I am a huge fan of 60’s and 70’s martial arts films.
I am a huge fan of Batman.
I am a huge fan of exploitation films.
I am a huge fan of writer Denny O’Neil. So when I was given Batman: Soul of The Dragon to review I was optimistic and excited.
Batman: Soul of The Dragon takes place in 1970’s Gotham and other places around the world when Bruce Wayne was still trying to figure out who this Batman character is and what he stands for. It also, through a series of multiple flashbacks, shows Bruce journeying to a remote Asian monastery to train with O-Sensei, a mystical martial arts monk who among other things is training others. Others who would eventually become Lady Shiva, Richard Dragon, and Ben Turner a.k.a. Bronze Tiger.
When their master disappears under unbelievable circumstances and the mysterious Kobra Clan begins attacking, Batman, Shiva and Turner must band together to defeat them and hopefully stop a world ending cataclysmic event.
Batman: Soul of The Dragon is not your typical Batman yarn.
In fact Batman, though whose name is featured so prominently in the title is a secondary character in his own film and that isn’t a bad thing. The film’s real main star is Richard Dragon. Created in the early 70’s by Dennis O’Neil and James R. Berry, Dragon was a thief and a martial artist who went on to train both The Question and Oracle. In this film however he has been converted into a James Bond style spy and wholly based on legendary martial artist Bruce Lee.
Taking pages out of Enter The Dragon and other Lee films writer and Jeremy Adams has made the obvious and pretty brilliant usage of the aforementioned 70’s films and modeled not only Dragon aon after Lee but Ben Turner is basically Jim Kelly from Enter The Dragon and Black Belt Jones. Bruce Wayne is a sort of amalgamation of Steve McQueen and any number of John Cassavettes protagonists as well and I have to say, “I am here for it.”
I was actually taken off guard initially by the thematic choice of the writer and DC animated veteran director, Sam Liu. Expecting the usual DC animated fare and being completely satisfied with that I was locked in to enjoying another DC animated movie. I have enjoyed almost all of them with the exception of the entire first half of The Killing Joke, for obvious reasons.
The opening bars of the funky, twangy, guitar heavy sounding soundtrack immediately peaked my curiosity.
When the film faded up from black to a gritty and dirty 70’s style New York-esque Gotham I was ready for what was to come. I was not disappointed. The story has just the right amount of cheese and over the top storytelling, borderline terrible acting (done on purpose I assume, and if not then whatever, it fits) lots of action and martial arts fighting, and just enough intrigue and adventure to keep me hooked the entire 83 minutes.
I’m sure this movie is not going to be for everyone, especially if you are looking for a straight Batman tale.
Like I said Bruce Wayne is only a side character and I think actual screen time of him in the actual cape and cowl would only add up to a brief cameo at best but whatever, I thought it was really well done and a bold move for DC.
Making this a Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, Ben Turner vehicle is rad as they are some of the best fighters in the DCU and it makes TOTAL sense then to make this film an homage to 70’s era kung fu and karate flicks. The best part of the whole thing is that they nailed the time period and style of filmmaking that those films were famous for. I would gladly own this and recommend it to anyone who loved Black Belt Theater or Kung Fu Theater on Saturday mornings as a kid.
Give it a watch and remember going into this that this is not your average tale of the Dark Knight and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Batman: Rise of The Dragon is available On Demand, Digital HD, 4k Blu-ray Combo & Blu-ray
*****
Produced by Jim Krieg, Sam Liu, Kimberly S. Moreau
Written by Jeremy Adams
Based on The Characters from DC
Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
Directed by Sam Liu
Starring David Giuntoli, Mark Dacascos, Kelly Hu,
Michael Jai White, James Hong, Josh Keaton, Jamie Chung
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