La Fureur du dragon

I've never been to Rome. I'm sure it's a beautiful city, a wonderful vacation spot, and then of course there's the Roman Coliseum - a landmark in a region of the world that revels in its own beauty. So you have to wonder if Rome would make a good place for a kung-fu movie. (Why not?) Apparently Bruce Lee thought so, and it is this lush city that he selected as the setting for his 1972 film "Return of the Dragon."

Most movie experts (as well as fans of kung-fu movies, Lee, or both) will realize that "Return of the Dragon" marked Lee's third film in China, his first time behind the camera, and he also had credits on the screenplay. After the disappointing "Fists of Fury" (1971), I was glad to see Lee in a role that was less bombastic and less comic in nature. ("Return of the Dragon" also happens to be my personal favorite Bruce Lee film from when he was still working in Asia.)

In "Return of the Dragon," Lee is of course, the country boy named Tang Lung, who returns to aid friends and family in peril. In this case, said relatives own a successful Chinese restaurant in Rome, Italy, and are constantly being harassed by a powerful gangster and his legion of disposable henchmen - Tang's frequent encounters with them eventually leading to one of the greatest Nunchaku showdowns I've ever seen in a martial arts movie.

Tang Lung annihilates most of the bad guys sent in his direction, many times leaving them beaten and bruised. Most of them are played for laughs to begin with, so that makes their beatings even funnier (though you really shouldn't laugh at the pain of others, even if they are villains).

When Tang proves to be too big a problem (in fact, WAY bigger than they expected him to be), the gangster boss uses his contacts to hire an American martial artist, Colt (Lee's most skilled opponent in the film and world karate champion Chuck Norris, in his breakthrough film role), to deal with him. The action then escalates into the film's brutal, take-no-prisoners climatic showdown between the two combatants at the Roman Coliseum, in what is widely said to be one of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed.

With its goofy humor, horrendous dubbing and comic book bad guys not withstanding, "Return of the Dragon" is actually one heck of a good movie. None of Lee's sparring partners in the film really stand up well against him, except of course, Chuck Norris in the film's climax. And Lee also makes the best of the stranger-in-a-strange-land scenario that he's set up as the film's premise.

"Return of the Dragon" is the second Bruce Lee movie I've commented on at IMDb (Lee's last film, 1973's "Enter the Dragon," was the first) and I really liked "ROTD." Lee demonstrates in this movie why he is the greatest martial artist that ever lived. His direction here is a little choppy in spots, but for the most part, the action is intact.

7/10

The United States and the world would discover Martial Arts actor Bruce Lee until 1973 with the release of his first (and only) Hollywood film, "Enter the Dragon", a masterpiece of the Martial Arts genre and arguably the film that started the trend of Kung-Fu films. However, before making "Enter the Dragon", Lee had already participated in three major films in Hong Kong, two of them under the direction of Wei Lo and the third the only film of his where he had complete control under everything, "Meng Long Guojian", the "Way of the Dragon". Better known as "Return of the Dragon" in the U.S. (where it was released as a sequel to "Enter the Dragon"), "Meng Long Guojiang" was Lee's first film as a director, and like his following two final films, a movie where he was able to express not only his physical abilities, but also the philosophy he developed to achieve them.

In "Way of the Dragon", Bruce Lee plays Tang Lung, a young man from Hong Kong who is sent to Rome by his uncle in order to help a family friend, "Uncle" Wang (Chung-Hsin Huang). At his arrival, he is informed that the problem is that the Italian Mafia wants the family's restaurant, and uses violent intimidation to pressure the owner. While at first not everyone is convinced that Tang Lung would be of any help (as he is not used to the city), soon they discover that Tang is in fact a talented Martial Artist. With Tang Lung's help, the Restaurant's waiters manage to defend themselves from the gangsters, but the Mafia Boss is completely decided to get the Restaurant, so he hires a group of Martial Arts experts, including the famous Colt (Chuck Norris) to eliminate Tang Lung.

After proving he was a bankable star, Bruce Lee finally got the opportunity of not only writing, but also directing his own film. Free at last to make his vision of a Martial Arts film come true, Lee builds up a film focused on two very personal themes for him. On one hand, his very own experience as a stranger in a strange land, and the feelings of being like a fish out of the water; and on the other, his ideal of the hero who uses his very own technique to fight against the established disciplines. While the plot is very straight forward, and a bit typical, Lee uses it effectively to showcase his own ideals and philosophies as martial artist, delivering finally an action film with some depth beyond watching the character overcome the enemies.

Borrowing heavily from Spaghetti Westerns (even some score by Morricone is used), Lee creates a magnificent epic set on the beautiful locations of Rome, where his lonely hero Tang Lung arrives as a modern day cowboy to right some wrongs. While of course not an expert filmmaker (it was after all, his first film as a director), Lee shows a great eye for visuals, as the camera becomes an essential part in the creation of the sublimely choreographed fights, and the highly stylish set pieces (again, influenced by Sergio Leone's westerns). "Meng Long Guojiang is definitely the basics for what Lee conceived as a Martial Arts film, and many of what he developed for this movie would become of great influence for future directors of the genre.

Due to his character in "Enter the Dragon", most people remember Bruce Lee's acting as a serious, dark personification of the perfect martial arts warrior, however, "Meng Long Guojiang" is a chance to discover a way different side of Lee's persona, as he allows himself to be as funny and human as skilled in Kung-Fu. "Way of the Dragon" offers insight into Lee as a comedy actor, as Tang Lung's personality (and probably Bruce's real one too) is that of a happy man who enjoys life. The rest of the cast ranges from good to average, with one amazing exception: Ping-Ao Wei. As the treacherous translator Ho, Ping-Ao Wei delivers one of the best comedic performances of his career, and an excellent (and effective) comic relief for the film.

As written above, the cast (mostly the case of the many extras in the film) most of the time doesn't seem up to the challenge of the film, and the awful dubbing done doesn't really help with that. Another truly big problem is that Lee didn't had enough budget to fulfill his vision and in some scenes it really shows. This two problems really hurt the film badly, and while Lee's inexperience behind the camera is quite obvious, it's safe to say that he delivered a great job against the odds. The epic tone of the film and the superb climatic scenes really make up for the notorious flaws the film has, and one gets to wonder how would "Game of Death" may had turned up if Lee had lived enough to complete it.

It's a shame that Lee died so soon and was unable to craft his ultimate Martial Arts film, leaving the world wondering what would he do to top this film (and the reliable sources agree that "Game of Death" was really going to be his best). This flawed masterpiece may not be perfect, but it's monumental when one realizes how influential it became. Sure, "Enter the Dragon" may be the better film of the two, but "Meng Long Guojiang" is the film that shows us how Lee really was, and what he really believed in. In more than one sense, "Meng Long Guojiang" is truly, the real Way of the Dragon. 8/10

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs, then again in the early 2k on a dvd which I own.

Revisited it recently.

As a kid from the 80s n aft seeing this movie, i was in awe aft witnessing the nunchukas fight sequence.

This one gets a bit repetitive cos of the same goons who keeps on getting thrashed by the character of Lee but they keep on coming back. One of the fat goon with a beard looks like poor man's Russell Crowe.

The best n the most memorable is the treatment of the fight in the Colosseum with Chuck Norris with a cat as a spectator.

In this one Lee plays Tang Lung, a kung fu expert who is sent from Hong Kong to Italy by his uncle to help family friends whose restaurant business is threatened by a mafia boss.

This one showcases Lee's immense energy n amazing fighting skills, especially the way his feet moves.

He mimicked Mohammad Ali's float like a butterfly style.

Lee is allowed to have a sense of humor in this movie.

This one aint gory like The Big Boss.

Ping-Ou Wei (famous for playing the interpreter in this one n the Fist of Fury) acted very well. His body language is total effeminate, especially his limp wristed n running style is a big lol.

Another best fight sequence is the one in the alley with the nunchukas.

Bruce Lee really rules. Before this I had seen only "enter the dragon". It is usually considered to bee his best film, so I didn´t really know what to expect from "way of the dragon". I liked it very much. Biggest problem I had with it was that I had to watch the english dubbed version. I prefer the original language! Lee really knew how to entertain the audience. He was funny, but not too funny. I particulary enjoyed the last fighting scene when "Colt" was defeated. For once the bad guy went down with honour! I recommend this to anyone who likes a good kung-fu movie. There might be better ones, but no complains. 8/10

The Way Of The Dragon had the potential to be Bruce's best film in my opinion but was bogged down by the dubbing and acting. But it still stands solid as one great Bruce Lee film and boasts the greatest fight scene ever in my opinion. Bruce plays Tang Lung who travels to Rome to help his family battle local gangsters who are trying to take over their resturaunt. Bruce almost plays a Charlie Chaplin type role here which would later be more fitting to Jackie Chan's slapstick style. Much like the Big Boss the first Bruce fight scene is way into the film but in my opinion this good because it creates a good build up, the nunchuka scene is second only to the one in Fist Of Fury or the uncut Game Of Death. The fight scene in the Roman Colliseum deserves the credit it gets because of one simple reason, its a simple fight, there are no gimmicks, sure its set in the colliseum and the fight is supposed to reflect two roman gladiators but there are no weapons and no sweet talk. It truly has epic scale. The thing that also makes this fight scene work is the end when Tang Lung out of respect covers Colt with his Karate jacket. There may have been better fights since on screen and I havn't seen many Hong Kong films with Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen etc but this is the first great one on one fight, therefore it set the standard.

There will indeed never be another Bruce Lee. I find it fascinating to imagine what Bruce would have done if he had lived, the 80's and 90's would have been very different if Arnie, Stallone, Wiilis, Seagal and Van Damme had Bruce to compete with, Bruce is sometimes critcised for being a bad actor, but i disagree, if anyone has seen his episodes of `Longstreet' or `Marlowe' they will see that Bruce could convincingly carry a dramatic scene given the right script and no dubbing and he oozed charisma, and he showed glimpses of good acting in Enter The Dragon.

Being a Bruce fan i kind of wish that Jet Li would do the films that bruce did or was planning on doing, Jet's early work in Honk Kong like the Shaolin Temple or more recent stuff like Fist Of Legend(remake of Fist Of Fury) and Once Upon A Time In China was very promising and it seemed he was the successor to Bruce but instead now he's doing crap in Hollywood with DMX and Jason Statham. Strangely the mediocre Lethal Weapon 4 is Jet's best Hollywood film, Maybe Jet should do a project with John Woo, it would be interesting and they'd probably get the best out of each other.