The Way of the Dragon
Warner Bros. | Release Date: August 14, 1972 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireJo Berry
Way Of The Dragon is memorable purely for its final Coliseum-set showdown between Lee and Chuck Norris (at the time the holder of countless US and World Karate championships). This is the film that provides just about the best combat sequence ever shot. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matthew Polly
The film’s appeal rests almost entirely on his fight scene with his student, Chuck Norris — arguably the best one ever captured on celluloid. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Far from a perfect movie, or even Lee's best, but it shows that he may have developed into an original and talented filmmaker. Read full review
60
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The film has the roughness you might expect in a first directorial effort, and also a perhaps unexpected leaning towards comedy. Lee makes great play on his character as the country boy without weapons confronting the denizens of the technologically-powerful West and winning hands down. Read full review
60
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Dragon is noteworthy more for the martial arts action than for narrative, which is all its fans probably want anyway. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This sort of stuff is magnificently silly, and Lee, to give him credit, never tried to rise above it. If a movie like this were directed seriously, it would be a disaster. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNora Sayre
Unlike its predecessor, Enter the Dragon, which was praised as a well-made movie, this picture is dreadfully slow and feeble whenever the cast isn't fighting. So you yearn for each battle, just as you wait impatiently for the songs or dances in a tedious musical. Read full review
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