Dragon Lord

Dragon Lord was something of a pivotal film for Jackie Chan in that it saw him decisively making the move away from old school style kung fu cinema to his own distinctive brand of goofy comedy and situational fighting. Its a shame then that it isn't great (this was apparently reflected in the cold initial box office response), though its charms are enough to make it a mostly good watch even though when all is weighed up it doesn't amount to much. It's a sequel of sorts to The Young Master, following his Dragon Ma character as he slacks off, hangs out with his buddy (a likable turn from Mars) and tries to pick up various local girls, eventually getting mixed up in the plans of nefarious individuals to smuggle Chinese relics out of the country. The juvenile nature of things takes a bit of getting used to, Chan being in his late twenties at the time yet paying essentially a teenager, but his gusto and innate likability carries things well enough. It helps that one or two scenes are actually pretty amusing in a silly sort of way, like Dragon trying to cheat his way through an exam of sorts by his dad. Although there's a downright criminal lack of actual threat to near the hour mark the film doesn't completely lack action, boasting a couple of quality sporting scenes, one somewhat modelled on rugby but considerably more chaotic and the other like football but with a shuttlecock (which apparently required a record number of takes to get right). When things warm up the results are pretty cool and the climatic fight is an absolute doozy, Wong In-Sik reprising his villainy from The Young Master in a great extended bout with Chan making good use of the barn setting and plentiful trading of crunching blows, its right up there with the finales of any of Chan's bona fide classics. Its just a shame that the film as a whole is so unfocused and generally inconsequential (with little hint of anything serious until close to the halfway mark), its an easy watch but mostly forgettable until the last twenty minutes or so, I liked it well enough as I'm kind of a geek for this kind of thing but it really isn't that good. Still a 6/10 as its quite fun, but definitely a completists only film.

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!").

An old school kung ku comedy starring Jackie Chan. He's also the director of this movie.

This is bit like continuation of the Young Master. Jackie Chan reprises his role as the Dragon. The actor who portrayed the teacher in Young Master returns as Dragon's father. Although the production is more polished, the story isn't compelling as the Young Master. The format is old school kung fu movie where things happen in earlier days of China. Actions are also old school although there's more comedic elements in this movie than other kung fu movies.

Some clues to the future Jackie Chan movies are seen in this movie, such as using the 2nd floor balcony to stage a dramatic fight sequence.

This is the last old school kung fu movie Jackie Chan starred in. With the success of Project A, his movies starts to take different direction in the future.

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.

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.