Champ Against Champ, 1983 Kung Fu film review by Wmpyr
This film stars Dragon Lee, who is my favorite of the Bruce Lee clones. He is my favorite because I feel like he doesn't just mimic Bruce, but he also brings his own self to the table as well.
It's a simple enough story, Dragon Lee is suppose to go get married to this girl. Her father is part of a resistance group. The main bad guy who is some dictator type guy captures her dad, Dragon Lee, and Lee's dad. The dictator ends up killing Lee's dad and shoots a poison dart in Lee's leg. Lee escapes but loses his leg and ends up with the girl. At her place he trains and creates a steel leg. Ready for some ass kicking, he goes back to rescue her dad and get some revenge.
I like the film for the simple story. It has romance, it has training, it has revenge, it has bad guys with unique weapons, it has clowns, a ton of fighting, what more do you want?
This film also has a strange supernatural feel to it. The dictator guy lives in a cave, it almost feels like it's hell, and his men protecting the mountain base with the clown girls, I just get the feeling that the director wanted to make a kung fu flick ever so lightly sprinkled with ghastly elements.
It reminds me a little bit of the classic Universal pictures horror film, The Son of Frankenstein. Igor played by Bela Lugosi was hanged but survived, and after that it was like he became undead, and that gave him some power. After Dragon Lee survives the poison dart, I feel like he also became undead in a way and that's why he was able to defeat the dictator. However you can also say that Lee won because of his steel leg.
It's a fun flick, one of my favorite classic Kung Fu films for sure!
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