Although an obvious entry in the 'Brucesploitation' rip-off genre, DRAGON LEE VS. THE FIVE BROTHERS is actually a pretty decent period-set kung fu movie. It has plenty of action, as most of these titles do, and also a pleasing grasp of the surreal that adds fun to the standard high-kicking antics. In the end it's a low budget fight flick with a rather pointless storyline of good guys vs. bad, awful dubbing (the British regional accents on this one are something to behold) and a grindhouse feel to it, but the main thing is that it's fun.Dragon Lee is the Bruce Lee imitator this time around and it has to be said that he doesn't do a very good job. He doesn't look at all like Bruce and the scenes where he wipes his nose do nothing to add to the resemblance. Rather annoyingly, dubbed-in whoops and hollers have been added every time he fights and these are totally distracting. Nonetheless Lee is an athletic leading man, as always, and when he whips his shirt off for the fight climax you realise he's actually a pretty tough customer. The bad guys are the usual bunch of ne'er-do-wells but I really liked the inclusion of the female fighter, who is extremely pretty as well as excelling in the fighting stakes.The action ranges from the bland and the overlong to the pretty good, and inevitably the best stuff is saved for the climax. The middle section is a bit stodgy and some of the fights look to have been sped up, but the inclusion of some bizarre and entertaining elements saves the enjoyment factor. Highlights include: a fight scene in the woods with a white-clad female ninja, which ends with her running along the tree tops (for some reason, the sky is represented by a white backdrop with an obvious join in the middle!); an enemy, prone to disguising himself, who has a metal hand and a metal fan which he uses to beat and slash his opponents to death; another henchman who enjoys headbutting his victims; a female warrior's hat which acts like a flying guillotine; guys running up walls and flying through the air; a bad guy being kicked in the head so many times that he suffers from double vision; and a tightrope act thrown in to pad out the running time. It may not be art, but it is quite a lot of fun.

I always start my reviews with the opening scene of the movie. So many of these movies were re-titled for VHS rental often you don't know what you are watching. This movie opens with a guy helping a wounded uniformed man to escape. He gives details of the passwords and so we have the old Ching versus Ming plot again with the bad guys after a list of the rebel's names. Dragon Lee goes off on his mission and pretends he is just out to visit his uncle. Yuen Qiu enters the story as a swords woman stopping for a steamed bun. She defends Dragon by using her hat as a Frisbee. For some reason it was supposed to be an awesome weapon and scared off the attackers. The other awesome weapon that is not awesome at all is the Silver Hand. It's just a glove painted silver and does nothing more than any other hand. Yuen Qiu has a lengthy career from 1972 all the way to Sammo Hung's latest movie "The Bodyguard". The high point of her career is certainly as the cigarette smoking landlady in "Kung Fu Hustle". I consider her the star of this movie. I don't buy in to the whole "Bruceploitation" concept. There was never a search for the next Bruce Lee. It was just a way to make the cover of a VHS tape stand out to an American customer back in the days when there was a movie rental store on every street corner in America. Dragon Lee apparently made a few movies in 1977 but I have yet to obtain any of those titles. His 1978 movies are all available. As a martial artist he was certainly competent, as were hundreds of others, and his acting was passable. This is the first South Korean movie that, in my opinion, is not a total stinker from start to finish. The fights are fair to average with a brief really good move thrown in.

The Angry Dragon (AKA Dragon Lee vs. Five Brothers) stars Dragon Lee as Han, a brave kung fu expert opposed to the corrupt Qing government; while fleeing the enemy, Han is charged with delivering an important document to rebel leader Chung, but is pursued by four evil Shaolin masters who are intent on stopping him from completing his mission.As far as Brucesploitation stars go, Dragon Lee was perhaps the most convincing: he not only bore a remarkable physical resemblance to Bruce Lee, but was also able do a mean impersonation of the late martial arts legend, and could perform some impressive kung fu moves when called upon.Unfortunately, none of this really counts for much with The Angry Dragon: despite Dragon's amazing mimicry and athleticism, plus a few typically goofy martial arts elements of the kind that usually guarantee a good time (impossible acrobatics, a general with a silver hand and a razor edged fan, a female Shaolin master/ninja with a knife-edged boomerang hat and the ability to run across tree-tops, and an evil boss whose throne fires darts), the film is often a chore to watch, suffering from such a forgettable plot and leaden pacing that even the real Bruce Lee would have struggled to make it anything other than mediocre.

Slow paced and dull, there is not much to recommend this film. You know it's a bad sign when the most interesting aspect of multiple scenes is the fact that you can see the actor's breaths on the winter air as they deliver their lines. Clearly this was an uncomfortable shoot, and it's not much easier to watch. Dragon Lee may have looked the part but he isn't given much chance to actually show what he can do here. Most of the fight scenes will be both fairly forgettable and painfully spread out to veteran martial arts enthusiasts. Who I would imagine are just about the only people likely to be interested in the movie.The one bright spot, and IMO only reason to watch this movie, is the performance of a young Qiu Yuen which completely steals the show. Her mysterious character and storyline is actually somewhat interesting, as opposed to Lee's bland & generic, barely-there Kung Fu hero. She also has the most impressive and memorable fight scenes in the movie. One leaves the film wishing it had been about her character and that the actress had gotten more high profile roles as she obviously had the talent for greater things. Since the film isn't crazy enough to lend itself to riffing, I recommend just skipping ahead to her scenes to spare the hour+ of your life you'd sacrifice watching it otherwise.