Enter The Dragon was Bruce Lee’s last film before his death in 1973. It was the first Warner Bros’ Chinese martial arts film. Lee’s intention was to express his Chinese culture. The film comprises of three main characters; Lee who is recruited by an organization to investigate Han’s drug trade, Roper who to hide himself from the mafia because of gambling debts and Williams who is harassed by racist police officers. The film is an action that has a lot of wrestling and the intended motive achieved through fighting.
Braithwaite, from British intelligence approached Lee for an undercover mission to investigate prostitution and drug trafficking in an island owned by Han. To succeed in the mission on Han’s island, Lee has to go to a tournament belonging to Han a billionaire former Shaolin renegade monk. The tournament is a cover up for his prostitution and narcotic deals. Lee has to find the evidence that leads to Han’s arrest. However, this result to a personal revenge after his men abducts Lee’s sister and kills her (Enter the Dragon). Kelly Williams and John Roper attended the tournament all ending up in Han martial art fighter’s mercies as they protect underground prostitution and narcotics. The location is a very secure and protected place with army that restrict those getting in and out of the island (Xu and Gary 117).
The three characters took part in the tournament although Lee chooses Mei Ling, a girl who is Braithwaite’s intelligence agent. Mei could not escape the island due to Han’s strict observations. Lee takes advantage of having Mei as a partner and leaves her in bed to search for evidence. He found an entrance to where insensible prisoners manufactured drugs. Unfortunately, he lands on Han men’s hands, but he flees before identified. Roper and Lee struggled to find the evidence, but Han suspected the motives and orders his men to kill them (Enter the Dragon). They managed to hold off when Mei released underground prisoners who assisted in the fight. Han tries to run away from Lee, but he follows him and outmatches him in the museum. On return, he finds Roper rounded up by Han’s men then gives them a showdown. Lee is a star in this movie and represents a hero in society who would do anything that costs his life to achieve his goal. He had to achieve his motive of revenging his sister’s death and uncovering the evils in the society such as prostitution and drug trafficking (Enter the Dragon). To accomplish this, he had to use tricks such as pretending to have Mei as his prostitution partner for the night so that he could make his moves during the night. Their plan needed teamwork from Mei, Roper, Williams and Lee. Teamwork is very important when working towards achieving a common goal. Mei is a courageous girl who defies all odds as a woman and confronts others in a fight showing that Chinese women do not depend on their male counterparts for protection (Davé, LeiLani and Tasha 124).
Lee has beautifully choreographed and the fast fight scenes remain both instinctive and exciting, a crafting excellent fights that made him a tireless Chinese culture ambassador. This film describes the Chinese philosophy and cultural elegance to the viewers. This is because of its perfect enjoyable scene and a deserving classic status. The movie’s cartoonist sound effect that makes someone laughs unintentionally with cinematic techniques. It is an unspectacular film marred by the genre trappings. It benefits from Bruce Lee’s spectacular talents earning it a masterpiece because it is influential and enjoyable.
The idea of the Hong Kong Hustle is well explored in the film. Hong Kong Hustle has Chinese aesthetic traditions and storytelling that create a cultural form that has a distinctive transcultural influence. Hong Kong genre influences American and European action film featuring several retired actors and the highest grossing in Hong Kong with the greatest number of awards (Xu and Gary 112). Furthermore, the movie highlights how those in authority take advantage of the innocent and deny them freedom in the society. It is also a comedy action movie, which shows a fierce man adored by a group of men and obeys his orders, but he ends up losing battle to a person who is infuriated by his authoritativeness. The stars eventually became leaders since they were thought to be the commanders of other kung-fu masters (Davé, LeiLani and Tasha 223).
The film Enter the Dragon explores various aspects of the Chinese culture. It particularly presents the life in slum showing how notorious gangs who snatch away the innocence of the poor exploit them. These poor people earn their freedom from minute and defenseless people in the society. Cinematic elegance films portray the beauty in Chinese weddings, without any confrontation fights or battles involved. The location of the sceneries is beautiful representing people with harmony and unity. The sceneries in the movie reflect the development in Hong Kong and their artistic nature with beautiful and elegant places. This gives an overview to the viewers of the environment at Hong Kong and China while highlighting the Chinese culture.
Cited Works
Davé, Shilpa, LeiLani Nishime, and Tasha G. Oren. East Main Street: Asian American Popular Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2005. Print.
Enter the Dragon. Dir. Robert Clouse, 1973. Film.
Xu, Gary G. Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema. Lanham: Md, 2007. Print.
