Tuesday, May 29, 2018

ENTER THE PANTHER (1982) **


A drunk strikes it rich when he discovers gold in his mine.  Some evildoers get wind of this and murder him.  Then, they try to trick his daughter into signing over the deed to the mine.  Luckily for her, Bruce Li is there to fight off the bad guys and protect her family’s share of the gold.

Enter the Panther is your typical chopsocky affair for the most part.  The dubbing, cropping, and sound effects are all out of whack, although not to the point where it becomes humorous (which is a shame).  Bruce does what he can, but he’s stuck playing a cookie-cutter hero type role in a thoroughly ho-hum actioner.  There’s a subplot where he is tempted by the charms of the slutty bad girl who is in cahoots with the villain, but he of course leaves her in favor of the old drunk’s virginal daughter.  Had Li fallen for the charms of the trollop, it would’ve at least made for an interesting dynamic. 

The ending is novel though.  During the finale, Li must fight off the bad guy’s henchman in a cemetery to buy time for the town officials to exhume the body of the old drunk.  While he’s keeping them busy, the doctor performs an autopsy on the body to confirm if he was poisoned or not.  You certainly don't see that every day.  However, the action itself is nothing to write home about, and the rest of the film is sorely lacking the energy of the final reel.

AKA:  Conspiracy.

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