Where to watch Lady Dragon
1 1/2 Stars
An ex-CIA agent (Kathy Gallagher) living in Indonesia tracks Ludvig Hauptman, the arms dealer who killed her husband. Along the way, she meets a young boy and his grandfather, who teach her in the ways of the Lady Dragon.
Cynthia Rothrock’s Asia-produced martial arts films are so crisply shot, edited, and choreographed that her American-based output looks slow and rudimentary by comparison. While watching Lady Dragon, written and directed by David Worth of Kickboxer notoriety, I had to adjust the playback speed to 1.25x so that it felt like one of Rothrock’s import action flicks. Richard Norton, also a veteran of the Hong Kong school of action filmmaking, is the lead bad guy. The Aussie looks properly fit and tanned for the role, but the director has unwisely chosen to include only one fight scene for the fantastically athletic martial artist.
The production design has reused sets from Kickboxer, and the mending of our hero under the guidance of an elder master is also similar to that film from a narrative standpoint, but the story also includes the heroine being raped and beaten by Norton. These unsavory aspects are almost offset by the end punch-up, a brutal piece of on-screen aggression, between Cynthina and Richard. It wouldn’t be a B-movie if Robert Ginty didn’t show up, and he does, in a pointless role that only serves to confuse an already highly illogical plot. Lady Dragon, along with China O’Brien, was a staple on the shelves of video stores, but neither is worthy of her remarkable talents.
Directed by: David Worth
Written by: David Worth, Clifford Mohr
Starring: Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton, Robert Ginty