When his sister is murdered, Bruce Chang (Bruce Le) heads to the Philippines to find out why. It seems she was in possession of a Japanese sword that contains a map to a hidden treasure of gold. Members of the Black Dragon Society attacked her, but not before she gave the key to the safety deposit box where the sword is hidden to a local amateur boxer named Ramon "Rocky" Roblado. A United Nations Intelligence Bureau (!) agent named Marlene manages to track Rocky down and, under the guise of being a reporter, tells him the secret of the gold. After his father is murdered, Rocky teams up with Bruce to find the gold. Meanwhile, the Black Dragon Society, knowing the combination of Bruce and Rocky is a handful, brings in two high profile fighters (Bolo and Kong Do), one who had a past run-in with Bruce that left him with a broken arm and bruised ego. Bruce and Rocky eventually put two and two together and go to the safety deposit box to get the sword/map. Unfortunately, they weren't bright enough to notice they were followed and they lead the villains directly to the gold. Ohhhhh, there's gonna be some fighting!
This is a surprisingly entertaining Bruce Le vehicle. Bruce gets into plenty of fights and seems amazingly intense. While Bruce appears through out the film, Lito Lapid gets equal screen time as Rocky. He is the peanut butter to Bruce Le's jelly. The scene where the two meet is hilarious. Rocky is snooping around Bruce's house and Bruce comes out of the bathroom wearing the trademark yellow jumpsuit. "What are you doing here," he screams as they start fighting. And Lapid is a lot of fun to watch. Playing an amateur boxer, he throws jabs and punches instead of busting out kung fu. At one point in the film, he whips out a handkerchief, ties a knot in the end and starts whipping his opponent with it. Ingenuity stemming from all those towel fights he used to have in the locker room no doubt.
The deadly duo of Bolo and Kang Do is pretty cool too. Bolo is dubbed the "Bull Killer" and a flashback shows why...he kills a bull with a single blow to the head! Kang Do has a past with Bruce. During the final fight, Bruce breaks his arm again, but Kang Do comes running back, revealing his arm has turned into a cobra! Yes, his ARM TURNS INTO A SNAKE! This downright bizarre sequence came out of nowhere and had me floored.
Hardcore kung fu fans will notice this film's plot bears more than a passing resemblance to Jackie Chan's OPERATION CONDOR: ARMOR OF GOD 2. The whole chase to find WW2 gold with a key before the white bad guys do is just too familiar. Then again, maybe they both watched THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE? Nah! Chan rips off Bruce Le...film at 11! But still, Chan missed the boat. His film didn't have a scene like the one here where Marlene goes to meet her boss at a restaurant for a briefing. "Order what ever you want," her boss says. "Can I have fried chicken?" she asks. Few films can lay claim to a line like that now can they?
Reviewed by William.