Dragon Fist

Rating:
Summary: Shortened Dragon Fist
Review: ...Some yahoo at the studio cut out almost 20 minutes from the already cut version, which runs 94 mins. I have to admit seeing it once again in widescreen, 2.35:1, with a pretty good print may be worth it. I guess it was for me. But, the 18 mins. missing make you wonder what the heck's going on when it just jumps to fight scenes for no reason whatsoever. And why is Chan doing what he's doing? (I'm not giving anything away). Buy the fullscreen version to get the full story. When I first saw this in the theater, some twenty years ago, it was a pretty good kung fu movie. Chan did not use wires and his fighting style was unique. This is a pre-comedic Chan. Nice to see a serious Chan. Produced by Lo Wei, the producer of a few early Bruce Lee movies.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent tale of redemption and butt-kicking
Review: Dragon Fist is a classic tale of redemption and butt-kicking. Even if you've never seen a kungfu movie before, chances are, you'll be familiar with the storyline. I don't want to give the story away, but realize it's the same sort of plot used in many westerns, only instead of cowpokes and gunfights, we have martial artists and kungfu showdowns.

Dragon Fist is an early Jackie Chan drama. It's a film he made before he created the genre of comedy chop sokki, and it shows not only can he do comedy, but he can also do a competent job at playing serious parts.

My only real qualms about this flick are the dubbing (not bad, but not great, either) and the film quality. The video and sound quality is particularly bad in the beginning fight sequence. The kungfu masters all look about ten feet tall and four inches thick. It's pretty stretched out. In addition, the sound is very muffled, and I had to turn the volume up quite a way in order to understand what was being said.

That being said, I do have one other nit-pick: all the kungfu masters wear horrible, obvious wigs! I was waiting for the hair to fly off during one of the many excellent fight choreographies, but it just didn't happen. That stuff is glued down really tight....

Rating:
Summary: Excellent tale of redemption and butt-kicking
Review: Dragon Fist is a classic tale of redemption and butt-kicking. Even if you've never seen a kungfu movie before, chances are, you'll be familiar with the storyline. I don't want to give the story away, but realize it's the same sort of plot used in many westerns, only instead of cowpokes and gunfights, we have martial artists and kungfu showdowns.

Dragon Fist is an early Jackie Chan drama. It's a film he made before he created the genre of comedy chop sokki, and it shows not only can he do comedy, but he can also do a competent job at playing serious parts.

My only real qualms about this flick are the dubbing (not bad, but not great, either) and the film quality. The video and sound quality is particularly bad in the beginning fight sequence. The kungfu masters all look about ten feet tall and four inches thick. It's pretty stretched out. In addition, the sound is very muffled, and I had to turn the volume up quite a way in order to understand what was being said.

That being said, I do have one other nit-pick: all the kungfu masters wear horrible, obvious wigs! I was waiting for the hair to fly off during one of the many excellent fight choreographies, but it just didn't happen. That stuff is glued down really tight....

Rating:
Summary: Dragon Fist (1978)
Review: This film is really a drama with kung fu in it. Jackie's master is killed so his wife, daughter and Jackie seek revenge on the murderer. When they find him they discover that he's repented his sins and even cut off his leg and penance. The the one-legged master and Jackie join forces to defeat the person who killed Jackie's master.

Rating:
Summary: Good drama
Review: This story is basically a good drama, with action/kung fu scenes supporting the story, which is unusual for a Lo Wei directed Jackie picture and for the Hong Kong 70s kung fu genre as a whole!! Jackie gives a good dramatic performance, though as it is basically his first, is not terrific. Please note the 3 stars are for Jackie and the story, not for the DVD itself. 20 or so minutes (which explains why a lot of the action happens) have been cut from this version. This is typical of US distributed Jackie movies I have found. Check out Amazon.co.uk for recently produced DVDs (including this one) which are not cut. They are PAL format though. If you are a rabid Chan-fan, and like to see Jackie stretching himself a little beyond the typical action/comedy/stunt scenario then this movie is a must see and won't disappoint, even in its reduced format.

Rating:
Summary: Good drama
Review: This story is basically a good drama, with action/kung fu scenes supporting the story, which is unusual for a Lo Wei directed Jackie picture and for the Hong Kong 70s kung fu genre as a whole!! Jackie gives a good dramatic performance, though as it is basically his first, is not terrific. Please note the 3 stars are for Jackie and the story, not for the DVD itself. 20 or so minutes (which explains why a lot of the action happens) have been cut from this version. This is typical of US distributed Jackie movies I have found. Check out Amazon.co.uk for recently produced DVDs (including this one) which are not cut. They are PAL format though. If you are a rabid Chan-fan, and like to see Jackie stretching himself a little beyond the typical action/comedy/stunt scenario then this movie is a must see and won't disappoint, even in its reduced format.