Their deadly mission: to crack the forbidden island of Han!
Overview
A martial artist agrees to spy on a reclusive crime lord using his invitation to a tournament there as cover.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.7/10
IMDb: 7.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.83/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Metacritic: 83
TMDB: 7.4/10
Director
Robert Clouse
Production
Concord Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures, Orange Sky Golden Harvest, Sequoia Pictures
Cast
Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Sek Kin, Ahna Capri, Robert Wall, Angela Mao Ying, Betty Chung, Bolo Yeung, Geoffrey Weeks, Roy Chiao, Yuen Biao, Marlene Clark, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Jackie Chan, Phillip Ko Fai, Mang Hoi, Mars, Peter Chan Lung, Paul Chung Fat
Curator Review
Verdict
A foundational martial-arts action film that still plays as a slick, charismatic blend of tournament combat, spy-movie intrigue, and star-making swagger. Its influence is enormous, and even when the plotting is thin, the style, energy, and iconography make it an easy recommendation.
Best for
fans of classic action cinema
viewers interested in martial-arts film history
people who like 70s genre mashups
audiences who enjoy cool, charismatic lead performances
fans of espionage-flavored adventure stories
Skip if
you want modern fight choreography and editing
you are sensitive to dated stereotypes and cultural caricature
you prefer tightly written plots over vibe and spectacle
you dislike older action films with uneven pacing
Overview
Enter the Dragon is one of those movies whose reputation is so large it can be hard to separate the legend from the film itself. The good news is that the legend is earned: it’s a lean, stylish, wildly influential action picture that fuses tournament combat, spy-movie structure, and pure star power into something that still feels electric.
Worth noting
Bruce Lee is the center of gravity, but the movie also works because it understands how to build a world around him: the island lair, the mirrors, the henchmen, the gamblers, the undercover mission, the sense that every room contains another test. The fights are the main attraction, yet the film’s cool factor comes just as much from attitude, pacing, and the way it keeps turning into a showcase for charisma.
Bottom line
Some elements are very much of their era, including stereotypes and a few rough edges in the drama. Even so, it remains essential viewing for anyone interested in action cinema, martial-arts movies, or the 1970s genre crossover that helped define modern blockbuster style.
Top Letterboxd reviews
demi adejuyigbe · 1148 likes
Not gonna rate this one because I didn’t finish it. My car died at the drive-in and I had to get a jump. Very embarrassing! Anyway, I liked what I saw. Strange to watch a movie that you can fully recognize as having influenced an entire generation of film lovers while also knowing that the movie and most of the movies it has influences have just totally passed you by. Was delighted when the whole drive-in honked at Jim Kelly… more Not gonna rate this one because I didn’t finish it. My car died at the drive-in and I had to get a jump. Very embarrassing! Anyway, I liked what I saw. Strange to watch a movie that you can fully recognize as having influenced an entire generation of film lovers while also knowing that the movie and most of the movies it has influences have just totally passed you by. Was delighted when the whole drive-in honked at Jim Kelly… more
Josh Lewis (4★) · 1052 likes
60s Bond film through the lens of 70s martial arts/blaxploitation. Lee was an unbelievable athlete.
Ian West (5★) · 1039 likes
If you put martial arts, blaxploitation, and espionage into a tea pot it becomes the tea pot, boiling over with perfection thanks to an immense Lalo Schifrin score, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, a claw/knife handed Dr. No villain, a shitload of mirrors, and Bruce Lee.
Incredibly influential and endlessly enjoyable, this is essential 1973 cinema.
matt lynch (4★) · 676 likes
Bruce Lee spends a great deal of this movie looking around, quietly observing everything and throwing off a calculatedly obnoxious bad motherfucker attitude, an attitude he proceeds to back up with his obvious skill as an athletic performer. But it's not the fighting that makes ENTER THE DRAGON great (the fights are fine, shot a little blandly but unobtrusively by Clouse). it's that Lee's less a martial artist here than a vibe, not merely quicker and tougher and stronger but… more Bruce Lee spends a great deal of this movie looking around, quietly observing everything and throwing off a calculatedly obnoxious bad motherfucker attitude, an attitude he proceeds to back up with his obvious skill as an athletic performer. But it's not the fighting that makes ENTER THE DRAGON great (the fights are fine, shot a little blandly but unobtrusively by Clouse). it's that Lee's less a martial artist here than a vibe, not merely quicker and tougher and stronger but… more
Joe (5★) · 571 likes
I'm sure one could criticize any number of stereotypical and otherwise problematic elements of this, but from another and I would argue more productive angle it begins to seem like some kind of blueprint for a utopian popular cinema that never materialized, multiracial, multicultural, international, and antiauthoritarian. Jim Kelly refuses to submit to racist cops, Bruce Lee refuses to wear a uniform, John Saxon refuses to guillotine an innocent kitty cat, and the feds only show up as a closing punchline about their own uselessness.