Wong Lung (Bruce Le) is a drug kingpin who wants to get out of the business. But when his boss Marcos blackmails him, Lung rejoins the drug trade and goes undercover to supply the cops with information about a new drug route going through Mainland China. And the place where all the drugs are coming from is a small village named the "black spot" run by a General and his small Army. To show he is still a good guy, he saves a young boy's life and befriends his family. He even gives the boy a whistle shaped like a butterfly. Awwwww. Too bad we all know what that means in HK cinema terms (make friend with child = child run over/maimed/shot/etc.) But as his stay progresses, Lung notices that the villagers aren't the bad guys; they are just harvesting the opium to make money because they are so poor. It is the sadistic General and his men who are evil and they must die!
BLACK SPOT is a bit of a historical footnote in the Bruceploitation genre. This film seems to have been the last gasp out of Hong Kong for Bruce Le, one of the original Bruce Lee imitators. It is a shame that it ended like this, because this flick is pretty decent. The first half hour or so is really confusing but once the main drug plot starts rolling along, it is pretty enjoyable. Compared to Le's cheap films of the past where the only set was the woods, this is epic in scope. They use 4 big tanks and 1 helicopter (a big fat one, not one of those sissy ones) and there is a big underground drug facility that looks a bit like the factory featured in the end of DRAGONS FOREVER. Speaking of Jackie Chan, I think he may have seen this movie before making SUPERCOP: POLICE STORY 3, which came out a year later. The plots are very similar and the whole village run by a General bit looks exactly the same. Yeah, he definitely watched this. Nice job Jackie!
By far the biggest shocker in the film is when Bruce Le fights this giant in a steel cage. Okay, I am going to say it: Bruce Le is short! I know you all have been thinking that all these years, but were just afraid to say it so I will get it out in the open. I mean, in the opening his girlfriend is taller than him. So imagine what it looks like when he fights a guy who is 8' tall! This guy is a freak and the scene is so surreal looking. Bruce literally comes up to this guy's stomach and there are no special effects here. It is during this fight that Bruce pulls his only Bruce-y moment. When the guy charges him, Bruce rips the hair off his chest and then blows it from his fingers a la WAY OF THE DRAGON. I guess he felt he had to throw one little bit in there for the fans.
Review by William.