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Awix (3310 KP) rated Enter the Dragon (1973) in Movies

May 6, 2020

Irresistible slice of 70s schlock. Bruce Lee goes off to the island of the drug dealing white slaver who's a renegade from his temple and whose men killed his sister (he's certainly not short of motivation) to take part in a martial arts tournament and bring the bad guy to justice. The plot is as rudimentary as that: there's a good guy, a bad guy, and a hell of a lot of fighting.

You do sense the American producers didn't quite understand what they were dealing with in Lee, for it's obvious he had a range and charisma far beyond what's required here. He's also partnered with John Saxon, who's an able leading man but really supernumerary (Saxon may have been a black belt in real life but his fight scenes have a whiff of dressage about them). Sleazy to the point of tackiness in places, and not much more than a live-action comic book, but tremendous action and some iconic sequences (the fight in the mirror-maze, for instance). Terrific entertainment if you're in the right mood.

Kudos

Finding Audrey

Sophie Kinsella

6.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

From the bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a story of humour, heart and...

The Roundabout Man

Clare Morrall

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Who is the Roundabout Man? He doesn't look like a tramp, yet he lives on a roundabout in a caravan...

Motivational Growth (2013)

3.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

Ian Folivor, a depressed and reclusive 30-something, finds himself taking advice from a growth in...

Mold

David McK (3692 KP) rated Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) in Movies

Nov 27, 2020 (Updated Nov 27, 2020)

"Captain Jack Sparrow. You are, without a doubt, the worst Pirate I have ever heard of" / "Ah, but you have heard of me ..."

The first Pirates of the Caribbean film (based on a Disney theme ride!), this is far less bloated and self referential than any of the later sequels, with Johnny Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow a breath of fresh air (at the time) in a genre that had become increasingly stale: indeed, I can't even remember there being any other pirate films in my lifetime other than 1995s Cutthroat Island.

The plot, here, makes much use of the superstition and folklore of the Caribbean - "You better start believing in Ghost stories again, Miss: you're in one!" (to paraphrase a certain other character - with the crew of the Black Pearl all cursed to an everlasting life by an ancient Aztec curse unless they can restore all the stolen coins.

And this is where Will Turner comes in, as the son of 'Bootstrap' Bill, a colleague of Captain Jack Sparrows before his crew mutinied, stole the treasure, and were cursed. When the governors daughter Elizabet Swann is kidnapped, Turner sets off to rescue here in the company of Sparrow and a crew of n'er do wells, in a very entertaining slice of Pirate action!