#StokerScore (Head 5/10, Heart 10/10)
Due to current work commitments being low I find myself with time on my hands and, considering we are still three days away from me not going to see the latest Bay-splosion, I thought I would continue to re-watch some of my favourite movies and try to give them a realistic review....turns out that that is harder than I imagined.In The Last Dragon, (I always drop the Berry Gordy tag) we have a movie that I love to its core. I remember watching this on rented videotape shortly after its release and have watched it repeatedly since. To me, this is as quotable as The Princess Bride, has music that brings a smile to your face and makes you cringe at the same time, and references classic Bruce Lee films throughout.
But back to Berry Gordy. The founder of the Motown music label is the man responsible for this
seeing the light of day, with the names that it has attached. In essence it's a feature length MTV spot with a plot that ties the musical performances together but to stop there would be to miss the fact that as far as movies that reflect the time, this is just about top of the pile. The problem is that it is so politically incorrect, only the fact that it is Berry Gordy's property stops it from being sent to the sacrificial PC altar and when you watch it you'll see what I mean.
Everyone is stereo-typed, and I do mean everyone. Or maybe its just that after fifty years I've lived long enough to be that cynical. Perhaps people watching this for the first time might see something that I'm missing. But this movie is so damned enjoyable, you tell me at the end you're not rooting for the good guy in the final fight, that you don't laugh at the training montage, that you don't get your feet tapping to the disco/R&B soundtrack that includes the likes of Stevie Wonder, Rockwell and Smokey Robinson!
The story involves Bruce Leeroy (yes), a coolie hat-wearing martial art devotee training with his Asian coach to reach the mystical Final Level, at which point practitioners will be enveloped by a 'glow'. On his journey, Leeroy meets a Fortune Cookie company staffed by Asians who wished they were Black, a Video Jockey-cum-presenter in the form of the gorgeous Vanity, a mobster and his moll as well as the rest of Leeroy's family. Into the mix walks the ominious Sho-Nuff, the self-styled Shogun of Harlem. Complete with extravagant costume, Sho Nuff wants to be the only Master in the neighbourhood so finds opportunities to challenge Leeroy. There is an awesome scene where the mobster refers to Harlem's Shogun as Mister Nuff and the look on actor Julius Clary III's face is perfect.
This movie has a lot of faults; the plot, the acting, the dialogue...and yet I DON'T CARE, all of these are completely irrelevant (I know!). Please, take some time, gather some friends, get a bit drunk if
I dedicate this review to my Brother-From-Another-Mother, Mr. Sammy Cox for reminding me that there is one place that you have not looked and it is there, only there that you shall find the master.
Oh I nearly forgot....William H. Macey is in it, too
Such a good content, thank you
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