Enter Three Dragons | aka Dragon on Fire (1981) Review

“Enter Three Dragons” American Theatrical Poster

Director: Joseph Kong
Co-director: Godfrey Ho
Cast: Dragon Lee, Bruce Lai, Bruce Thai, Cheung Lik, Samuel Walls, Bolo Yeung Tze, Philip Ko Fei, Fong Yau, Tiger Yeung Cheng Wu, To Siu Ming, Kong Do, Alexander Grand
Running Time: 90 min.

By Jeff Bona

When a small time hood named Sammy (Samuel Walls) gets himself mixed up with deadly gangsters, he enlists the help of a kung fu master named Dragon Hung (Bruce Lai) to help him straighten things out.

The movie starts out with a gimmicky plot based off mistaken identity: Dragon Yeung (Bruce Thai) is immediately confused for being Dragon Hung. In addition, there’s another “Dragon” roaming around named Bruce Hung (Dragon Lee), who happens to be the brother of Dragon Hung (you may have to re-read this paragraph, but trust me, it make sense).

To make a long story short, Sammy and the “three dragons” combine forces and take on a bunch of bad guys, which include: Philip Ko Fei (“Dragons Forever“), Tiger Yeung (“Tower of Death“), Kong Do (“The Chinese Stuntman“), Alexander Grand (“The Dragon Lives Again“), San Kuai (“The Iron Dragon Strikes Back“) and Bolo Yeung (“Enter the Dragon“).

“Enter Three Dragons” is the perfect companion piece to “The Clones of Bruce Lee,” which was also directed by Joseph Kong. Correct me if I’m wrong, but these two “Bruceploitation” films are the only titles to have not one, not two, but three Bruce Lee look-alikes. Actually, “The Clones of Bruce Lee” has a 4th look-alike: Bruce Le (“Enter the Game of Death“); but both movies share the appearances of Dragon Lee, Bruce Lai and Bruce Thai. “Enter Three Dragons” isn’t as wacky as “Clones,” but there’s definitely enough unintentional entertainment that makes it just as fun.

As with most kung fu flicks, the English dubbing job is part of its appeal, but I have to say, the choice for Samuel Walls’ voiceover is hilarious. It’s as if they they didn’t want him to sound like a black guy OR a white guy, so they just made him sound like half a retard (I don’t mean to use the word “retard” in a derogatory sense, but I challenge anyone to find a better word!).

More of the film’s appeal resides in the way it’s edited. This film is so disjointed and sloppily put together that it qualifies as an art house masterpiece. For example, there’s a bit part where there’s a flashback sequence, but since the rest of the film is so choppy, the flash back sequence blends right in with its current structure!

I love the funky disco tune that plays during the opening credits (same music is used in Bruce Li’s “Dynamo“). The rest of the film’s soundtrack contains stolen music from Giorgio Moroder’s “Midnight Express” and various James Bond cues.

What’s up with this Bruce Thai? (not to be confused with Bruce Lai) He looks like Bruce Lee more than the rest of them – yet – he doesn’t have a single fight scene. Does he even know how to fight? Instead, they show him drinking, smoking and picking away at plants. His character is so lame that he actually gets kidnapped and is later saved by Cheung Lik!

Who is Cheung Lik, you ask? Well, between the Bruces we have Cheung Lik (“Bruce Lee The Invincible“), who plays his usual self: a nice guy who knows kung fu but just isn’t good enough to hold his own. Unlike someone like Michael Chan Wai Man, Cheung Lik is the type of guy who never gets laid. Is it me, or does Cheung Lik’s career seem to revolve around Bruce Lee clones saving his ass? (or maybe I need to see more Cheung Lik flicks).

“Enter Three Dragons” is filled non-stop martial arts action — that’s not necessarily a good thing. If the fights were tightly choreography by someone like Lau Kar-Leung or Sammo Hung, I’d say otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, the fights aren’t bad, there’s just so much of it that it’s hard to appreciate.

Recommended for Bruceploitation fans only. Everyone else better have a solid sense of humor.

Jeff Bona‘s Rating: 6/10