If you've watched all the Ip Man movies (as I have) then you're fully aware that a rivalry between two martial arts schools is a perfectly worthy central conflict. That was true in the 21st century for Donnie Yen. And it was true back in the last one for equally hunky Dragon Lee (a.k.a. Moon Kyung-seok/Bruce Lai). In The Dragon's Snake Fist, North Korea's pulpy male pin-up headlines as a star pupil who eventually must take on a rival school's entire graduating class pretty much by himself. Numbers aside, this battle is not to be taken lightly; the evilest sensei (Kim Ki-ju) is teaching a vicious fighting-style incorporating acupressure techniques capable of making victims cough up blood.
Not that this diabolical contact-sport stands a chance against The Dragon's Snake Fist Hapkido heartthrob. Oh no. Our hero will triumph, maybe because he lives in a proto-Instagram land where gold filters and blue filters pop up without warning. In this chromatically shifting world, Dragon must beat up numerous Crane Fist practitioners, including a preposterously mustachioed man (Chang Yi-tao/Bruce Lai) whose main weaponry is a pair of metal rings, and a brother-sister duo who have little compuction regarding the kill and its consequences. My favorite character, ultimately, is a barechested baddie — often seen dry-shaving his cheeks with a straight-edged razor — who employs fire-breathing in his attack methodology. Now that's hot!
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