After seeing the dreadful Birth of the Dragon, I realized that I’ve seen a lot of movies about Bruce Lee, but no films (that I can remember) starring Bruce Lee so I decided to ask which movies I should see. Everyone agreed that Enter the Dragon was the best. It was also tragically his last film so one and done for me.
Enter the Dragon is part rape revenge fantasy, part James Bond and Mortal Kombat’s ancestor. Even though Lee is the star, he shares a considerable amount of screen time with his costars. There is a martial arts tournament on an island owned by some dude who really dug Mao and Stalin’s aesthetic and may have a paw in drug and sex trafficking. The British beg Lee to participate in the tournament so the bad guys can be exposed. There are two other participants and Vietnam vets: a black guy on the run from police brutality (wow, a movie couldn’t do that now without backlash) and a white guy with a gambling problem. Shout out to the blink and you’ll miss the lovely Marlene Clark best known for her performance in Ganja & Hess! While the island initially seems like a paradise, it is not long before it becomes obvious that human life is cheap, and the island owner needs to be stopped.
Mom decided to join me in my little viewing endeavor, and she thought Enter the Dragon was too violent for her. While intellectually I understood that the movie was the foundation for all the films that I enjoy, it was a bit dated for my taste. Lee is timelessly impressive whether he is jumping backwards into a tree, casually handling a cobra or facing legions of men. If I had one major complaint, it was that Lee wasn’t the sole focus of the story. The film’s sexual depictions didn’t age well. We know that these are trafficked women, but the other two contestants are like, “Woo hoo! Free chicks. Breasts!” I know that they don’t know about the kidnapping and drugs, and it was the 1970s, but just sneak the smallest of peaks at The Man with the Iron Fists, and you realize that the imagery hasn’t evolved as quickly as the fighting choreography. Damn, those guys were hard pressed to rape that chick. Who even has the energy after she kicked their ass repeatedly?!? At least the camera shared her point of view and not the perspective of her attackers.
Enter the Dragon seems to be making some statement about the difficulty that American Vietnam vets have with readjusting to civilian life at home, feeling more at ease returning to the East and finding some sort of resolution standing behind someone taking the lead who is from the region. Lee is clearly the hero, and it is sadly still revolutionary to have an Asian man as the leader.
Enter the Dragon is a classic that still packs a punch. It is ahead of our times in many ways and dated in others. RIP Bruce (and Brandon) Lee.