Legend Of The White Dragon arrives on 4K UHD + Blu-Ray combo pack on October 20
Independent filmmaking is hard. It’s especially challenging if your star dies long before the film is released with tons more work needed. This fact certainly bodes mentioning here with the release of superhero actioner Legend Of The White Dragon, a film crowdfunded by backers and fans of the creatives over at Bat In The Sun.
Heading up the cast is veteran MMPR mainstay, actor and martial arts star Jason David Frank in his final bow on screen since passing away in 2022. Frank, in his continued collaborative capacity with Bat In The Sun after several projects together over the years, reteams with filmmaking father/son duo Sean and Aaron Schoenke, the latter who also shares a co-starring role opposite Frank.
Legend Of The White Dragon is one of several conceptual areas that saw potential for Frank and Bat In The Sun. It’s also probably not what some fans expected, regardless of their fandom for Frank and the label – a sentiment that surely extends to a number of people who’ve since seen the film in theaters ahead of its upcoming disc release.
The film’s delivery notwithstanding, much of the conversation surrounding it in the past year or so has been ado with the filmmakers, and it hasn’t been pretty. That won’t be the focus here, as my thoughts are solely relegated to discussing how the film performs for me as a fan of Frank’s since spending my grade school days wishing I could do triple jump-spinning hooks all the same.
Granted, Frank changed up much of his style and performance over the years in the course of his own evolution, and adapted it accordingly to the story he now shepherds in Legend Of The White Dragon. This effort takes us into the aftermath of Dark Day when an explosive battle between treasure hunter-cum-superhero Erik Reed (Frank) and an enigmatic foe named Ashtagor devastates Virtuo City.
Three years later, Reed remains on the run as the one responsible for all of 1,263 lives lost on Dark Day – a number he keeps tattooed on his left temple as a reminder. Unable to transform into the White Dragon since it snapped in two with one half of it missing, Reed has since held onto the other half, while keeping on the road and away from his wife and daughter.
Soon, former colleagues Connor (Jason Faunt) and Iris (Rachele Brooke Smith) resurface as they effort to investigate the latest crime spree by a local gang who they discover is acting on behalf of the elusive Ashtagor, compelling them to reconvene with Reed as soon as possible, unless law enforcement gets to him first. What follows is a race against time to power up Reed’s half of the stone as a new enemy emerges in the form of Jai Katua (Schoenke), a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who possess the other missing half, and every bit of intent to use it for his own vengeful means.
The last five years or so have been consuming for this production given all the publicly-known stops and starts. Indeed, the residual effects of the pandemic are just as worth considering, along with the particulars of an undertaking like a ninety-minute feature. I’ve seen plenty of feature films over the years that were made for little to nothing on both sides of the Covid times that once crippled the industry, and I can earnestly say that compared to Legend Of The White Dragon, I’ve seen much worse.
On its merits, the movie showcases Frank in a feasible and often convincing performance as the stoic Reed. Counter to our protagonist is Schoenke’s portrayal of Katua, as the film explores the dichotomy between both characters, and for a poignant tale that takes the nuanced approach to the good-versus-evil paradigm in this regard. Inevitably, Schoenke’s own training and presentation for the role of Katua lends an inescapable nod to R-rated action heroics of late in at least one scene where he takes on a group of would-be muggers.
Faunt and Smith are great to watch as Reed’s team members who have their own origins with each other; I missed out on “Power Rangers Time Force” when that show aired in 2001, but I can imagine how energized fans might feel in seeing to veteran Ameritoku stars on screen together.
Co-star Andrew Bachelor chimes in as a holographic supercomputer and requisite comedy relief in the interim of things midway into the film. Other supporting cast members include Mark Dacascos adapting his usual monastic look and tone in a brief, but satisfactory appearance as a warrior monk and temple keeper who guards the stone’s power source. Actor David Ramsey plays a crucial role in the film’s more sinister underpinning as a newly-elected Trevon Sterns, the mayor of Virtuo City.
Other supporting performances partly include Cerina Vincent who plays Reed’s wife, Rebecca, and actress and real-life daughter to the film’s star, Jenna Frank who plays Reed’s daughter, Ashley. They appear maybe a handful of times in the film, including a scene in which Ashley vents her frustrations with her father’s disappearance. It a core moment that feels pretty heavy in hindsight given the film’s tragic air at times, combined with the additional weight from the passing of another of the film’s supporting cast members, Michael Madsen, who plays Reed’s father.
Schoenke and co-scribe Alex Kellerman penned the script for the film, which toggles between flashbacks between the roles of Reed and Katua, lending plenty to the build-up as the film approaches its climatic act. I read somewhere that Schoenke gets more screentime than Frank – I won’t say that’s the case here, and even if it is, it’s barely noticeable considering the amount of attention given to the backstories of both their roles.
The action meets the moment from start to finish, featuring Frank and Schoenke in their respective scenes, in addition to the film’s select action actors and cast members, including Kevin Porter and Amy Johnston. One action sequence has Reed’s character fighting with a helmet on the entire time apart from our titular hero in full regalia. It’s cool if you’re keen on suspending disbelief, and even moreso if your unanimous support of the film extends to the film’s stunt and action talents, which speaks greatly to what a lot of Bat In The Sun is all about in its speciality with action direction, and the hiring of ample stunt talent to get the job done. I even like that the action eventually takes things to greater heights with a CG flight scene in which Reed and Katua give chase to one another before crash landing and crossing good old-fashioned blows with each other.
Legend Of The White Dragon has its share of shortcomings as an independent feature. Visual effects can be hit-or-miss depending on where you’ve set the bar, and for me, I wasn’t put off by any of it enough to warrant a more critical definition of this. To add, I definitely don’t hate the film so much that it deserves getting dunked on like I’ve seen in a lot of YouTube thumbnails, barring any reasonable measures of critique from fans and audiences who’ve seen the film by the time of this review’s publication.
The rest of the film feels like a worthwhile accomplishment in indie fantasy action for fans of superhero hype. Bookended by a formidable turnout from Frank for the kind of actor he could have been were he still alive today, Legend Of The Dragon brings plenty to the table in its offering of entertainment, and steadfast closure to one of the best action stars to ever keep us company in our formative years.
The 4K UHD + Blu-Ray combo pack is especially good. It’s not specifically loaded with features, but it’s way more than most of Well Go USA’s disc releases which usually come with a trailer, alternate audio tracks, and trailers for upcoming release. The slipcover is a nice add-on as well, and as for the bonuses, we get a six-minute Q&A with Jenna Frank on the film, her experience on set, working with her father and much more. She teases this on her Instagram page which you can find in a post linked here.
I was able to listen to some of the audio commentary, with features Aaron and Sean along with producer Chris Jay as they discuss working with their star, the extent to which Frank pushed himself to be a better actor in some instances, and the action. Co-star Aaron also shares a bit about his role and how he approached the villain in a way that would complement the protagonist on his journey. Other aspects of the film discussed include filming in a post-lockdown LA, shooting in hot weather, and what it was like to film Frank and Madsen, and much more.
There are some things that the commentary doesn’t go into. I think it might have helped to do so since the film has since been subject to a lot of scrutiny by some fans, and even folks with platforms who’ve heavily followed every nook and cranny of the film’s progress in the last six years or so. Given this context and at the risk of being repetitive, I conclude with this: Legend Of The White Dragon is what it is, regardless of what some believe it could have or should have been.
Per the box, the 4K UHD print only comes with the feature film, alternative Spanish language audio, the directors’ commentary, and a trailer.
As someone who watched Frank’s electrifying Ameritoku debut, and as someone who’s remained keen on seeing how far the MMPR veterans can go beyond their Fox Kids stardom like with what I’ve seen from Johnny Yong Bosch and Alpha Stunts, I genuinely enjoyed Legend Of The White Dragon. I enjoyed what Frank brought to the screen as an actor and a martial artist, and the potential he exuded before his time ended. For what it’s worth, if you take nothing else away from this latest labor from Bat In The Sun, I hope you will take that much.
