FEARLESS DRAGONS - a meaningless re-titling obscuring the original title of TWO FOR THE ROAD - is a fine Hong Kong action comedy with lots of bizarre incident and plentiful kung fu action to see it through. It's also notable for teaming up no less than three excellent martial artists, all of them having variously starred in Shaw Brothers movies, along with plenty of other familiar character actors from the genre.
The story sees a couple of bandits (played by Beardy and Phillip Ko) who are falsely accused of having stolen a priceless gold shipment. In order to clear their names they decide to expose the real bandits and their vicious leader, with all hell breaking loose when they do so. The excellent supporting cast includes a nice role for Chiang Tao (the baddie with the prominent cheekbones in THE SAVAGE FIVE) as the police chief tasked with capturing them.
FEARLESS DRAGONS has some notable action scenes which tend to employ outre touches to make them memorable. There's a supporting villain copied from the Richard Kiel character in the Bond films, albeit with gold teeth this time around. A number of references to contemporary cinema such as Roger Moore and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS are made, although these don't really fit with the film's rural time period so were probably added just for the English dub.
Best of all are the three main participants here. Beardy gives another fey presence, extremely acrobatic and energetic and completely lovable as a result. Phillip Ko always shines when playing something more than a stock bad guy, and this film is no exception; he's a delight as Beardy's friend and partner. Villain duties are given to Shaw veteran Wang Lung Wei who once again impresses in an extremely tough role. The classic extended climax involves horse fu (neighing dubbed over the fighting) and all manner of cool and crazed content to end the film on a real high.
The story sees a couple of bandits (played by Beardy and Phillip Ko) who are falsely accused of having stolen a priceless gold shipment. In order to clear their names they decide to expose the real bandits and their vicious leader, with all hell breaking loose when they do so. The excellent supporting cast includes a nice role for Chiang Tao (the baddie with the prominent cheekbones in THE SAVAGE FIVE) as the police chief tasked with capturing them.
FEARLESS DRAGONS has some notable action scenes which tend to employ outre touches to make them memorable. There's a supporting villain copied from the Richard Kiel character in the Bond films, albeit with gold teeth this time around. A number of references to contemporary cinema such as Roger Moore and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS are made, although these don't really fit with the film's rural time period so were probably added just for the English dub.
Best of all are the three main participants here. Beardy gives another fey presence, extremely acrobatic and energetic and completely lovable as a result. Phillip Ko always shines when playing something more than a stock bad guy, and this film is no exception; he's a delight as Beardy's friend and partner. Villain duties are given to Shaw veteran Wang Lung Wei who once again impresses in an extremely tough role. The classic extended climax involves horse fu (neighing dubbed over the fighting) and all manner of cool and crazed content to end the film on a real high.