Dragon Fist AKA Long Quan (1979) Review

Verdict
4

Summary

Dragon Fist is one of my favourite Jackie Chan movies with some terrific (and coherent) fight scenes which beat the majority of big budget modern action movies hands down.

Plot: A dishonored student of the Dragon Fist Sect seeks revenge for the death of his teacher.

Review: If ever there’s a movie modern action directors should look at for how to shoot a fight scene Dragon Fist is one of them; it’s one of Jackie Chan’s earlier movies but remains one of his best too.

What starts off as a generic kung-fu revenge story doesn’t go the way you expect as Jackie Chan’s character Tang How-Yuen is manipulated by rival clans in order to save his mistress after she is poisoned. There are twists and turns abound keeping things unpredictable and action-packed. I liked that How-Yuen is so obsessed with getting revenge that he becomes quite unsympathetic and arrogant which makes him different from the lovable types of characters that Jackie would be known for as his career went on.

What ensues is an hour and 40 minutes of superb martial arts action; watch as the camera flows smoothly letting us see every punch and kick with Jackie Chan proving what a master he is. His earlier movies are old-school kung-fu movies which is why they are my favourites of his.

The final fight with How-Yuen vs. pretty much everybody is incredibly satisfying not to mention exhausting as he takes on all comers and frankly beats the unholy shit out of one of them where he most certainly will not be getting up.

I’ve only ever seen the dubbed version of this film which is a shame as I hate dubbing and will always prefer subtitles. I also found the music score to be horrendous and intrusive. It made the opening credits especially frustrating as the fight scenes would keep freezing for a credit to come up which caused me to swear a lot at the TV.

Aside from that though overall, Dragon Fist is one of my favourite Jackie Chan movies with some terrific (and coherent) fight scenes which beat the majority of big budget modern action movies hands down.