Latin Dragon

This movie made me think of what it might be like if Ray Romano decided to do martial arts. Fabian Corillo looked just like Ray in that one where Ray was trying to act cool and got a tan and dyed his hair black.

Seriously, the acting was pretty bad, and the fighting was pretty... eh. The shots were edgy for the first 3 minutes and then they over-did it with 'edgy'. Then they over-did it with 'edgy'. Then they over-did it with 'edgy'. It was like a broken record with the speeding up and slowing down and almost stopping the camera. It's like back in school if you had the hyper kid running the movie projector. "Stop playing around Tommy!"

Still, there was some minor charm in this film. And to quote Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction), "Charm goes a long way." Still, watching it only one time would be fine with me.

Interesting house "the Dragon" has at the end. If you go for that "post-hurricane" look. Was that supposed to be his "Fortress of Solitude"??

If this comes to television, it's worth watching. In fact it has a made-for-TV look to it. 4/10

For a 2004 movie "Latin Dragon" sure had a lot of similarities to the action and martial arts movies from the mid-1990's. And you might think that it is a good thing, but it wasn't.

A generic and stereotypical lone hero saves the day storyline didn't really make it into a particularly entertaining movie, nor did the flaccid acting put on throughout the course of the entire movie.

Thumbs up for actually making a Latin martial arts movie, that is something that I have personally never seen before stumbling upon "Latin Dragon" in the local secondhand DVD store.

With a cast that included Gary Busey, Lorenzo Lamas and for me an unknown guy named Fabian Carrillo, you pretty know what you are getting into. But I guess it is the morbid fascination with bad movies that still make us sit down to watch such movies.

The action sequences and scenes were mediocre, so nothing to get your hopes up for here. My favorite scene would have to be where Carrillo slided down a wooden banister while standing up and shooting two guns, and in slow motion just as icing on the cake. That was so bad it actually hurt the eyes to witness. At least it was good for a solid laugh.

Bad acting, bad dialogue, bad story, if these is your things, by all Means give "Latin Dragon" a go, otherwise stay well clear of this movie.

Man, I sure did love Billy Jack when I was a kid and "Everybody Loves Raymond" is one funny show. So, as I sat watching this movie I kept thinking to myself, "Gosh, this sure seems familiar in a really odd, totally indirect sort of way."

And then it hit me.

The hero looks like Ray Romano and the avenging retired soldier aspect of his character reminded me of Billy Jack. Then you've got some bad guys making everyone miserable and rich folks with money providing money to the bad guys to make everyone miserable. I mean, it's not EXACTLY like Billy Jack but if Billy Jack ever made it to East L.A. this is exactly how he'd handle things.

Of course he wouldn't ride in on a burgundy red Kawasaki (!). No self respecting tough guy would.

Love the action and the storyline based on the realities of Latinos. I especially like how the star of the movie (Fabian Carrillo) keeps his composure throughout the movie until the end when he explodes into action. Also, how he enters as a positive role model and exits with respectful simplicity. His fighting style brings a fresh mixture of "cool" and "reality". Can't wait to see him in action again in another movie!

Also, great cast for this type of movie... Gary Busey was a perfect bad guy and Lorenzo Lamas was interesting as Gary's henchman. Robert LaSardo, who plays Paco was a perfect fit and his love scene was steamy. The only weak link in the movie was Joyce Giraud who played Claudia. James Hong gave a great performance and the gang members were very scary...

When is the comic book and part 2 coming out?

"Latin Dragon" is an entertaining action film. The plot is: Danny Silva (Carrillo) is an undercover agent who has the battle the street gangs in his neighborhood. Gary Busey plays the street kingpin "Thorne". Lorenzo Lamas is his henchman "Frank".

The drawback in this movie is that Carrillo looks like a Latino Ray Romano. So it's hilarious to see him do martial arts. Busey and Lamas sleepwalk through their roles.

There's also some unnecessary "Matrix" style FX that come out of nowhere when bullets start flying. Overall, it's cheap and fun action... If you don't mind that.

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