As Jackie Chan moved steered his movie career from the late 70s to the early 80s, you can feel him feeling out and challenging the boundaries of the kung-fu movie with every new project. More comedy here, a more modern mindset there, much like one of his anything goes, climactic brawls, both Jackie the director and Jackie the performer were pushing the envelope against the established order – but sometimes even a high-kicking maverick can get distracted.
1982’s Dragon Lord was originally supposed to be a sequel to his knock-down, drag-out opus, The Young Master, but as production continued things seemed to go in a different direction. But while that movie was an undiluted punch-fest, Dragon Lord starts to veer less into the realms of Chan’s established prowess and more into his impressive athleticism as more and more stunts start to take the centre stage. If we treat everything between Drunken Master and Police Story as a launching pad for Chan’s finest hour, it’s invaluable – but when taken on its own merit, does Dragon Lord do the business?
Much like most movies from this era, we find Jackie playing Lung, a carefree, immature young man who has impressive kung fu skills, but also can’t focus on his father’s teachings when he’d rather be out goofing off with his best buddy, Hoi, or indulging in some huge sporting event that pits the local villages against one another. However, whenever Lung isn’t risking life and limb to claim glory for his village and himself, he and Hoi constantly bicker, fight and plot to see who can spend the most time with the pretty Lai, but the fathers of both boys are getting steadily more impatient with the fact that the two don’t seem to be growing up any time soon.
Meanwhile, away from the clumsy flirting and frequent fall outs, the villainous Big Boss and his smuggling ring is planning to steal and sell a bunch of China’s national treaures to overseas buyers and worse yet, some of the local authorities have been roped into the crime – but seeing as Dragon Lord features one of Chan’s more meandering, directionless plots, that’s pretty much all we’re going to get on that. In fact, as Lung continues to fall out/make up with his good friend, embark on massive sports sequences and continue to try and make kissy faces at Lai, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Lung and Big Boss plot may never collide – but when our hero finally stumbles across this dastardly, treacherous plot (by accident, naturally), he’ll find that his friendship and his martial arts prowess will be put to the ultimate test. However, the biggest question to asked of Dragon Lord proves to be this: can that classic, Chan, finale throwdown make up for a kung fu movie with precious little kung fu in it?
The issues with Dragon Lord are as prominent as one of those big, bright purple bruises that people in classic kung fu movies instantly get when they’re punched in the face. The fact filming started without a final script in place is painfully apparent considering large patches of the story plainly have no clue as to where they’re going. And yet, while Chan has a grip on his story so loose a two year-old could break it, he still has a vision and it ultimately becomes what Dragon Lord stands or falls on. After proving time and time again that his witty fight scenes set him aside from the majority of his peers, it’s obvious that Jackie’s sole hope for the film was to be an excuse for him to move more beyond the expected punching and kicking and instead try and find some variety in the set pieces, however, while you can see some of that increased stuntwork take shape in the final battle, the film chooses to mostly strut it’s stuff in some strange places – namely extended sports sequences.
Now, obviously those who have come to witness another dazzling display of fight choreography might be a little confused as to why the film opens with a contest that sees four team beat each other silly in order to claim a gold loaf located at the top of a bamboo structure and then return it to their base to stuff it in an appropriately coloured bag to win. But while the disappointment of fight fans may be understood, in lieu of a more traditional kung fu sequence we get a huge, epic, bout of action that’s just as exquisitely planned and executed as any fight scene – it’s just that it doesn’t actually have much to do with anything. But later in the film, after a lot of faffing about between Chan and a gurning Michael Chan Wai-Man, we get another gargantuan sporting sequence involving a full game of Jianzi, a football-like sport in involving a shuttlecock instead of a ball that’s kicked about like a hacky sack.
The extended scene may miss a trick by not dubbing the sport “Jackie Sack” (you’re welcome), but it’s certainly impressively put together, involving some truly dextrous footwork and there’s a strong likelihood that Stephen Chow may have taken it as inspiration for the magnificent Shaolin Soccer. However, for all of its dazzling, physical virtues, Dragon Lord can’t disguise that none of it really has anything to do with anything.
Yes, the sports bits are impressively entertaining, but they’re not connected to the main plot (such as it is) at all and furthermore, whenever the film isn’t concerning itself with massive sports sequences, it spins it’s wheels by dedicating the vast majority of the runtime having Chan and his mate clown about with almost no real point whatsoever and any hint of true action doesn’t kick in until an hour into proceedings. However, when it does…
Yep, whole there’s many a Chan project that’s salvaged by its action, Dragon Lord has a special distinction of being one of his first movies that really mixes flashy stuntwork with the fights. First there’s an inspired moment where badguys jab spears through the roof in order to stab a nimble Lung who only wants to retrieve a lost kite, but the final fight with the milky eyed Big Boss really is the entry point into the sort of fight scenes Chan would eventually make the norm. Yes, lots of punches, kicks and blocks are thrown, but our hero also takes full advantage of his environment, using ladders and multiple levels to add maximum drama and excitement. As a result, while the film will carry certain importance with those who study Chan’s career, it’s blatant lack of focus will always mark it out as a transitional entry into his cannon rather than the acclaimed classics that cemented his name.
When Dragon Lord is good, it’s very, very good – but that ends up depending on what it is you’re looking for in a Jackie Chan film. If you’re hankering for an all-fighting, all-crazy epic then you’ll probably be better served by watching The Young Master or The Fearless Hyena, but if you fancy watching the man once dubbed the “suicidal clown” try new things with stunts and extended sports sequences, then you might find gold hidden within. And if nothing else, you might enjoy a bit of Jackie Sack…
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