The plot has Jet as part of a touring wushu troupe who are preparing to leave America after a successful tour. However, one of the members (longtime Hong Kong movie heavy Dick Wei) is tired of getting small paychecks and decides to defect, killing a policeman in the process. Jet is mistakenly arrested for the crime, but manages to escape and meets up with a wise-cracking delivery driver (Stephen Chow) and sets about to try and get back to China. Things get more complicated as Dick becomes a heavy hitter in the local crime world and tries to get Jet to join his new "family".

Story-wise, Dragon Fight isn't going to win any awards, and the acting doesn't help matters any. It's a given that any western actors in a Hong Kong movie are going to suck, but it seems strange that given that this production was actually shot in America, the film-makers could have actually found some actors who could actually speak English. The Chinese actors don't fare much better, since the Cantonese parts of the soundtrack are dubbed over fairly poorly -- though it was pretty funny hearing Stephen Chow curse and try to pick up women in English.

However, things are redeemed by the action. Though I would have liked more of it, the stuff here is hard-hitting and wire-free (this was filmed before Jet hurt his back during the filming of Once Upon a Time in China and became more wire-dependent). As might be expected from a movie directed by "bloody" Billy Tang, there's a nice dose of violence as well, which makes the fight scenes all that much more brutal. Of particular note is the finale, where Jet takes on a group of fighters using various weapons, which puts him in a great position to show off his various skills.

This little-known entry in the Jet Li canon hasn't been seen by too many people, but it has been recently issued on DVD, allowing Jet's fans to check out his first attempt at creating a movie on US soil. The results are definitely a mixed bag, especially if you are getting this movie to check out Stephen Chow, whose role doesn't allow him to do any of his trademark "moy len tau" (nonsense comedy) antics. However, the good outweighs the bad, and Dragon Fight should be a part of any Jet Li fan's collection.

Taking a page out of Li's life, Dragon Fight has him playing Lee, a member of the Chinese National Wushu Team at an exhibition performance in San Francisco. Li trained in Wushu from the age of eight and won his first National Championship at 11, for which he traveled to the U.S. and performed for President Nixon. At the airport after the show, one of Lee's teammates, Wai (Dick Wei), decides to defect and pursue a better life in the United States. Lee tries to persuade him to come back to China only to relent, but he does give Wai his wallet to help him make a new start. Unfortunately, Lee misses his plane in the process and as if that wasn't bad enough, Wai kills an overzealous airport cop and drops Lee's wallet in the process. The cops want to book Lee for murder, but on his way to the courthouse a freak car accident gives him a chance to escape.

It's racist cops notwithstanding, Dragon Fight does a great job of showing how difficult it must be for someone that doesn't speak the language or know the customs to come to this country and try to live. Whether asking for help to board his plane (the hostess just repeats the words "martial-arts, martial-arts" while judo chopping the air) or using the telephone (Lee doesn't understand the automated operator's request for 35 cents as he screams into the receiver "Do you understand Chinese?"), Lee is definitely a stranger in a strange land. This may be due in part to an underlying theme in the film that even with all its flashy style and easy money (this film was made in 1988), life in America isn't as good as it is in China. Throughout the whole film Lee only ever wants to return to his home, and at one point another character exclaims that even though America is going to make him rich, he'd choose China over it any day. Propaganda at it's finest.

Meanwhile, Wai has a friend who's been living in the States for some time get him work as an enforcer for Chinatown crime boss Marco. It seems that Marco is making a play against some of his rivals (and allies) and uses Wai to eliminate them. Lee is taken in by Andy (Stephen Chow) who's a big fan of his from the exhibition. Andy agrees to help Lee by getting him a job making deliveries for his Uncle's grocery store while he looks for Wai in order to clear his name and get back to China. However, things don't go exactly as planned when Lee and Wai finally hook up. It seems that Wai's made a name for himself in the underworld and Marco feels threatened by his presence. He tips off the police to a big drug deal that Wai is planning and during the bust two kilos of cocaine fall into Andy's hands who plans to sell it to pay off his gambling debts.

Unfortunately, Andy's never actually able to sell any of this coke since he hid it in a box of laundry detergent and his unsuspecting Uncle uses it to wash his clothes. However that doesn't stop his "partner" (the thug Andy owed money to in the first place) from blabbing to Wai and Marco trying to cut a deal for the drugs. Wai knows where the drugs came from and sends his goons to Chow's grocery to get them back. He calls Lee, thinking he's involved in the scheme, and ends their friendship by pulling a gun on him. Now the best of friends have become the worst of enemies and Lee must carefully consider his next move as Andy and his Uncle are caught in the crossfire. Lives will be lost, but is there any chance of redemption for Wai before all is said and done?

Sure the plot is pure melodrama, but director Tang handles these character's relationships in a satisfying and realistic manner. As I said earlier, there is a bit of nationalistic propaganda running throughout the piece, but it skews more "Pro-China" than "Anti-America." Chow's role is surprisingly meaty, allowing him to offer up some comic relief, as well as more dramatic fare. The fight scenes, choreographed by Wei, are all great and are just down and dirty old-school HK fights without any fancy wirework. As a special note, Marco's mistress and Lee's potential love interest, Penny, is played by the woman who would later become Jet Li's second wife, Nancy Chi.

Conclusion: I must say that Dragon Fight was not at all what I expected, and I mean that in a good way. It's the earliest Jet Li film I've seen by far, having been introduced to Li via his 1991 film Swordsman II, likewise for Stephen Chow who's 1990 All For The Winner was the earliest work I'd seen. Both actors did an amazing job and gave performances indicative of what their individual styles would become. Li is tough and stoic, a man of deeds, not words. Chow on the other hand is more complex, joking and laughing one minute, thoughtful and troubled the next. I think that if you're a fan of either of these actors, you should seek out this film. That's not to mention the amazing stunts and choreography by Dick Wei, a name in the HK film industry I was not previously familiar with and the rare appearance by the beautiful Nancy Chi, who would retire from making films after just five short years (1987-1992). Dragon Fight is a really great '80's HK action flick, before the more stylized look and feel of the '90s took over courtesy of John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark...

Review: A very nice early Jet Li entry. When people see Jet Li today, they tink of all the wired-filled stunts of films like the Once Upon a Time in China series. However, here, he does the trademark wushu skills that made him an international superstar to begin with and without any of the wire fu and at times, bad editing. Taekwondo champ turned actor Dick Wei not only plays the bad guy here but also choreographed the film's elaborate action sequences. Jet Li's allies in the film are played by Nina Li Chi, who would go on to be Jet Li's wife a decade later and a pre-mo lei tau pioneer Stephen Chow, who does some comic relief in the film and becomes Li's only true friend in the film.

Dick Wei plays your typical born and bred villain, a betraying friend who has to do what it takes to make a name for himself. However, a shocking revelation happens in the finale and we are greeted with performances from some top martial artists, including Mark Williams as mob enforcer Ray and Mismatched Couples' Kenny Perez and martial arts ace Steven Ho, who would later take on Li in The Master the following year. The story is somewhat routine and it is obvious that Jet Li wasn't exactly a huge star at the time, but this is actually a pretty darn good movie to see Jet in his prime in terms of his martial arts skills.

The Bottom Line: Dragon Fight is a not exactly the best Jet Li film to come out, but to see Li in his prime is worth seeing as well as an early performance from Stephen Chow.