Dragon Lord

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!").

`Dragon Lord' is more of a comedy than a martial arts movie. There are a few action sequences in the movie - a strange ball tournament at the beginning, a scuffle between Jackie and his friend over a girl, an interesting shuttlecock game in the middle of the movie - but there are really only two fight sequences in the movie, both near the end. Despite this, the movie's great. It's never dull. There are some funny moments, and the final fight scene between Jackie and the baddie is awesome. Definitely worth seeing over `Shanghai Noon' or `Rush Hour'.

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.

One from early in his career the movie has everything that would make him a Kung Fu super star.

It's a great comedy about a spoiled rich brat trying to send a love note via a kite but ends up stumbling onto a plot to steal China's artifacts.

It's the type of friendly kung fu flick for all the ages that Jackie Chan would become known for. Thought the stunts are small compared to the extreme risk he would take in the future, it was still impressive to see Jackie do the physical stuff not just the kung fu but there were scenes of Jackie and his friends playing sports similar to football but more extreme.

Extremely entertaining!!!

"Dragonlord" sees Chan returning to his role of "Dragon" from "The Young Master". Not much has carried over from the first film though. "Tiger", his older brother, is nowhere to be seen; neither is the Marshall, his daughter or his son played superbly by Yuen Biao in the original film. Dragon does have the same master though - presumably all the other students have moved on to other things. (Dragon's laziness at training is portrayed heavily in this film, so maybe he's still studying!)

Originally titled "Young Master In Love", this film sees Dragon (for the first sixty minutes at least) pursuing a villager girl in various idiotic and slapstick ways. His rival for her affection is his friend (inappropriately named "Cowboy") played comically by the longtime Chan Stunt-team member Mars. We see various scenes where their silly schemes backfire. It is one of these scenes that we (thankfully) find "Dragon" in over his head.

This film is notorious in that it failed expectations at the box office. That said, I'm sure the expectations were pretty high, and I feel that this film has never had a fair judgment based on it's own merits. But even when I try to do this, I still feel that there is a problem with the film. It seems quite unfocused, sometimes rushed, and I think the action is too sporadic and not as brilliant as Chan's other work from this period.

The thing that really saves the film is the ending sequence. As in "The Young Master", there is a fantastic final reel that it full of incredibly exhausting action - you really feel every blow. And again, Chan goes up against the same rival from "The Young Master" (is it the same character?), and the timing and energy here is brilliant. Chan's style of using every last bit of his environment to help defeat his opponent - not just relying on pure physical ability - is as apparent here as anywhere else. The barn they fight in is full of clever little prop gags and improvisations. This is an absolute highlight of the film and one of Chan's incredible career.

It's not necessary to see the prequel before seeing "Dragonlord", in fact, it might even raise more questions than what it hopes to answer. But it must be said that the original film is the superior film, and "Dragonlord", with it's focus on girl-chasing and team-sports does seem baffling. Luckily, the few fight scenes it offers (plus a fantastic shuttle-cock scene) push it over the line as a must-see film in this genre.