The Story : Chen (Chen Sing, go figure) is an undercover agent assigned to infiltrate Fong Sai Hung's drug running syndicate. Chen, masquerading as a prisoner, breaks one of Fong's men, Tang Long, out of jail and begins to work undercover at the local docks in order to get close to Fong's operation. Chen befriends the dockworkers, who are constantly being harassed by Fong's men. Chen's ruse pays off, Tang Long recognizes him and recommends him to Boss Fong's inner circle. Soon, his new friends watch as he does nothing while Boss Fong's people extort and beat on the townspeople. Chen contains his anger, hangs his head, biding his time until the big drug shipment arrives; meanwhile, his friends look upon him as a traitor. They even accuse him of murder when he fake kills one of his undercover buddies (Charlie Chaing) so Boss Fong wont suspect that the cops are onto him. But, eventually, Chen can sit back no more. He is captured while snooping around in Fong's warehouse and is chained, choked, whipped, and tortured. With his cover blown, there is nothing left to lose, and Chen unleashes his bottled up anger and takes the law into his own hands against the entire gang.

The Film : Revenge of the Dragon is pretty run of the mill, low budget, independent, chop socky kung fu fare. It doesn't really have too much flash, tight scripting, or huge settings (two or three indoor locations, a quarry, the wharf, some woods), and was probably filmed in about two weeks, but it is still entertaining product from the glory days of kung fu. And the sole reason to see the film, really, is Chen Sing (Iron Fisted Monk, Kung Fu Eight Drunkards, Fatal Flying Guillotine, Triple Irons) kicking some bad guy rump. This is one of those nice little crowd pleasing, guilty pleasures that just gives up on the plot in the last twenty minutes and has nothing but fighting. I did my best to cross reference and search to find out what its alternate titles might be, but after wading through Chen Sing filmographies, I cant find a film titles or cast that matches. So, Rage of the Dragon is cheap but, if you like kung fu b-films, it is pretty good stuff.

It has some nice cheesball moments, like the boss' great plan if the cops show up when they are transporting the dope is to simply pay them off, to which his lackey enthusiastically says, "Boss, you're brilliant!" Like many independents, it has borrowed music, which I always get a giggle out of, like the films blatant overuse of Morricone's casual, banjo and whistling theme from A Fistful of Dynamite. Kung fu fans will have fun playing "spot the Jackie Chan Stunt Team actors" in side roles as one of Chen's friends and one of the goons. Finally, the finale was a winner- a kung fu fight in mud. Chen chases the last buy guy to a muddy riverbank and they brutally pound on each other like two Neanderthals while covered and knee deep in muck.

While watching Revenge of the Dragon, something occurred to me. Chen Sing should have played The Hulk. As he stands there in the finale, his brawny frame, that wonderfully harsh face like the Charles Bronson of kung fu, his pants in tatters, shirtless, sweating, bloody and lacerated, a chain wrapped around one arm, huffing and puffing with that angry stare... well, I dare anyone else not to think the same thing. He's perfect- Chen Sing... You wouldn't like him when he's angry... He might just crush your skull with his Eagle Claw.

The DVD : EPI/Gotham Entertainment. The film is cut, with some nudity missing (no big loss, its the boss and some whores- yuck), but, to my eyes, the fights appear to be more or less, brutally in tact, except for maybe a second or two snipped out.

Picture- Fullscreen, obviously tape-sourced, with the usual wear and tear- white spots and flecks, some very apparent softness here and there, fair contrast, and the colors show up okay. For a low budget, older independent kung fu film, its actually in pretty good shape, with far less grain than I thought it would have. The usual cheapie compression artefacts. Sound- 2.0 Mono. Fairly clear and no hiss, pops, or glaring defects. The sound fx comes through loud and clear too, with plenty of over the top thuds and cracks. You can further tell its an edited version by a few parts where cuss words are excised, "You son ____". "You dirty ___" Extras- 6 Chapters, that's it.

Conclusion- Well, another cruddy, grey market, worn out, vhs-to-dvd transfer that I'm a sucker for because I'm such a kung fu nut. Seriously, I'm sick. It looks horrible, is cut, has no extras, but I still enjoyed it. The kind of disc I'll buy purely to have the film and will instantly trash the moment a better release comes along, though with this kind of low budget, marginal kung fu film, who knows when/if that will happen. An okay buy if you are wanting to tack an extra cheapie on an order or run across it in a bargain bin.