DRAGONS NEVER DIE is a very low rent kung fu film made as a Hong Kong/Filipino collaboration. It was dubbed by what sounds like local actors speaking English in occasionally heavy accents. The film quality is very poor indeed which makes this a difficult one to enjoy, even for experienced genre fans. The original translated title is KUNG FU 10TH DAN, which is more appropriate given that the first part of the movie is set in a dojo (the martial arts studied appears to be karate rather than kung fu).
The main hero, Alex, is a conflicted type who mopes around and feels ashamed because his father lost a fight when he was a kid. Yeah, I know, not much in the way of character motivation there, but that's what this film offers. The flashback scenes have a red tint straight out of a hellish horror film. One girl goes after him and gets naked briefly. There's a crazy sped up comedy scene accompanied by a piece of sped-up music originally by Khachaturian. After a while, Alex fights a load of rivals and henchmen working for a criminal boss. Although the cast members are unfamiliar, the action direction is by none other than Corey Yuen and Brandy Yuen, who also appear in bit parts, and they lift the fights to a better quality than they usually are.
The main hero, Alex, is a conflicted type who mopes around and feels ashamed because his father lost a fight when he was a kid. Yeah, I know, not much in the way of character motivation there, but that's what this film offers. The flashback scenes have a red tint straight out of a hellish horror film. One girl goes after him and gets naked briefly. There's a crazy sped up comedy scene accompanied by a piece of sped-up music originally by Khachaturian. After a while, Alex fights a load of rivals and henchmen working for a criminal boss. Although the cast members are unfamiliar, the action direction is by none other than Corey Yuen and Brandy Yuen, who also appear in bit parts, and they lift the fights to a better quality than they usually are.