Bruce Li stars as a kung fu teacher who is hunted by mobsters, when he and his friends discover gold smuggled in from Vietnam by said mobsters. Bruce Li finds himself and his girlfriend a target and through out it becomes obvious that Bruce Li can't trust anyone as everyone seems to be a potential assassin, in what is a downbeat and hands down Bruce Li's best effort. In terms of film-making quality, the level of action choreography and indeed scripting, Iron Dragon is head and shoulders above all other Bruceploitation flicks and the highlight of Bruce Li's career. The martial arts action is well done, the suspense is crafted for maximum impact and this indeed is a great martial arts movie and in its own right a good movie. The bus sequence is in particular, very suspenseful and the climax has a few surprises that one doesn't see coming. Indeed the villains here mean business and Bruce Li isn't imitating Bruce Lee, so much as he is playing a hapless character thrown into a bad situation. Li plays the part charismatically and with a sense of likability and intelligence that makes us care about his character so that we care about what happens to him. Indeed this is on par with a Shaw Brothers kung fu movie and it's well worth seeking out if you can find it.
* * * out of 4-(Good)
* * * out of 4-(Good)