Salsa Shark's Back Slate: Enter the Dragon

One of the chief concerns of any film critic is always; Have I seen the essentials? Not just the classics or the tiresome '1000 Films to See Before You Die' but any film considered formative to the medium. With a keen enough mind,  pretty much any film has the potential to widen our understanding of cinema. And while film is a relatively young medium it's one that has produced more work that is possible for any individual to see (in fact due to poor preservation there are some films that are simply not possible for anyone to see). So inevitably we all have our blind-spots, our films to put on the back slate to get around to some time. I've accrued more than my fair share over the years; essential films taking up space on the DVD shelf or the Netflix queue. So from time to time I'm going to recount my experiences crossing these off the list in whatever way I happen to (though preferably on the cinema screen).

With the anniversary of Bruce Lee's death coming up Watershed hosted a screening off Enter The Dragon, complete with introduction from Timon Singh. It's a film that's been on my hit-list for some time but circumstances have just got in the way. Arguably the seminal film of the late Bruce Lee's career Enter the Dragon has permeated the pop culture, even if only for Lee's involvement.

With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to see what a boost Lee's presence is to the film's legacy. Taken on it's own it's a fairly schlocky example of Kung fu-sploitation films that popped up during the 70s and 80s. It wastes time splitting the focus between multiple protagonists, none of whom possess Lee's charisma. The story is surprisingly bloated for what should be a simple martial arts tournament, layering multiple threads around not only Lee's character but also the supporting cast made-up primarily of Jim Kelly and John Saxon. Unfortunately the script never finds anything substantive for it's antagonist Han, leaving him with the one-note characterisation of a mere drug baron with a little Asian flair.

But then this is less a film about character and story and more about style and action and on that front the film 100% delivers. Lee is always a compelling screen presence and here his sense of calm as he approaches each new fight leaves you with a sense of confidence Even during the dialogue driven scenes he manages to invest pathos and even a little humour into the exchange. So much so that when it comes for him to throw down it feels like a shared victory as he takes out waves upon waves of bad guys.

The film's style definitely borrows more from the blaxsploitation genre than anything native to Chinese cinema. With Lalo Schifrin's score rich with elements of funk combined with Eastern string instruments. It's feels like the birth of its genre which speaks to much of the impact of Enter the Dragon. In the ends this is a film that is beloved as an artifact in the history of cinema. Not only as the Bruce Lee film but also the film that introduced the world to a rough, contemporary new version of martial arts film. One that aimed to break convention and define action cinema for decades to come.