), and the final, brutal battle with the claw-handed Hand in a maze of mirrors (my choice for one of the most memorable action sequences of all time).
Having only been born in ’81, I can’t say I was around for the Bruce Lee-mania this kicked off, but I can see how this absolutely took North America by storm. Other than imports from Hong Kong, nobody had ever really seen anything like this, with the mystique from Bruce Lee’s tragic demise a few months before the film came out giving him a James Dean-like aura that- if anything- made him even cooler. In Asia, Lee was a megastar long before ENTER THE DRAGON ever saw the light of day, but this made him palatable to a North American audience. Lee had a lot of qualities his contemporaries in martial arts movies didn’t have. For one thing, he went to university in the States, and spoke perfect, unaccented English. He also had a certain rebellious attitude that made him fit in with the anti-authoritarian cinema of the era, making him almost seem like a kind of Chinese Steve McQueen (who coincidently was one of Lee’s pupils).
ENTER THE DRAGON itself is paced like lightening. Running just under 100 minutes, it’s absolutely jam-packed with brilliantly choreographed action (staged by Lee himself), and a fun spy plot that establishes Lee as kind of a Kung-fu James Bond- all to a kick ass score by Lalo Schiffrin. If ENTER THE DRAGON has a failing, it’s that too much time is spent on John Saxon’s Roper, rather than Lee or even the late Jim Kelly, as Saxon- while fine- wasn’t anywhere near their league as a martial artist. Thankfully, Lee never really takes too much of a backseat to Saxon (who mainly exists to romance Han’s island madam- Ahna Capri), and all of the memorable action sequences are Lee’s. Highlights include his nunchaku battle with Han’s guards (look quickly for Jackie Chan as the guard who gets his neck snapped), and the final, brutal battle with the claw-handed Hand in a maze of mirrors (my choice for one of the most memorable action sequences of all time).
THE EXTRAS
Fitting its classic status, this fortieth anniversary edition of ENTER THE DRAGON is loaded with extras. All of the extras from the old Blu-ray are ported over, including the doc Blood and Steel: The Making of Enter The Dragon which is a nice retrospective on the movie and it’s legacy. There’s also commentary by writer Paul Heller, an interview gallery with Lee’s widow, Linda Caldwell, trailers and a featurette that examines Han’s Island as it is today. Like every other edition that’s come out since the 25th anniversary in ’98, this is the extended edition of ETD, with an tacked-on scene featuring Lee (who’s looped as the audio tracks no longer existed) having a discussion about martial arts philosophy with the abbot of the Shaolin temple (Roy Chiao). I’ve always thought this scene should have been kept as a supplement, and not worked into the film, but apparently this is the preferred version by Lee’s estate.
The Blu-ray also includes a doc from 1993 called The Curse of the Dragon which came out around the time I first saw ENTER THE DRAGON and thus, was one I watched a few times as a teen. Narrated by George Takei, Curse is pretty sloppy, with terrible crossfading between interviews having people get cut-off in mid-sentence. It’s also filled with lots of mumbo-jumbo about his death (not helped by the tragic death of his son Brandon on the set of THE CROW which happened around the same time) and myth-making that portrays Lee as an almost Christ-like figure of martial arts. It’s all very cheesy- but typical of the era, although some of the interviews are decent (such as the stuff with Chuck Norris and James Coburn).
The Blu-ray also includes a doc from 1993 called The Curse of the Dragon which came out around the time I first saw ENTER THE DRAGON and thus, was one I watched a few times as a teen. Narrated by George Takei, Curse is pretty sloppy, with terrible crossfading between interviews having people get cut-off in mid-sentence. It’s also filled with lots of mumbo-jumbo about his death (not helped by the tragic death of his son Brandon on the set of THE CROW which happened around the same time) and myth-making that portrays Lee as an almost Christ-like figure of martial arts. It’s all very cheesy- but typical of the era, although some of the interviews are decent (such as the stuff with Chuck Norris and James Coburn).
FINAL DIAGNOSIS
Forty years on, ENTER THE DRAGON still holds up as an amazing action movie, and one that every serious action fan needs to see multiple times. For me, this is one the same level as the early Bond movies with Connery, or the Eastwood-Leone Spaghetti westerns. It’s classic action cinema.
Great Review