Dragon Force (1982)

Disclaimer: The following plot summary of contains no fallacies on my part. Real humans wrote this, and got it filmed. Please do not contact me, accusing me of making up any of the plot points or characters' names. I owned this film on video, and everything is true and accurate.

On the VHS version, one of the first images to greet the viewer of this film are the three letters "I-U-D." Under the mistaken impression that this is a documentary on birth control, I-U-D stands for "Independent United Distributors." Princess Rawleen (Mandy Moore...no, not that Mandy Moore) is European royalty from the country of Mongrovia. Her right hand man, General Marushka (James Barnett), has teamed with a terrorist named Mr. Sly (Randy Channell Soei). They want to kidnap the princess, and get a hold of her country's chrome ore so they can overcharge makers of nuclear weapons and reactors. Rawleen stays with two friends in Hong Kong- Richard (Richard Lau), who offers her cocaine, and then drops the subject for the rest of the film, and Elana (Olivia Cheng). Rawleen is accompanied by her secretary Eva and security chief Max Leon. Much is made of Rawleen's virginity, and she is kidnapped by a bunch of ninjas. Strutting beauhunk Jack Sargeant (Bruce Baron) is called in by his boss, named Trouble, to find the princess. Sargeant must team with a group called Dragonforce in order to save her. Sargeant is told to visit a contact in Hong Kong and get some weaponry for the big fight. His contact's name? Ah Chu. Where is Ah Chu located? At the Good Fu-king Flour Company (please, reread my disclaimer if you find this hard to believe). Accompanied by "funny" music, Sargeant meets Ah Chu (by sneezing, of course), and does not take any weapons. Ah Chu then talks about a "double nothing guy from England" who is coming next week for weapons. Sargeant is sent to the Tiptoe Forest and meets his new coworkers- the Monk Kamikasu, cute Soo-lin (Frances Fong), and the leader Tau Lung (Bruce Li). In a ceremony that makes a frat hazing look like Catholic Mass, Sargeant is initiated into Dragonforce, and they go about saving the princess.

The film is dubbed, and character names were hard to understand, as was the plot. The film is ninety eight minutes, and I found ninety six minutes that should have been dropped. The action is okay, but the fights bore. The acting is bad, even for dubbed. It is hard to believe people invested money in this. The original music is all wrong, one fight scene is done to high orchestral strings better suited for a Sally Field movie. The pacing is off, and the characters are trapped in 1982 fashions. The ninjas are funny, wearing neon orange pajamas that would stand out anywhere. As the main hero, a special mention should go to Baron. He does not know how to play a character. He has his lines down, he can kick and punch, but his facial expression is fixed throughout. Bruce Li, now suspecting that he was a film actor only because he kinda looks like Bruce Lee, is also terrible. Everyone takes the plot so seriously, the screenwriters forgot to tell them this was a semi-comedy. This is a bad film. I cannot recommend it. Also known as "Powerforce."