The Last Dragon

The Last Dragon is an old martial arts movie, dating back over 20 years. I recently read an interview on health and fitness with the lead actor, Taimak, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he is still training and still involved in show business. This prompted me to search for this movie on Google and I was even more surprised to find that a remake is in the works starring no less a person than Samuel L. Jackson, along with Rihanna. The original movie left a lot to be desired from the point of view of acting ability but at the same time it told a simple story well and provided great entertainment, making it a box office success.

The story centers on Leroy Green (or 'Bruce Leroy', played by Taimak) and his search for mastery of the martial arts. Along the way he gets involved with Laura Charles (played by Vanity) who is herself threatened by a local gangster. At the same time Leroy must fend off challenges from Sho'nuff (the 'Shogun of Harlem', played by Julius J. Carry) who sees himself as a true master and superior to Leroy.

The acting is never great and some 25 years later the level of martial arts displayed seems dated and is nothing compared to that of people like Jet Li. The story is simple and the characters are not well developed. Yet despite all these disadvantages, The Last Dragon is tremendously entertaining and tells an important tale replicated much later in Kung Fu Panda, among other movies: that you do not have to look outside yourself for a true master. The movie unabashedly admires Bruce Lee (Leroy teaches his kung fu class in the yellow jump suit made famous by Bruce Lee in Game of Death and is given a medallion 'owned by Bruce Lee' at the commencement of his quest for mastery...and there are other references too) and is in love with East Asian culture (with a strange mix of a Japanese sensei who admires Bruce Lee, Chinese fortune cookies and Taimak appearing as a ninja at one point). This confusing mix always delivers the goods though and the story is well-paced and highly entertaining.

The movie has an excellent sound track and includes an early appearance by Ernie Reyes Jr. as well as a small part for a very young looking William H. Macy.

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