Search - Great Martial Arts Movies (Blood Of The Dragon / Bloodfight / Champ Against Champ) on DVD

Great purchase for old school kung fu fans...

Lord Jim | St. Louis | 06/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If this was more expensive, my ratings would be much lower. But for $6 (here or at other places), this is a great purchase.

Blood of the Dragon is one of Wang Yu's better films. Not his best, but quite entertaining. He plays the Dragon, the title (I assume) comes from the fact he gets quite badly injured by the other main character - who is actually a good guy. The other character has a "Magic" sword - magic because it has a hidden dagger in it. His weapon is actually pretty cool and well used in the film. Wang Yu uses a spear, and this is one of the few movies where a spear actually looks cool.

Anyway, the film is quality, with a good amount of bloody violence and a large, long (about 20 minute) pretty well-choreographed final fight (ironically, the secondary lead character with the magic sword gets a better fight). This is also the oldest movie I've seen that has a "whip sword".

The film has its boring parts, but stick through em. On second and third viewings, skip them.

Bloodfight I didn't manage to watch. It's pretty bad. But it might be enjoyable if you like the style of film (modern day tournament). Bolo Yeung is indeed the villain in the film.

Champ Against Champ was the big surprise for me. Much better than I expected. Not terrible like many other Dragon Lee films, but quite enjoyable. It concerns a lead character who is with a group of people that get attacked. The main villain hits him with a poison dart, which should have killed him but instead just leaves him missing one leg below the knee (the dubbing here plays into the entertainment - his doctor, an elderly Chinese man, has a Kentucky accent). Not letting that slow down his quest for revenge, he fashions a solid metal leg to use as a weapon in kung fu, and he sets off.

The fights are surprisingly good, and fast paced. There's also occasional parts which are unintentionally funny, adding more to the movies score. Like early in the film, the lead's father (or teacher, I forget), an elderly guy, is watching everyone fight and is quite happy with how it is going, and then a leg comes in from the right side of the screen and hits him in the face HARD. Funny stuff.

There's also the metal leg. Sometimes when he does a sort of super kick (a bit like when Wang Yu's one-armed boxer does his finishing punches, but better) he sends people flying. One guy gets knocked into a tree, others just fly back, and some do this cool thing where they slide really far along the ground. Cool stuff."