Customer Rating: 
Summary: NOT AS FUNNY AS BILLED. AND ALMOST NO ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment: I wish that I could write a really long review on this but I really didn't like it. It;s basically the same as project A except with limited action, stupid comedy, and a final fight scene that doesn't dissapoint because IT'S THE ONLY FREAKING ONE. The weird soccer game was pretty enjoyable, and the whole gun thing was very funny, but a major letdown overall.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THIS IS NOT "DRAGON LORD," THIS IS "DRAGON FIST"
Comment: Okay listen up folks. Too many of you are posting reviews on this DVD that relate to Jackie Chan's "Dragon Lord." This is "Dragon Fist." This is a serious movie of Jackie Chan's with some violent choreography and some good stunts. This is about a young man named Yuan (Jackie Chan) who witnesses his champion master fight a challenger who is angry that he didn't get to compete in the martial arts competition. After Yuan witnesses his master get killed, he vows to his master's wife and daughter that he will train hard and avenge his death.
Three years later, Yuan, and the master's daughter and widow find the man who killed his master, but find out that the mutilated himself out of guilt for what he did. The mistress, and Yuan, forgive him. But other dangers lie ahead. The mistress gets very sick, and the leader of a local, ruthless, and powerful gang, named Wei, is the only one with the formula to cure it. He discovers Yuan fighting skills and uses him to help in his illegal killing and smuggling business. This ruthless gang is also at war with the clan under the man who killed Yuan's master.
So any other reviews that talk about a "funny" kung fu movie or a shuttle-cock game or a movie with little kung fu must be talking about "Dragon Lord." Dismiss these reviews immediately because they go to a different movie.
Although this disc is uncut, it is full-screen. And you can only have the original Mandarin audio or an English dubbed version without any subtitles whatsoever. The only DVD out there that contains this movie in it's original widescreen aspect ratio is the Columbia Tristar version, but that movie is cut by 20 minutes or so. This Simitar version is uncut. Avoid the Beverly Wilshire version at all costs. That version has horrible quality, and above all, they say it's "widescreen," but what they actually did was take a full-screen version of "Dragon Fist" and they cut off the top and bottom to make it look like a "widescreen" picture. You are better off with this Simitar version or the Columbia Tristar version.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dragon Lord : Don't be confused, This is a good film.
Comment: Dragon Lord is the first good Jackie Chan film. All the elements of a classic Jackie Chan film came together in this film for the first time: 1) The well-trained but clumsy underdog hero whose adolescent tendencies get him into big trouble. 2) The use of almost cartoonish humor, blended with spectacular, sometimes death defying stunt work 3)sometimes brutal hand to hand fights with a bare minimum of bone breaking sound effects or blood. This was only the second film Jackie directed. His first was Young Master and that film established Jackie as the martial arts Buster Keaton. However that film could not break out of the utterly formulaic restrictions the martial arts film and producers insisted upon.
Dragon Lord does change the formula and drastically. It also was not a box office success in Hong Kong and Jackie would work with his friends and Sammo (and fufill his contractual obligation to appear in the dreadful Cannonball Run 2 in 1983) before directing his first full-fledged Chan-masterpiece Project A in 1984. Dragon Lord was originally conceived as a sequel to Young Master, to be called Young Master in Love. But continuity did not allow the film to be an official sequel. It was first released (barely) to the U.S. as The Dragon Strikes in 1982. At this point in his career, Jackie knew he was not going to follow in the footsteps and be the new Bruce Lee for producer director Lo Wei. He had other things in mind and almost got what he was after with Dragon Lord.
For nearly the entire first hour of Dragon Lord , Dragon (Chan) and his best friend Cowboy (Mars) vie for the attentions of a young woman who's name we later learn is Sexxy. We are treated to an incredible display of stunt work in a opening title sequence of a Football game (not soccer) , Chinese Style. Forget about protective gear or the refs calling anyone for unnecessary roughness. 90 stunt people received minor injuries and Jackie hurt his chin so bad he was in pain when he tried to talk .
Later Cowboy and Dragon run into a field of tall grass after a pheasant and meet a desperate man trying to hide from some thugs. The thugs start to rough up Cowboy and Dragon but realize they are just kids and not connected to the man they want.
Dragon, sneaks out of his house and gets away from his studies to try and meet the young woman of his dreams but runs into his best friend and rival Cowboy. Cowboy seems to take the upper hand with a dirty trick performed in front of Dragon's father. But Dragon gets another opportunity and he has a plan. The plan involves staging an attack so that supposedly Cowboy can be a hero, but instead it's Dragon that is about to become a hero. Tempers flare however and Cowboy and Dragon fight and it becomes clear the attack was staged. The girl is not impressed and Cowboy and Dragon get into trouble and stop being friends.
Eventually the two friends make up and compete in a Chinese shuttlecck match which is played like soccer only instead of a ball the players use a shuttlecck )without rackets keeping it off the ground and moving it around without using their hands). The nearly fifteen minute sequence involving the playing of this game is a highlight of physical dexterity and stunt work. Picture the best hacky-sack players you have ever seen , now add non-stop acrobatics to the mix. Wow.
Next Dragon tries to send a note to the girl Sexxy. The kite carrying the note blows in the wrong direction and Dragon goes to retrieve it. He finds himself on a roof top and there is a top secret illegal smuggling operation going on below him. Men with spears try to get him and they almost succeed. Smugglers are stealing Ming Vases to ship out of the country illegally.
Dragon's father gives Dragon a test on his studies, and in another comic slapstick sequence Dragon manages to cheat himself through his father's examination.
This eventually all leads to a show-down with the thugs and smugglers for Cowboy and Dragon and the incredible 20 minute fight sequence finale of the film. A fight sequence which is full of all of the best of Jackie's trademark moves and humor, with only the barest minimum of any wire work or trickery. It's pure Jackie acrobatics for 20 minutes straight and a must see for all Jackie fans. He would re-stage and upgrade the fight slightly (with different characters) to end the Hong Kong film version of The Protector (the American version of this film with Danny Aielo is to be avoided except for the curious to compare it to the superior Hong Kong version of the film which Jackie re-edited and directed additional martial arts sequences for -including a new ending).
Dragon Lord doesn't represent Jackie's finest (look to Drunken Master 2 aka Legend of the Drunken Master and Project A part 2 for that). The first hour of the film feels too light and episodic. The use of music punctuates sequences in much the same way cartoon music is used. The sports sequences are knock-outs but they feel disconnected from the narrative of the film. It isn't until the final 40 minutes the film seems to come together when it generates a little bit of suspense and then delivers the knock out final fight sequence. Chan's direction and choreography though a bit repetitious after a while is impressive.
If you like Jackie Chan at all, put this one on your must see list and if your thinking maybe you'll buy it.. it's worth having!
- -Christopher J Jarmick,is the author of the steamy suspense thriller The Glass Coccon with Serena F. Holder
Customer Rating:
Summary: Big Budget film does so-so on the Asian Market.
Comment: This film was originally going to be the sequel to Jackie Chan's blockbuster hit "Young Master" and carry the title "Young Master in Love", however, during the making of this film the plot changed from having connection to the original so the title "Dragon Lord" was given. This film was given the title Dragon Strike though because it is the English dubbed version. Jackie has many scenes, which actually included no gung fu at all and were taking place inside a sports arena. Some 50-200 shots were taken on a hackiack scene! Jackie ends up accidentally finding a gangs secret hideout and discovers a smuggling plot to illegally export Chinese artifacts. This film does have a few good fight scenes and is the first of his modern Hong Kong films. It also stars the famous Yuen Biao, which is a happy side note. Not a bad film for the martial arts/Hong Kong film viewer. Also a good pick for Chan fans. All together, Dragon Strike is a film worth owning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Uneven, but still entertaining
Comment: Dragon Lord is an interesting early directorial attempt by a very young Jackie Chan. It bounces back and forth between some strange sports and an actual story involving friends and girl chasing. Some times it's good, sometimes it drags. For me, the sporting events went on too long, although the bun pyramid race was an interesting depiction of a Chinese custom. I really enjoyed the story on this one, because the friendship between Jackie and his freind "Cowboy" was very charming, and I enjoyed their boyish pranks trying to woo a girl away from each other. The bigger plot is similar to "Drunken Master 2", with theives plotting to smuggle precious artifacts out of China -- a subject Jackie obviously feels strongly about, since it occurs again in "Rush Hour". It has a couple of exciting fights, and lots of athletic clowning which I enjoyed just as much as the fights.
