Dragon Fight (1989) User Reviews

Unremarkable movie with some remarkable fighting

[gridoon · 6/10 · 17 May 2005]

In "Dragon Fight", one of his earliest and least-seen films, Jet Li is part of a Chinese team that comes to San Francisco for a martial-arts exhibition. However, after the show one of his partners (played by Dick Wei) decides that he doesn't want to go back to his country, and during his getaway he accidentally kills a cop. Jet is wrongly accused of the crime, gets arrested, escapes and finds refuge in the home of a guy who had seen and admired him in the show, while Dick becomes a well-paid assassin in the service of a gangster. Through a few too many coincidences, the paths of these two former friends cross again...

Because so few people have seen "Dragon Fight" (it hasn't even been released on DVD yet!), there is a temptation to say that it's a "hidden treasure" in Jet Li's filmography. Well, it isn't. It is a rather unremarkable movie. But what is remarkable about it is some of the fighting, which is refreshingly realistic (the word "refreshingly" goes for those who, like me, hate flying-fu). Jet Li is at his most youthful, handsome and likable, but "Dragon Fight" is almost as much Dick Wei's film as it is Jet's. This is the only time they worked together on a film, and their final showdown is definitely worth waiting for. (**1/2)

Jet Li's Rumble In San Fran!

[Movie-Misfit · 7/10 · 10 July 2014]

As one of Jet's earlier films, and along with The Master, one of his first steps into the West, Dragon Fight plays like a late eighties romp on Jackie Chan's ever popular Rumble In The Bronx.

But whereas, Rumble In The Bronx aims more at a family friendly audience, Dragon Fight features some brutal moments with heavy language and hard fight action!

Somewhat lost in the magic world of 'film', I'm surprised this little gem hasn't been cleaned up and re-released properly due to Jet's success as a worldwide action star.

Sharing the limelight with the always hard hitting Dick Wei (who has been noted to choreograph the action scenes here), a simple tale of 2 brothers following different paths in life while being fish out of water is pumped up with some great martial arts fights and an earlier comedic supporting role from the amazing Stephen Chow Sing Chi...

Worth a look for all fans of each star, Dragon Fight is pretty damn good!

Not a bad martial arts action flick

[bchang_2 · 7/10 · 14 September 2009]

This is a fairly old movie, I just recently saw it. I have to admit there's some nostalgia on my part to all the 80's scenery, movie style, and cheesy-ness.

This is an action film. The story is basic with unlikely events/plot holes, but serves the purpose for the action and fights to take place. However this should be no surprise; this is how action films generally are.

The fights were not the best I've seen, but they're pretty good; mostly gritty and realistic type fight scenes. I was a bit surprised because I thought this style only became popular much later, when martial arts became a common element in American action films. For example some of "Tiger"'s fights like the one where he choked the guy to kill him as opposed to using some sort of fancy looking kung-fu technique. Because of that to me some of the choreography actually look sort of modern.

Although I have to admit I was rooting for Tiger the whole time. Jet Li's character was too goody-two-shoe.

Jet Li prepares to launch

[udar55 · 6/10 · 7 February 2006]

1989 is the year of the "Jet Li is a Chinese martial artist lost in San Francisco" film with both this movie and Tsui Hark's THE MASTER from the same year having almost the exact same plot. Martial artist Li is stuck in the US after trying to stop his teammate Dick Wei from defecting. Wei quickly (and I mean quickly) works his way up the crime corporate ladder while Li gets a job as a stock boy. Who's gonna clash? You guessed it! This is an early film for both Li and Stephen Chow, who plays the goofy sidekick who leads to everyone's death. Thankfully the film also includes the gawky Americans that THE MASTER had. Where do they find these people? Do they put up signs around town reading, "Do you speak English bug-eyed with wild gestures?" The best thing about the film are the fights which are thrown in every 10 minutes or so. The end showdown at a ranch between Wei and Li is quite good, with lots of contact blows and beautiful weapon work. Sadly, the next time Li worked on these shores the results weren't nearly as entertaining.

Enjoyable late 1980s action martial arts...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 19 May 2022]

I stumbled upon the 1989 Hong Kong martial arts action movie "Lung Joi Tin Aai" (aka "Dragon Fight") by random chance here in 2022. I have never seen or heard about this movie before. And seeing that the movie had both Jet Li and Stephen Chow on the cast list was sufficient to make me want to watch it.

"Lung Joi Tin Aai" is an archetypical late 1980s Hong Kong action movie, for better or worse. So if you are a fan of that era and genre, then you know what you are getting here.

The storyline in "Lung Joi Tin Aai", as written by James Yuen and Sally Nichols, is pretty straight forward, if not actually a bit generic. But it does work out well enough, given the time that the movie was made. This is not a movie that will challenge you intellectually; nay, you just lean back in the seat and munch on your snacks while watching the action. I will say, however, that the storyline was entertaining enough actually.

There is a good amount of action and martial arts throughout the course of the movie, and it is nicely choreographed and executed on the screen. Keep in mind that Stephen Chow is not really participating in the fight scenes here, just so you don't get disappointed. Something that is also archetypical for a Hong Kong action movie here is the sound effects during the fights. Sure, the sounds are awful and over the top, but it is just something that you are accustomed to if you've seen your share of these types of action movies.

And while the movie is taking place in San Francisco, I found it odd that the American people in the movie seemed to have been dubbed, and poorly dubbed at well. It was just downright laughably stupid. And it was toe-curling to listen to.

"Lung Joi Tin Aai" does have a good cast ensemble. I didn't know that Jet Li and Stephen Chow had made a movie together, but it sure was enjoyable to watch them on the screen. The movie also has Dick Wei on the cast list in a role that seemed to have been tailored for him, as he was just excellent in that role and character.

All in all, then "Lung Joi Tin Aai" is an enjoyable and watchable older martial arts action movie. This is definitely something for fans of the Hong Kong martial arts genre.

My rating of "Lung Joi Tin Aai" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Jet Li and Stephen Chow. Not nearly as good as it should be

[gorthu · 5/10 · 19 April 2009]

Jet Li and Dick Wei are members of a travelling group of martial arts demonstrators who perform all over the world. They don't get paid anything, but they get food. Dick Wei wants out and while in America, he runs away. Jet follows him and ends up getting taken in by the police for killing a cop. But Dick Wei is the one who killed the cop. Now Jet goes to prison, but escapes on the way there. Dick Wei becomes a bigtime gangster and is doing fine in his new life. But Jet' becomes friends with Stephen Chow, and Chow is always up to trouble, and they end up getting in trouble with Dick Wei. After certain events happen which I don't want to spoil, Jet goes to fight Dick Wei at the end of the movie.

Stephen Chow does good in his role. Mostly comedy, but also some drama. This is one of the few movies where you will see any dramatic acting from Chow. Not even a year after Dragon Fight came out is when he began starring in the movies that made him famous. The Year this was made, 1989, Chow co-starred in 3 movies (no leading roles), and he starred in 11 movies in 1990 (being the lead actor in all 11).

Jet Li is very young here, and that is a BIG problem. This was only his 5th movie, and he just hadn't become an actor yet. That didn't happen until his next movie, Once Upon a Time In China. He just isn't able to diplay the anger he needs to show in the final fight. You know, the staredown that happens between 2 former friends who now have to fight to the death. Dick Wei has that classic gangster look, and he couldn't have given a more perfect facial expression in the staredown, but Jet doesn't give anything back. His acting the whole movie is not even close to being on par with his later movies.

This movie should be good, but the story is badly done, and that is the main reason why it is a bad movie. Another big problem is the choreography. While this movie is pretty terrible, it does get good at the end (well, at least the choreography finally gets good). Dick Wei and Jet Li have a great fight against each other, then they go off and have separate fights, and then after that, the dessert is Mark Williams vs Jet Li. Williams really gets to shine, but it's only for about a minute. The only other movies I have seen him in are The Master with Jet Li, and College Kickboxers, a fun little movie which can be found in a 10-pack called Bullet Wounds. I don't know why he wasn't in more movies. He kind of reminds me of Ron Van Clief with the way he acts and similar body build, but their on screen fighting skills look a lot different. Van Clief's moves are much cleaner and he looks a lot more skilled, but Mark Williams has got him beat in jumping kicks, which is why I don't get why he wasn't in more movies. When you see his jumping kicks trust me you will be in awe.

Now when you watch this, you will see what I'm talking when I say the fights get better at the very end. Jet was the choreographer, but by the end he was frustrated and Dick Wei took over (at least I think that's the story, I heard about it a long time ago). Dick Wei was not an action choreographer by any means, but luckily he took the job on, because without the final fights this movie probably would have gotten a 1 star rating.

Jet Li and Stephen Chow

[Genkinchan · 4/10 · 5 September 2023]

I'm writing this of course after finished watching the movie .. 34 years ago the movie was made.. I can cut some slack for it.. all the actors in the movie acted splendidly.. everyone was great especially Dick Wei and Fong Ping

But there is a huge problem with the writing of the story line which really pisses me off

Firstly both Jet Li and Dick Wei involves in a very trivial issue which can be easily resolved.. the murder case can be easily settle by Dick Wei at the time period but the story line drags it till both of them have to fight..

All the action scenes were properly choreograph and executed but the drama and the storyline for me is weak and a lot of loopholes.

An overkill action drama with Chow and Li.

[OllieSuave-007 · 5/10 · 9 April 2015]

This is a Hong Kong action drama movie starring Jet Li as a martial artist from China who performs a Kung-Fu in America. He stirs trouble when he decides to defect and stay in America. Though I don't remember much from this film, I do remember it is full of dry humor courtesy of Stephen Chow, which is what the film sorely needed, and lots of drama and action from Li. Just him playing a martial artist in a foreign land, trying to make ends meet, is pretty suspenseful.

However, the plot is somewhat blurry and all you really get are violent scenes after the other that are way overkill. You don't see Stephen Chow and Jet Li on screen together often, so, it is a rare film nonetheless. But, not one of the better action movies from HK I've seen.

Grade D+

Plot problems, flat characters, but still extremely fun.

[Neutron · 8/10 · 22 February 1999]

Not quite as coherent or well-scripted as some of his other films, Jet Li's performance is still quite good. The setting (San Francisco) makes it interesting for bay area viewers, seeing their city through the eyes of Chinese filmmakers as an exotic foreign place. Many of the characters are ridiculously flat and caricature-ish, plot complications are unlikely and unrealistic, and many are left unresolved at the end. Still, if you're a Jet Li fan and you can handle these shortcomings, you'll be as happy as a sandboy. I took two friends to see this and we all loved it.

You'll be happy as a sandboy

[Neutron · 8/10 · 9 December 1999]

I found this movie particularly interesting from a cultural perspective. It was filmed by people from Hong Kong, in San Francisco, for an Asian audience, and it provides a fairly interesting view of what Asian capitalist political separatists think America is like. The action is quite good, with a surprising amount of plot for the genre. (It even makes sense!) And of course it stars Jet Li, who it goes without saying makes Jackie Chan look like Mr. Yunioshi.

Dick Wei shines

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 15 April 2020]

DRAGON FIGHT is another of the low budget flicks that Jet Li made early on in his career. It's similar visually to THE MASTER, the Tsui Hark movie he also shot in America in 1992, but despite the smaller budget and cruder production techniques I found it the superior film. This is because it's filled with a wealth of fight action, and almost all of it is kick-ass. It also tells an interesting 'dual' type storyline that you might recognise from the likes of TAI CHI MASTER. Jet and Dick Wei are sworn brothers who arrive in San Francisco and end up staying on illegally. Wei becomes a bodyguard and quickly rises to the top as a gangster, while Jet goes straight and befriends Stephen Chow to work in a grocery store. Inevitably their two worlds soon collide again, in spectacularly brutal fashion.

Fans of the central stars will no doubt love seeing Jet early on in his career as the wide-eyed innocent. His acting's pretty wooden, but he does neat work with poles and shows off real fluidity. Chow's role reminded me of his one in the same year's JUST HEROES: he's another misguided individual who ends up going into some very dark places. The real star of this one is Wei as the sympathetic villain; he's involved most of the kick-ass fight sequences and he really shows off his skill and power throughout. Good acting, too; a real all-rounder, this guy, who never received the proper acclaim he was due. Things build to a lavish fight-filled climax which really delivers the goods in spectacular fashion and as an action fan I loved it.