The Last Dragon’s “Shogun of Harlem” Sho’nuff is one of the most unsung movie villains of the 1980s. The 1980s was something of a golden era for action and horror films, producing such icons as Freddy Kruger from A Nightmare On Elm Street, Die Hard’s Hans Gruber or the terminator from… The Terminator. There’s still an embarrassment of riches to choose from, including Clancy Brown’s scenery devouring turn as Highlander’s The Kurgen or Vernon Wells’ Bennett from Commando.

One bad guy who doesn’t get mentioned quite as often is Sho’nuff from The Last Dragon. This 1985 martial arts epic revolves around “Bruce” Leroy (Taimak), a martial artist who falls for a VJ named Lisa (Vanity) and must rescue her when an arcade mogul kidnaps her. Adding to Leroy’s problems is an unwanted rivalry with the self-proclaimed “Shogun of Harlem” and fellow martial artist Sho’nuff. He wants to challenge and beat Leroy in a fight to prove he’s the true “Master,” and he later teams with arcade mogul Eddie to force Leroy into a confrontation.

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The Last Dragon was no doubt inspired by the success of The Karate Kid, but whereas that 1984 gem is relatively grounded in tone, The Last Dragon isn’t afraid to get campy and ridiculous. The film is essentially an action comedy, with everything from the costumes to the soundtrack placing it firmly in the 1980s. While it received mixed reviews upon release it’s now a cult classic. It also has several nods to Bruce Lee, including Enter The Dragon playing in a theatre the first time Leroy encounters Sho’nuff or lead Taimak wearing a yellow jumpsuit similar to the one Lee donned in his final, unfinished movie Game Of Death.

The Last Dragon also features a truly delightful villain turn from the late Julius Carry (Two Girls, A Guy And A Pizza Place) as Sho’nuff. Carry is a blast every time the character appears, including his introduction where his posse line-up for his arrival. He may not be the most threatening of foes – even when using his “Glow” to beat up Leroy in the finale – but what he lacks in menace he makes up for in sheer entertainment value. Sho’nuff is basically the most extreme version of the movie bullies that dominated the decade like Biff in Back To The Future, which makes his eventual defeat all the more entertaining.

While there was talk of a sequel to The Last Dragon following the surprise success of the original, Taimak ultimately opted out of signing on for more. This also meant Sho’nuff didn’t get to return but while he may not get mentioned much alongside the other major 1980s bad guys, he certainly deserves a spot.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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