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"A vast hoard of diamonds is the bait. To be "Boss" of the most corrupt and vicious gang in the Hong Kong underworld is the prize. But four of the greatest exponents of Kung Fu are out to smash the gang - to bloody pieces!!! Dragon Lee (a student of the great Bruce Lee's style) leads the bone-cracking action with unbelievable ferocity. Incredible action to spin your eyeballs."
So reads the back of the box for this Bruceploitation ensemble piece. Not only is there "incredible action to spin your eyeballs," but also an incomprehensible plot to scramble your brains! Seriously, if anyone can explain the plot of this film and who each major character is with any semblance of comprehension, I will be indebted to them forever.
Basically, the plot revolves around diamonds. Sammy gets conked over the head before the opening credits and loses a briefcase full of them. This lands him in big trouble so he goes to his friend for help. His other friend, Dragon Hung, flies in to help as well, but the guy at the airport accidentally picks up Dragon Yeung. Of course, they finally track down Dragon Hung, but it is another guy named Dragon Hung (still with me?). Meanwhile, the other Dragon Hung wanders around while his brother, Bruce Hung (Dragon Lee), wanders around looking for him. Ok, so we have one Dragon Yeung, two Dragon Hungs and one Bruce Hung...make sense? No, I didn't think so. Eventually the villains kidnap one of the Dragon Hungs (the wrong one) and Sammy's friend's sister. Bruce Hung finally finds his brother, dead at the feet of the main villain! "You killed my brother," he shouts and proceeds to kill the main villain. The end.
Ok, this is without a doubt one of the most confusing films ever made. Watching it for a second time, I still couldn't figure out what was going on. Eventually I just resigned myself to the fact that it must be some sort of avant-garde kung fu experiment. Random characters just pop up out of nowhere and it is so hard to follow. Bolo literally pops up in two scenes, always ready to fight. I needed Doc Brown from BACK TO THE FUTURE to explain it all to me on a chalkboard. The movie is also filled with silly bits of comedy, mostly coming from To Siu Ming, that wacky crossed-eyed guy. There are bits of him running away as the film is sped up complete with ridiculous xylophone sounding effects. Also in the cast is that gweilo actor who looks like a cross between Burt Reynolds and Richard Dryfuss. Anyone know his name? Dragon Lee is at his Bruce Lee peak in this film. He acts like a man possessed by Bruce's spirit. Most of the fights are good, but have little impact due to the nonsensical plot.
As expected, the film is horribly dubbed but featured a great bit where Sammy's friend goes to visit a Buddhist priest to find out what he should do after his sister has been kidnapped:
Buddhist Priest: "If good is ever to triumph over evil, then it will depend on good, positive and extremely righteous people."You know any movie featuring a dialogue exchange like that has to have some problems. Enter ENTER THREE DRAGONS at your own risk!
Sammy's friend: "Priest, you mean I must retaliate? That I must beat the bastards?"