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The Last Dragon (1985) was a cheesy action/romance film that was produced by Motown big wig Berry Gordy. The film was meant to be a starring vehicle for kung-fu performer Taimak and pop singer Vanity. Sadly Taimk never became a big star and Vanity's acting was ten times better than her singer (woof). Even though they never became stars this movie captures their only chance at the brass ring of super stardom.
Taimak stars as "Bruce" Le Roy, a kung-fu student who's also a huge Bruce Lee fan. In his spare time he teaches kung-fu and works at the family pizzeria. One day he saves a local V.J. (Vanity) from being assaulted by a gang of hired goons. It's love at first sight for the two. Meanwhile a guy who proclaims himself to be the shogun of Harlem named Sho'nuff (who is his master?) is looking to fight Bruce Le Roy to find out who's fighting skills are the baddest. He wont take no for an answer and proceeds to make his life miserable. To make matters worse, a wanna be record producer is forcing the V.J. to market his new star (and lover). The problem is that she has no real talent and he wont take no for an answer either. Problems in the 'hood. Will Le Roy find true love and defend his family's honor by fighting Sho'nuff? Can Vanity depend on Le Roy to protect her against the crazy record producer. Will anyone care? Watch The Last Dragon to find out all the answers and more!
The movie was also made to capitalize on the resurgence of Bruce Lee nostalgia. Seens from all of his movies are shown in the movie as well as many references. Even though it does a good job of trying to bottle some of Bruce's old magic the film fails as a whole. Taimak became a fight trainer and Vanity appeared in many exploitive and soft-core fair before becoming a reborn again Christian.
Recommended for fans of eighties films.
score 6/10
Captain_Couth 3 March 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1032652/ |
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1-12-2019 06:02:33
