Originally circulated to English-speaking audiences under the less commercial title Two on the Road, the goofy, action-packed, and widely bootlegged Fearless Dragons is about as representative of an early '80s Hong Kong action comedy as you can find. Mismatched adversaries turned buddies framed for a crime and kicking butt? Check. Multiple ridiculous villains? Check. Silly English dub filled with anachronisms involving James Bond, Ultraman, Midnight Express, and various superheroes? Check.

A big stash of disaster relief money is being trekked through the wilderness (accompanied by stock Pino Donaggio music like pretty much every other HK movie from '76 to '81), which of course puts it in the sights of a gang of robbers and the obligatory martial arts showdown. Two con artists at the scene, Lively Dragon (Leung) and Crazy Horse (Ko), banter and fight a lot in the aftermath and try to figure out a way to either steal the money or blame each other for the crime. However, it turns out they're both being set up and have to join forces to clear their names, which of course means getting into lots of fights and delivering a jaw-dropping fight finale showcasing Johnny Wang Lung-Wei.

The entire loose narrative here depends on the charms of Ko and Leung, and luckily they're up to the task with lots of happy silliness and impressive athleticism (including numerous fun wire gags). Rarely cast in leading hero roles but insanely prolific (including tons of Shaw Brothers movies before this), Ko is extremely energetic here and coordinates well with "Beardy" Leung, who also started off with SB but really came into his own around this time in films like Deadnaught, The Postman Strikes Back, and Knockabout. A major plus here is the fight choreography which gets more elaborate and insane as it goes along, just as a martial arts film should, with a great payoff at the end. Of the many highlights along the way, the most deranged has to be an appearance by "Golden Teeth" (Kam), a familial relation of a certain famous henchman from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.

It's no wonder this one has been in circulation a lot over the years, though the usually English-dubbed transfers have been really dire until the 2025 Blu-ray release from Severin Films with a nice widescreen scan from the original negative. An opening disclaimer notes the 2K scan (or 4K according to the press announcement) does what it can with the damaged source, but the color here is gorgeous and makes up for the occasional scratch or bit of water damage you see popping up. It's one of the few films from HK distributor Goldig Films Ltd. (who folded a year later) to get the deluxe treatment, but hopefully it won't be the last. The English, Mandarin, and Cantonese tracks are all included here in DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono with separate English SDH or translated options (for the Mandarin or Cantonese versions). A new commentary by Enter the Clones of Bruce's Michael Worth and the always great Frank Djeng is a fine companion to the main feature as they point out numerous bit actors, the background of Goldig, the participants in the action choreography, and lots more. In "Know A Hero, Respect A Hero" (21m38s), director Lee Chiu looks back at his "action crash course" at Shaw Brothers, his early stunt team work, his ascent to directing in 1977, his several esteemed colleagues from the period, the early days of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung (and their shared mentor), director Chang Cheh, and his days outside the studio which led to this film. Then in "Real Kung Fu" (8m41s), Ko chats about the film from the Enter the Clones interview sessions in what would be his last one to be filmed. It's a great testimonial to his legacy as he talks about getting into acting in the early '70s, his work in Taiwan, his move to Goldig in 1978, and the challenges of making kung fu films including how to film certain fighting styles. The subtitled Hong Kong trailer is also included.

Reviewed on July 25, 2025