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Because some secret formula is stolen by terrorists, the CIA calls its
2 top agents - martial arts expert Lung (Bruce Le) & womanizer Richard
(Richard Harrison) - to Spain to retrieve it.
First, Richard & Lung try to get the formula from the terrorists in
a bullring (it's Spain, there has got to be a bullring, hasn't there ?),
where Lung has to fight a live bull using Kung Fu, but when that fails,
Richard has to bed Maria (Nadiuska), the beautiful terrorist, to give Lung
enough time to steal the formula from her appartment. Lung succeeds, and
Maria is shot for her failure, while Richard is still in the bathtub.
Mission accomplished ... or is it.
Of course it isn't, otherwise the film would be over after about 20
minutes.
As a matter of fact, neither did Lung get the real formula, just a
decoy, nor has Maria really died, it was just a charade.
Maria soon travels to Hong Kong, where she & her fellow terrorists
(among them Brad Harris as her muscular bodyguard) plan to sell the
formula to the highest bidder. But now not only the CIA is after her but
also the Vietcong, led by comrade Yeng (Hwang Jang Lee).
After much to & fro, with the three fractions fighting each other,
& comrade Yeng even killing many of his own men & women he thinks
dispensable (among them Yang Sze), Lung & Richard somehow get a map to
the terrorists' secret hideout, & attack, with Lung pretty much taking
out everyone in his way, only to find out when he gets to the heads of the
operation, that they have already been killed by comrade Yeng, who tries
to make a getaway with the formula. But of course, Lung won't let him,
& they engage in mortal combat. It all ends with a car, them both in
it, going over a cliff & exploding.
Lung can make it out, comrade Yeng can't.
And Richard ? He has pretty much been watching everything from afar.
If my synopsis has led you to believe this is another one of these
trashy espionage/martial arts films, you are of course right, & the
film really is as silly & clichéd as my synopsis might suggest ...
but that's only seeing half the picture. On the other hand, the film is,
not despite but because of all its shortcomings, completely enjoyable - if
you are game for such a kind of cheap thrills: The Bruce Le vs bull-fight
is hilarious, Brad Harris is always fun to watch, especially when he's
trying to do martial arts, and I haven't even talked about the topless
slow motion tennis match yet, which is totally irrelevant to the plot but
a hoot to watch. The funniest thing though is co-star Richard Harrison
himself (who allegedly has directed the topless tennis match sequence),
who clearly gives the impression of not taking any of the film seriously,
as he turns in a rather careless performance, & when the action starts
is often put out of action by a kick in the groin, or he watches from afar
altogether.
No, it's not a martial arts milestone or Hong Kong classic, it's not
even a good film (objectively speaking), but it's a real fun to watch,
provided you are prepared to laugh.
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Flix.com
amazon.co.uk
eThaiCD.com
find Challenge of the Tiger at adultvideouniverse.com
