Product Details

• Actors: John Arthur (III), Michael Blanks, Roy Boesch, Deon Edwards, Richard Fuller
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Concorde
• VHS Release Date: October 29, 1996
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630288859X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,686 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars dragon fire not so hot, April 28, 2007

By 

dominion_ruler "Bryan" (Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dragon Fire [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The good, and only good thing I found with Dragon Fire, is the fight tournament. Some good fighters, especially Ahmed Mustafa played by Michael Blanks. The fights look pretty cool and flashy. But aside form the tournament, this movie is pretty much a dud.

The story is as boring as can be, and the gaps are filled with pointless scenes only used to fill in for an hour and a half of movie time. The main charcater is a human offworlder, who comes back to Earth to find out his brother has been killed by a fighter from the tournament. The search to find the killer is no different than in "Bloodfist" with Don Wilson. Even up to the very ending, its just like Bloodfist. Intended to be a surprise outcome, I actually saw this one coming. The plot is so unexciting that the movie could have been done in 30 minutes to just get right to the point. It seems that we are always returning to the same strip club over and over and over for no more of a reson just to watch someone new dance. Sorry but not exciting for me, I actually want to watch a movie. I did, however, like the techno song that was playing in the club early on.

I'd get Dragon Fire for the fights, nothing more. Dominic La Blanca is pretty good, but not memorable, for this is his only movie made. Although Dragon Fire is set in the future, you really can't even tell. Nothing futuristic about this one.

2.0 out of 5 stars "I'm not gonna take another bet! No!", March 30, 2010

By 

Mike Sehorn "Rezo the Dezo" (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dragon Fire [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Some time ago, Robert King wrote a fairly standard screenplay about a young martial artist who travels to a distant land to seek the murderer of his brother; this became Bloodfist, the first starring vehicle of Don 'the Dragon' Wilson. A while later, Jerry Trimble made his solo debut in Full Contact, a film that shared almost the exact same storyline as "Bloodfist". The same year saw the release of "Dragon Fire", vehicle of one-time star Dominic LaBanca, and wouldn't you know it, it features nearly the exact same story as the other two and is credited to the same author. Who knows why this unremarkable tale was used as the template for three low-budget martial arts films and why this has never been officially pointed out to cash in on interest? I have no idea, but for the most part, it's not worth finding out: "Dragon Fire" is as much of a miss as its predecessors and will satisfy only the most lenient of B-movie fans.

The story: in the year 2050, Laker Powers (LaBanca) arrives on a dystopian Earth from an off-world colony in search of his brother...only to find him murdered following a high-stakes street fight. Aided by the shady trainer Slick (Kisu, Shootfighter: Fight to the Death), Laker determinedly enters the underground circuit to uncover the identity of his brother's killer.

Not unlike its predecessors, "Dragon Fire" sets a lot of store by the legitimate athletic ability of its performers: the cast boasts no less than ten legitimate martial artists, half of them former world champions. Perhaps this would mean something if most of these guys were in fights of actual substance, but I doubt it, since the brawls are already so very boring. Of the sixteen fights (!), only two are worth watching, thanks to all of `em being cursed with bland choreography and further watered down by ceaseless cuts, slow-motion inserts, and other editing techniques that make for very strained, convoluted watching. There are a few cool kicks supplied by LaBanca and baddie Michael Blanks (Billy's brother, also seen in Expect No Mercy) that shine through the superficial obstruction, but nothing worth forcing yourself to sit through the rest of the fights.

The only fun that may be gotten out of the film is in comparing the astounding amounts of similarity between "Dragon Fire" and "Full Contact" and "Bloodfist". From a character standpoint, it's uncanny: Kisu's role as trainer was previously aped by Joe Mari Avellana and Marcus Aurelius, Pamela Pond (Sins of Desire) is replacing Marilyn Bautista and Denise Buick to a T as Laker's love interest, Harold Hazeldine rips off Michael Shaner and Gerry Blanck shamelessly as Laker's goofball buddy... Shoot, even Charles Philip-Moore replaces Michael Jai White as the charismatic fight official, and their characters even have the same name! Individual scenes aren't safe, either: Kisu quoting Avellana quoting Aurelius quoting Sun Tzu, Hazeldine's character turning a harmless sparring scene into a real fight when money becomes involved, the infamous "snake in my pants" remark... If nothing else, you could get some fun out of buying all three movies and comparing them on a beat-by-beat level like you could with no others.

Even this isn't particularly fun to do, since "Dragon Fire" matches its two predecessors for lackluster production values and laughable acting. There's nothing fun to look at or listen to (unless you get into the extended striptease scene), so considering that the fight scenes are still a complete shot in the bucket, there is very little reason to watch this movie. Despite the rave reviews from martial arts magazines printed on the tape sleeve, Dominic LaBanca is entirely forgettable as an action hero and there's good reason why you probably haven't heard of this movie until a few minutes ago. Leave it.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good martial arts flick, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dragon Fire [VHS] (VHS Tape)

this movie is the same as "Full Contact",also a martial arts movie same director nice fighting scenes great choreography go rick jacobson&roger corman a great team in directing marial arts flicks!!!check out full contact with JERRY TRIMBLE