Dragon Sek stars as Lionel (Yes, Lionel) Leung, a young man whose life is turned upside down when his bride-to-be disappears. Turns out she was kidnapped by thugs working for local crime lord Tang Wei. Wei takes a fancy to Lionel's fiancé because she resembles his former wife, so he keeps her locked up in his mansion. Lionel begins to search, but comes up empty. Along the way, he befriends a young female restaurant owner, her gambling addicted brother and two kung fu street performers. When the two performers secure jobs as Wei's bodyguards, they discover that Wei is holding Lionel's woman. But before they can warn Lionel, Wei's men silence one of them and threaten the other with unemployment. In the meantime, Lionel gets a job at Wei's shipyard and uncovers the bizarre goings on by himself.
Following the shear lunacy of DRAGON THE MASTER, this Joseph Lai produced Dragon Sek vehicle is relatively normal. The plot is much more simple and straightforward, set in the much more familiar early 20th century a la Bruce Lee's THE BIG BOSS. Dragon Sek spends the entire film in the slightly less iconic but still recognizable Lee trademark blue pants/white shirt ensemble. The fight choreography, again supplied by Willie Ho, is pretty darn impressive. Particularly impressive are the street performer Yang and his apprentice. Unlike DRAGON THE MASTER, this one is shot on video, much like the Hong Kong martial arts TV series. Rather than being a deterrent, this actually helps the film with slick camera work, lighting and editing. Given the exploitive nature of this film (and its producer's shady past), these production values are all the more surprising.
Still there are a few technical blunders here and there, mostly involving continuity. During the final section, Dragon Sek arrives at the shipyard late at night. He gets into a fight with some thugs, but when they run outside, it is broad daylight. Say what? Even better, when Sek is forced to fight Yang, the two start fighting in a seaside warehouse. One scene later, they are on the top of a mountain, with the sea far off in the background. Damn, they fast! The dubbing is also pretty awful. A nerdy white guy supplies Sek's voice (then again, his character's name is Lionel). And most of the dialogue is priceless. Check out this high-powered exchange:
Thug: "Why are you such a big pain in the butt?"I suggest they just set aside that Oscar now for whomever wrote that.
Girl: "Because you have such a tiny ass!"