The Last Dragon (1985)

Directed by Michael Schultz. Starring Taimak, Julius J. Carry III, Chris Murney, Vanity, Faith Prince, Leo O’Brien, Glen Eaton, Mike Starr, Thomas Ikeda, Jim Moody. [PG-13]

Or, as it’s titled onscreen, Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon, since why not fill a blaxploitation-meets-martial-arts flick with Motown music? DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night” will stick in the head, as will the performances (either embarrassingly stiff or outrageously over-the-top)…the actual fighting, though? Not so much. Competently directed but, considering the amount of kung phooey on hand, there’s too little energy and flash when the fists and feet get to flying; all that enthusiasm was spent on MTV-inspired music video numbers, “hip” jive-talkers, and an outlandish gangster sub-plot. As for the main plot, it’s just the usual stuff—young martial artist Taimak (his first role, and, boy, does it show) travels to the big city, clashes with toughs, wins a girl (Vanity) he barely seems interested in, and stays out of the way when the cartoonish grotesqueries rear their heads (what the heck is in that aquarium filled with turbid green water?). Carry is broad, immaculately-garbed fun as Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, but he’s just too ridiculous to take seriously as a menace. With most chop socky productions, the laughs are inadvertent, but at least this one is made with a defined sense of humor and the absurd; some of the biggest laughs, however, were still probably unintentional.

37/100