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Cast:
Jet
Li
Stephen
Chow
Sing Chi
Dick
Wei
Nina
Li-Chi
Action:
Dick
Wei
Producer:
Henry
Fong
Director:
Billy
Tang
Score:
 
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DRAGON
FIGHT
AKA:
The Defector ||
Dragon Kickboxer
Year:
1989 Reviewer: Andrew
Saroch
Jet
Li and Dick Wei play two Mainland Chinese Wu Shu performers
who are touring New York with their troupe. Wei makes no
secret of his desire to leave his Chinese homeland and seek
the supposed prosperity of the Western world. Taking one such
opportunity to do so, Wei absconds from his friends and
disappears into the busy city setting. Li searches for his
fellow athlete and, on finding him, desperately tries to
convince him to return to the troupe. Unfortunately not only
does Wei flatly refuse and again runs away, but Li misses his
own flight and is therefore stranded in the U.S. Li decides to
stay in the vain hope of persuading Wei that he is making a
major mistake by staying in a city where he is a stranger. To
this end Li begins working at a local Chinese restaurant and
befriends a delivery boy (Chow Sing-Chi) who organises shelter
for him. Meanwhile Wei joins a local triad gang and quickly
forges a reputation as a no-nonsense fighter who is a more
than able foot soldier. His progress is quick and before too
long he is helping to run a triad operation. When Chow's
considerable debts mean that he is 'visited' by the local
thugs, Li jumps into help and swiftly dispatches the foes. As
things reach fever pitch, Li is once again face-to-face with
his former colleague who is now a fully-fledged triad leader.
It is now Li's responsibility to put aside his personal
feelings and take Wei to the authorities.
This
interesting early Jet Li film has become increasingly hard to
find on any format. Due to his new found popularity though,
this may not be the case for much longer. To Li fans who
haven't watched this yet, 'Dragon Fight' offers a good chance
to see their hero in action. It certainly doesn't rank as his
best, but it is still a solid action drama that has the added
bonus of an early role for Chow Sing-Chi. It is intriguing
watching two of Hong Kong's great screen treasures acting
alongside each other before either were huge stars. The film
suffers from inconsistent pacing with a good opening, a
relatively slow middle section and an excellent climax -
featuring some blistering fight action. This fact means that
it cannot be regarded as a classic or even a 'must-see', but
there are enough good reasons to watch this.
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