Wu da di zi

The Angry Dragon (AKA Dragon Lee vs. Five Brothers) stars Dragon Lee as Han, a brave kung fu expert opposed to the corrupt Qing government; while fleeing the enemy, Han is charged with delivering an important document to rebel leader Chung, but is pursued by four evil Shaolin masters who are intent on stopping him from completing his mission.

As far as Brucesploitation stars go, Dragon Lee was perhaps the most convincing: he not only bore a remarkable physical resemblance to Bruce Lee, but was also able do a mean impersonation of the late martial arts legend, and could perform some impressive kung fu moves when called upon.

Unfortunately, none of this really counts for much with The Angry Dragon: despite Dragon's amazing mimicry and athleticism, plus a few typically goofy martial arts elements of the kind that usually guarantee a good time (impossible acrobatics, a general with a silver hand and a razor edged fan, a female Shaolin master/ninja with a knife-edged boomerang hat and the ability to run across tree-tops, and an evil boss whose throne fires darts), the film is often a chore to watch, suffering from such a forgettable plot and leaden pacing that even the real Bruce Lee would have struggled to make it anything other than mediocre.

I always start my reviews with the opening scene of the movie. So many of these movies were re-titled for VHS rental often you don't know what you are watching. This movie opens with a guy helping a wounded uniformed man to escape. He gives details of the passwords and so we have the old Ching versus Ming plot again with the bad guys after a list of the rebel's names. Dragon Lee goes off on his mission and pretends he is just out to visit his uncle. Yuen Qiu enters the story as a swords woman stopping for a steamed bun. She defends Dragon by using her hat as a Frisbee. For some reason it was supposed to be an awesome weapon and scared off the attackers. The other awesome weapon that is not awesome at all is the Silver Hand. It's just a glove painted silver and does nothing more than any other hand. Yuen Qiu has a lengthy career from 1972 all the way to Sammo Hung's latest movie "The Bodyguard". The high point of her career is certainly as the cigarette smoking landlady in "Kung Fu Hustle". I consider her the star of this movie. I don't buy in to the whole "Bruceploitation" concept. There was never a search for the next Bruce Lee. It was just a way to make the cover of a VHS tape stand out to an American customer back in the days when there was a movie rental store on every street corner in America.

Dragon Lee apparently made a few movies in 1977 but I have yet to obtain any of those titles. His 1978 movies are all available. As a martial artist he was certainly competent, as were hundreds of others, and his acting was passable. This is the first South Korean movie that, in my opinion, is not a total stinker from start to finish. The fights are fair to average with a brief really good move thrown in.

Emperor Ching sends 4 warriors (the 5th member will appear later) to obtain a list of names that will reveal who the rebels against his tyranny are. An obvious McGuffin leading to a lot of martial arts fights. Dragon Lee as the hero is supported - but also betrayed by a white ninja woman, and the silver handed villain is a tough opponent for him. Sure this is a cheap flick, but not without entertainment value due to a couple of bizarre characters and a nice touch of humor, for example when Dragon Lee thanks the white ninja woman for saving him from his enemies - and then he steals her horse in the next minute. Her facial expression is priceless.