An outstanding '80s action B-movie, utilising some of the genre's cheapest action stars and putting them in a film which finally has a halfway-decent budget for once. DRAGON FORCE is an utterly enjoyable film, a fast-paced ride laced with explosions, bad guys, acupuncture, naked women, ninjas, and of course hard-hitting martial arts action. Sure, the story is clichéd, the jokes appalling and the dialogue a laugh riot, but when the action is this good and fast-flowing then frankly you just won't care. Hitting the mark far more times than later '80s movies were able to, the straightforward tale involves a gang of mercenaries (or government aides), enlisted to rescue a kidnapped Princess from the slimy, overweight, funny-looking bad guys – in this case, the Russians. Along the way we witness chicken sacrifice, snake healing, mind-controlling acupuncture (really!), and one of the most gratuitous nude scenes I've seen in a week.
The dumb, sexist, blond-haired hero is played by none-other than Bruce Baron, one of the stock heroes for low budget ninja movies produced by Joseph Lai. Here, an early Baron puts in what may be his best performance yet: in fact it's the only time he halfway gives a performance! That Baron comes across as likable despite his defects is testament to his success. We first see Baron taking out some bad guys with his feet and gun when a drug deal goes awry. Shortly after this, he travels to Hong Kong, where a Chinese variant on the Q character from the James Bond movie offers him some top-secret gadgets (the film-makers even have the cheek to throw in an in-joke about "that guy from England").
Following on from his initial investigations, Baron is asked to join the ranks of the powerful Dragon Force. To enter, he must pass a test, which involves him fighting a Samurai warrior, a Chinese two-man Dragon, and finally a girl with a flute (!). Having succeeded in his task, both Baron and us, the audience, get to see Bruce Li. Li, who had previously enjoyed some success as a Bruce Lee clone, sinks his teeth into a fine role as, well, a martial arts fighting good guy. Okay, so it isn't much of a stretch. But Li's fighting is particularly fine here and he comes across as a nice kind of guy, so you can't really ask for much more. The rest of the film involves Mandy Moore sitting naked on a table and Baron and Li teaming up to take on a whole army of ninjas.
Yes, this is one of the earliest films to cash in on the '80s ninja craze, all started off by ENTER THE NINJA from the previous year. In DRAGON FORCE, there are dozens of ninjas. The screen is literally swamped with them; jumping from buildings, flying through the trees and just generally doing ninja stuff. Every scene with a red, brown or green ninja in it is a classic moment of cinema entertainment. At the end of the film, some ninjas even get their heads and arms cut off. Then they start exploding for no reason. I guess the writers just though "what the hell, let's throw some exploding ninjas in to please the fans". It sure worked for me. Exploding ninjas, burning ninjas, cheap gore effects. I couldn't be happier. DRAGON FORCE is a cheese fan's dream come true.
