You can certainly see that the camera loved the charismatic Bruce Lee in this otherwise rather predicable action adventure. He's the young "Tang" who arrives in Rome from Hong Kong to help out in a family restaurant that's under siege from the local mafia who want the premises for themselves. His arrival is quite timely as his adeptness with Kung Fu helps him to eradicate the local enforcers with comfortable ease. In the end they decide to get serious - perhaps the building is on an oil well, or something, so draft in the legendary "Colt" (Chuck Norris) who has the young upstart "Tang" firmly in his sights. There is astonishing agility on display here from an array of experts in this, and other, martial arts that showcase their athleticism and fleetness-of-foot using hands, improvised weapons, balance and precision to exhibit the artistic elements of this deadly form of combat really well. Away from those precisely staged activities, though, the rest of this is a rather ordinarily constructed drama that makes as much of visionary director Lee's limitations as an actor as it extols his skills as a fighter. Essentially, we can live without many of the first eighty minutes, especially the romantic interludes which come across as particularly wooden, and just settle down for a denouement that would have had Nero himself gripped from his throne in the ancient Coliseum.
2024-12-17
