Jim Kelly was a great fighter, but no Richard Roundtree or Fred Williamson as an actor. He was good as the third banana (after Bruce Lee and John Saxon) in the martial arts classic 'Enter The Dragon', and even better in the surprisingly entertaining starring vehicle 'Black Belt Jones'. But that movies "sequel" 'Hot Potato' was pretty awful and the prospect of Kelly being teamed up with legendary schlockmeister Al Adamson ('Horror Of The Blood Monsters', 'Dracula vs. Frankenstein', 'Naughty Stewardesses',etc.etc.), made me think I was in for one of THE worst movies ever made. But you know what? This movie was ineptly dubbed, badly acted, had some crappy dialogue and was full of dull stock footage, but I still actually enjoyed it. Not much, but at least SOME, which is something I certainly didn't expect! Kelly plays an agent of D.R.A.G.O.N. which sounds really cool, but we're never told what that means exactly. The movie opens with him on holiday, but some guys in suits spoil it by making him a proposal to eliminate Janikan (Bill Roy), the leader of a drug/voodoo/slave trade cult. He refuses initially but is then told that his own girlfriend Tokai (Essie Lin Chia), who I think is an ambassador's daughter or something, has been kidnapped by these evil mofos. So of course, Kelly goes instantly into action, opening several cans of whup-ass on assorted thugs, voodoo baddies, midgets and even a vulture (named Vultron!). Adamson being Adamson, he still manages to make all this nowhere near as entertaining and exciting as you'd imagine, but there are still a few decent fight sequences, and a memorable jet-pack ride by Kelly. The supporting cast is very odd, and cult fans will get a big kick out of it because it includes D'Urville Martin (Reverend Rufus in Larry Cohen's 'Black Caesar' and 'Hell Up In Harlem' and director of the blaxploitation cult fave 'Dolemite'), Biff Yeager (from 'Repo Man' and other Alex Cox movies), little person Felix Silla (Cousin Itt from 'The Addams Family', 'Demon Seed', 'The Brood'), and even tough guy Aldo Ray ('We're No Angels', 'Angel Unchained'). 'Black Samurai' is trash, but there's lots of dumb fun to be had, especially if you keep the pizza and cold beers flowing throughout. And as bad as it is, it's STILL better than 'Hot Potato'!
