My Cultural Diet

In 1973, Robert Clouse directed Enter the Dragon, one of the greatest martial arts films of all time. Eight years later, he directed Force: Five, which is most definitely not that despite having a very similar storyline. A group of elite martial artists are recruited to infiltrate the island compound of an Asian warlord (or in this case, cult leader) and take it down from within. Unfortunately, none of the martial artists seen onscreen possess Bruce Lee’s charisma, not even group leader Joe Lewis, a karate champion who trained with Lee and was called “the greatest karate fighter of all time” by him. Force: Five also stars martial arts icons Richard Norton (Mr. Nice Guy, The Octagon) and Benny “The Jet” Urquidez (Dragons Forever, Wheels on Meals) as well as hapkido master Bong-soo Han as the villainous Reverend Rhee. The film wastes Norton and Urquidez, though, and it’s hard to take Han seriously as a villain given his parody of Enter the Dragon’s evil Han in 1977’s The Kentucky Fried Movie. Force: Five has a couple of eye-opening stunts, though I suspect they’re due as much to lax on-set safety protocols as anything. For the most part, this is a pretty lackluster and entirely forgettable film. (My fellow cult film fans should check out Cool Ass Cinema’s extensive review, which has some interesting behind-the-scenes details).

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