Bullet Points: Deadly Strike
If you forced me to select my favorite Bruce Lee Clone, Bruce Li would be my answer.
Bruce Li was the first Clone I ever saw, and he starred in some of my absolute favorite Bruceploitation movies like Dynamo and Iron Dragon Strike Back.
In this edition of Bullet Points, I’m going to look back at Li’s 1978 film Deadly Strike or as it is also known, Wanted! Bruce Li, Dead of Alive or Incredible Dragon…
- A New Sheriff in Town: The movie starts off with Captain Chen (Bruce Li, Dynamo) arriving on the scene and making his way to the town’s police headquarters. Once Chen is there he finds the men who are supposed to be keeping law and order loafing, gambling, drinking and even sleeping on the job… it seems the police force has become disenfranchised after fighting a losing battle against the army of bandits who call Fan Ta Ha (Chan Sing, Bruce Lee in New Guinea). The police ranks have thinned due to some being killed by the bandits and others just quitting before they met the same fate. But Chen believes it isn’t all about man power, it is also brain power… they just need a plan!
- What Are You Prepared To Do?: Chen dusts off The Dirty Dozen playbook and makes an offer to some of the prisoners in the jail… help take out Fan Ta Ha and IF they survive, they will have their freedom! The stand outs among the prisoners are Chow Quay Ah (Choi Wang, Chinatown Kid), who is in jail because he murdered the men who murdered his wife and Ni Gi aka One-Eye (Lung Fei, Bruce Lee Against Supermen) who is handy with a knife and is in jail for killing a corrupt magistrate. Speaking of killing, if any of the prisoners try to escape during this mission, they will be killed… and Captain Chen does prove that’s not just tough talk later in the movie. I have to mention the surprise volunteer that inserts herself into the mix, former prostitute Yi Lin (Chu Lai, Kung Fu Executioner). Yi Lin’s family was killed by the bandits and she is looking for some sweet revenge and she plans on using her feminine wiles if needed to get close to the lecherous Fan Ta Ha.
- So Ruff, So Tuff: Things get off to a rough start as the prisoners are fighting amongst themselves. One one of the prisoners, Wei Gun, is even hitting on and touching Yi Lin which is totally on brand for Wei Gun. And it isn’t long before Captain Chen has to lay down the law and get everyone in line… and it isn’t long before they have bigger problems, like when they stop at a watering hole to cool off and are attacked leading to a Watering Hole Rumble!! This is followed up by a Deserted Town Dust Up and it is obvious that the bandits know Captain Chen and his crew are coming for them.
- Thieves in the Temple: Captain Chen is quite the fighter and he is about to get two big scenes where he really gets to show off his skills… First when a big man/little man tag team show up at the campsite looking to eliminate Fan Ta Ha’s Captain Chen problem and then when Chen and his team infiltrate a temple where they know more bandits are hiding and Chen finds himself at odds with the “Slip-n-Slide All-Stars” and a dude with forearms designed to look like snakes.
- Surprises Galore: The drama really picks up for Captain Chen and his team when their epic quest leads them to a high ranking member of Fan Ta Ha’s organization, Chow Tin Pow. Pow has been talking shit about Chen and his chances of getting to Fan Ta Ha since the bandits first caught word Chen was coming. But Chow Tin Pow didn’t see Yi Lin coming, who goes back to her prostitute roots to gain access to Pow’s inner sanctum, where she nearly kills him and would have if not for Pow’s right hand man Chang Lo, a man who was close to Yi Lin back in the day… Chang Lo is taken aback when he realizes it was Yi Lin who was trying to kill Pow and Yi Lin is shocked that Chang Lo fell in with the bandits. What was not surprising at this point is that Chow Tin Pow, Chang Lo and Yi Lin all end up dead since characters have been dropping like flies the entire movie.
- And Then There Were Four: By the time Chen gets to Fan Ta Ha’s lair… he only has three of the prisoners with him and unlike some of the previous battles Captain Chen actually needs their help. Seriously there was a stretch of the movie where Chen is just kicking ass solo and made me wonder why he bothered recruiting a team to begin with and didn’t just handle the whole thing on his own. Fan Ta Ha is on his own, unless you count the bottle of “performance enhancer” Fan Ta Ha has on his person to sniff away the pain.
Deadly Strike was more serious in tone than a lot of the Kung Fu classics that are reviewed on this site, so it made sense that Bruce Li got the nod here. Bruce Li is the most serious of the “Bruce Lee Clones” and Li easily pulled off the stoic Captain Chen, who was laser focused on completing his mission… a mission that the movie did a great job building up with a seemingly never ending parade of villains. The story pulled me in, the fights kept me invested and overall the movie was so good that I could almost overlook the lack of “bastards” being thrown around willy nilly and not being able to play “Name That Tune” as I watched.
I hope you are able to overlook that I have no Bonus Bullet Points for this review.
