Game of Death (1978) Review

Director: Robert Clouse
Stars: Bruce Lee (footage), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (footage), Robert Wall
Genre: Kung Fu, Bruceploitation

This is not a true Bruce Lee film. It's shameless Bruceploitation that used the footage of a dead Bruce Lee to make some money on his name. It's actually kind of disgusting.

Before I get to the story in the movie let me comment on the story behind the movie. Before Bruce Lee died he had been working on a new film called Game of Death and he had already shot some footage. It was to be the film that truly captured his philosophy and display his fighting as he would want it to be displayed. He had to put the project on hold though to go and make Enter the Dragon which, unfortunately, would prove to be his last film; dying before he could finish what would surely of had been his masterpiece.

So, with the Bruceploitation genre already up and running and such "Bruce Lee" films being released like The Legend of Bruce Lee or Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave or The Clones of Bruce Lee, it apparently occurred to someone that they could not only exploit Bruce's name but his unused footage from his uncompleted Game of Death also.

The result was a stitched together film with some scenes using footage from other Bruce Lee films, some scenes utilizing the unused Game of Death footage, some scenes using Bruce Lee stand-ins (who look nothing like Bruce), and some scenes of stand-ins actually using cardboard cut-outs of Bruce Lee's face. Oh, and they use actual footage from Bruce Lee's funeral as a plot device in here. The stitched together film which shamefully bares the name of Bruce Lee's unfinished film comes nowhere near matching Lee's vision and instead is just an awful film. 

The plot resembles nothing of Lee's original script and the film only makes use of about 11 minutes of the unused footage instead of the more than 30 that was available. The new story is about some mafia who harasses Billy Lo...who is supposed to be Bruce Lee since the film shows us Billy Lo working on Fist of Fury...so I dunno. It's a stupid fucking plot. It's a stupid fucking movie.

The only good thing about this film is the 11 minutes of actual Bruce Lee footage, which wasn't even used to the best of its potential. How can you take a film seriously when it actually tries to trick its audience into thinking some stand-in that looks nothing like Bruce Lee is actually Bruce Lee by use of false beards, sunglasses, and Bruce Lee cut-outs? It's silly, ridiculous, and quite insulting to audiences and to Bruce Lee's legacy. Also, I should add, they had to use a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stand-in as well, being that he refused to partake in this "new" Game of Death.

The non-Bruce Lee fighting is decent. It's nowhere near the level of Bruce Lee fighting and choreography but for what it is it's alright. The Robert Wall locker-room fight was pretty good. The motorcycle fight was kind of cool. Overall though it's just a pretty pathetic film. 

There's really no necessity to watch this film. If you want to see the full 35 minutes of Lee's original footage for Game of Death check out the excellent documentary titled Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Also check out my review for the Unfinished Game of Death.

Purchase Game of Death on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD

The Game of Death (unfinished, 1972) Review

Director: Bruce Lee
Stars: Bruce Lee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Tien
Genre: Kung Fu

This is a review for the original footage Bruce Lee shot for his uncompleted Game of Death in 1972, before he put the project on hold to go make Enter the Dragon, which shortly after he, unfortunately, passed away, leaving this film to never be completed. This is not a review for the 1978 Bruceploitation film, also entitled Game of Death.

There is nearly 40 minutes of footage which Lee had shot in existence. I will be reviewing the footage and what Lee had intended the film to be, i.e. the film's vision.

Bruce Lee was to play a successful martial artist who a Korean gang tries to recruit to help them rob a pagoda which is guarded by a skilled martial artist on each floor. Bruce Lee's character was to refuse but eventually forced into helping the gang once they kidnap his family. At the base of the pagoda there are ten karate black belts they must defeat. Inside the pagoda there are five floors each one with a progressively more challenging opponent.

The only parts that were filmed were as followed: Dan Inosanto (a student of Lee's and would later go on to train Bruce Lee's son Brandon) as the Third Floor Guardian, Ji Han-Jae as the Fourth Floor Guardian, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (former professional basketball player and student of Lee's) as the Fifth Floor Guardian, the final opponent. Hwang In-Shik and Taky Kimura were intended to play the First and Second Floor Guardians, and frequent Bruce Lee co-star Nora Miao (and the only person to share an on-screen kiss with Bruce) was set to play the sister of Bruce Lee's character. The likes of Robert Wall, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, George Lazenby, Sammo Hung, Jim Kelly, Bolo Yeung, and Lam Ching-ying were also intended to have roles in the film.

The film was set up to represent Bruce Lee's true philosophy: to be formless. He would overcome each challenger on each floor by adapting to each of their different styles. He would ultimately win because he was formless, adaptable and they were slaves to their style (aside from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the final floor, whose method reflected Lee's own real-life Jeet Kune Do). The yellow and black tracksuit actually was meant to represent flexibility and lack of uniform, whereas many of the other opponents in the pagoda were to wear the uniforms of their school of style. I have no doubt that had the film been completed it would have been Lee's magnum opus; accurately portraying his beliefs and philosophy and his fighting style (or lack thereof). Lee, after all, was to be credited as Director, Star, Writer, Producer, Choreographer, Co-cinematographer, among many other roles.

The footage that does exist, which can be viewed for the first time ever in the excellent documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, is fucking awesome. The fighting is ruthless and the idea of having a challenger on each floor leads to great pacing, anticipation, build-up, and gives the sense of weariness seeing Lee climb up and up the stairs just to fight an opponent harder than the last.

I've said it before and I will say it again: the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fight is the greatest Bruce Lee fight out of all of his films. Many will argue that the best was the Chuck Norris fight in Way of the Dragon, a good fight no doubt, but still, in my opinion, not as good as Bruce vs Kareem. I remember watching Game of Death footage when I was very, very young (I'm sure it was from the shitty 1978 version) and I remember being terrified by Kareem. He was so giant and massive...mysterious even. He was silent and his eyes hid behind those dark glasses. Just sitting there in that room. It was one of the scariest things I'd ever seen as a kid. I remember as a child sharing the fatigue of Bruce Lee climbing those steps. I remember feeling just as rewarded as Lee's character must of felt after winning. It was truly a powerful fight for me when I was young, which only makes me all the more sad that the film was never completed.

One of my biggest wishes is that Bruce Lee had lived long enough to complete The Game of Death. I'm confident it would have been his best film and one of the greatest martial arts films of all time. I suppose we should be thankful that we at least have some of the footage.

The footage that was shot is fantastic and the concept of the film likewise. I can't quite apply a rating to this being that it's an uncompleted film, but by all means check the footage out in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.

Purchase Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (which contains all known Game of Death footage): DVD - VHS

Enter the Dragon (1973) Review

Director: Robert Clouse
Stars: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly
Genre: Kung Fu, Spy

Enter the Dragon is the film that solidified Bruce Lee's international fame and it is by far his most well-known film (at least outside of China). It also marks the first time that a Chinese film studio (Golden Harvest) and a Hollywood film studio (Warner Bros.) collaborated in making a film. A very important film in that in further drove the kung fu craze of the 70s...the craze which Lee had started in the first place.

The plot involves Bruce Lee's character entering an island tournament held by an evil Han as a spy to try and bring Han to justice. That's about all you need to know to figure out how the rest goes.

The plot is much more English than any Bruce Lee film before it. Which makes sense being that it is, after all, an American-English film. The story is reminiscent of many English spy thrillers. A sort of mix between James Bond and Fu Manchu.

Luckily Enter the Dragon isn't just a silly Hollywood cash-in on a kung fu fad. Bruce Lee wouldn't let that happen. Bruce Lee himself heavily revised the script and he even wrote and directed the opening sequence of the film. Lee said that he wanted to make it more than just another action film.

That being said, it's still not a product fully of Bruce Lee (like Way of the Dragon was or the unfinished Game of Death would have been). Bruce Lee manages to sneak his own philosophies and beliefs in there though to, like he said, make it more than just another action film. 

The opening sequence gives a great sense of Lee's own philosophy (which makes sense being that he wrote and directed the opening, and is probably my favorite scene of the film). And of course this great scene. Then there's little things like Lee's character's refusal to wear a uniform (reflecting Lee's own revolt against styles and traditions). The scene where Lee tells the man on the boat that his style is "Fighting without fighting" and then tricks him into a smaller boat is actually based on a famous anecdote involving 16th century samurai Tsukahara Bokuden. Bruce Lee was very much like a modern Bokuden in that they both preferred an adaptive style; Bokuden himself calling his sword-fighting style the Style of No-Sword.

The cast in Enter the Dragon is great. You got to love the super fly Jim Kelly and the high-roller John Saxon. Both did excellent jobs. Robert Wall returns from Way of the Dragon and plays a great unsporting goon. Many of the stuntmen were of the Seven Little Fortunes troupe, including Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan.

The film could of benefited from some more and some cooler fight scenes. There's not too much in the way of choreography that I'd call memorable. Of course everyone will remember the great mirror scene (taken from The Lady From Shanghai and later used in The Man With the Golden Gun).

Lalo Schifrin's score is also superb. 

Many people's favorite Bruce Lee film. I'd personally go with Way of the Dragon but this is a great one as well. Bruce certainly saved it from being another mindless action flick. 

Purchase Enter the Dragon on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Stream

The Way of the Dragon (1972) Review

Director: Bruce Lee
Stars: Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Nora Miao, Bob Wall
Genre: Kung Fu, Comedy

Way of the Dragon, released as Return of the Dragon in the United States, is Bruce Lee's third film right after The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, and is the only film Lee has ever directed himself and is, in my opinion, some of his finest work of his career in film.

Unlike Bruce Lee's previous films Way of the Dragon takes place completely outside of China and instead is set in Rome. Tang Lung (Lee) is sent there to help a family friend and their restaurant which is being targeted by local thugs. The local gang will do anything they can to have the restaurant shut down, including hiring a martial arts master from America named Colt (Norris) to take out Tang Lung.

The plot is standard and conventional and follows little logic, but Bruce Lee never was known for his script writing abilities. Along with writing Lee tried his hand at directing this time around as well, and does a well enough job. He definitely gets the job done and captures all the film's awesomeness. What really counts is the fighting, but I'll get to that later.

Way of the Dragon definitely has much more comedic elements present than any other Lee film...especially towards the beginning. Sometimes the humor works really well and sometimes it fails completely. While seeing a Martial Arts master constantly having to go poop (along with funny music playing every time he asks where the toilet is) is amusing, it just doesn't feel right in here. And then there's the scene early on where Bruce Lee has a brief detour with a prostitute...but the scene wasn't at all funny and it served no purpose whatsoever...it was just there.

Some of the humor works really well though. A thug hitting himself in the head with nunchucks is hilarious, the gay mafia guy worked well, and even some of the dialogue is very funny. I'd say that all in all the humor worked well more than it worked bad, it's just a shame that they didn't know their limits. The humor though gives the film a sort of self-aware nature, but I will say that they made good use of their very small budget. 

The second half of the film is when things get real though. All jokes are set aside and the fists come out. Bruce Lee was at the top of his game in this film. His fighting was top notch and his body was incredibly toned (which he doesn't hesitate to show off). In the beginning of the film we're constantly teased; we think we're about to get to see Bruce Lee kick some ass but it is repeatedly delayed to the point where I was just dying to see Bruce Lee punch something, which made it all the more rewarding when he finally did. And boy does he!

Bruce Lee kicks so much goddamn ass in this film it is glorious. From street fights with a dozen thugs to intense duels with terrifying opponents. In Fist of Fury we got to see Bruce Lee go up against a katana, in this one we get to see how well he fares against guns (he fares well, obviously, and awesomely). All the fighting is choreographed very well, and the final fight scene against Chuck Norris is perhaps Bruce Lee's best ever (though I'd probably give that honor to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Game of Death).

Speaking of Chuck Norris, he's great in here as well and was definitely a worthy opponent for Bruce Lee. Any fans of Chuck Norris: you have this film to that for starting his acting career.

I must also compliment Lee's directing in many of the fight scenes, especially the last one. There's some great location shots and the Colosseum was a great spot to have the last fight. The creepy voice echoing in the empty arena and even the cat are nice touches. Bruce Lee is such a fast fighter, and part of the charm is watching his speed on camera, but the film made sparing though incredibly perfect use of slow-motion that's added at just the right parts to add to the intensity. 

I criticized the writing before but some things were handled very well. There's a twist that adds a bit more depth to the film. And perhaps what I thought was done best was how they made Bruce Lee's character someone with emotion, but they didn't achieve this through boring drama or misplaced romantic sub-plots, they did it just by the way he reacted to things. After he beats Chuck Norris you can tell just by his face and the way he walks away (and then further when he covers Norris' face) that he's not just a emotionless killing machine; he has morals and feelings and him displaying that in turn makes you question certain morals. And again, achieving all that without any boring drama, making a kung fu ass kicker have some depth to him, is very impressive.

The Way of the Dragon is my favorite Bruce Lee film by far. Despite a somewhat bumpy start the film manages to include some well-done humor, some interesting characters, and a final fight scene that is easily one of the best, most memorable fights of all-time.

Purchase The Way of the Dragon on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Bruce Lee Collection

Fist of Fury (1972) Review

Director: Lo Wei
Stars: Bruce Lee, Nora Miao
Genre: Kung Fu

There's a lot of confusion between the actual names of this film and Bruce Lee's previous film The Big Boss. Fist of Fury is also commonly referred to as The Chinese Connection or The Iron Hand. For information about the name confusion refer here and here. I often call it The Chinese Connection because that's the name I grew up using (and the name that all of America grew up using until about 2005) but it seems to be that more and more people are beginning to accept it as Fist of Fury so I intend to do the same.

The plot concerns Bruce Lee and some bad guys. I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

The plot of this film is perhaps a bit better than The Big Boss, or at least more original. But it's also a bit slower paced. There's really not much action for the majority of the film. The first 60 minutes or so are actually really boring. It isn't until the last 30 minutes that things start to get really good with lots of cool fights and stuff. Granted there is a pretty cool fight scene towards the beginning but for long periods it's actually very disappointing.

There's a lot of drama in this one, particularly between the martial arts schools, and there's even a bit more romance thrown in than usual.

The fighting though is great, both in choreography and in performance. Bruce Lee definitely feels more like a superstar in this one. I don't want to spoil anything but there's some pretty awesome kills in this one and every fight scene does something a bit different than the last. 

Hiroshi Suzuki and Petrov aren't really as intimidating opponents as the main villain in The Big Boss was, but they're still pretty solid (Petrov especially). Aside from that though you'll see a lot of the same faces from The Big Boss.

This film was perhaps even more influential than  Lee's previous, propelling him higher into fame and replacing Japan's Chambara films with Kung Fu. In some regards I feel that this is worse than The Big Boss but at the same time I feel it's better in a lot of ways. All in all I regard them of about equal quality.

One thing I'd like to comment on is the character of Chen Zhen (played here by Bruce Lee) and the sequels to this film. The four kings of Kung Fu are generally regarded to be Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen. Four kings. There also happen to be four Fist of Fury films. Each one of them star a different king of kung fu. Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury (1972), Jackie Chan in New Fist of Fury (1976), Jet Li in Fist of Legend (1994), and Donnie Yen in Legend of the Fist (2010); each one of them playing the character of Chen Zhen. There's really no point I'm trying to make here but isn't it interesting that all four of the great have played the same character? (Technically Jackie Chan played the successor to Chen Zhen but you get the point).

Bruce Lee kicks ass again! Essential viewing for fans of the genre and the man himself Bruce.

Purchase Fist of Fury on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Bruce Lee Collection

The Big Boss (1971) Review

Director: Lo Wei
Stars: Bruce Lee, James Tien, Nora Miao, Maria Yi
Genre: Kung Fu

Bruce Lee's first film, The Big Boss a.k.a. Fists of Fury (not to be confused with his second film The Chinese Connection a.k.a. Fist of Fury).

Cheng (Lee) moves to a new town to live with his cousins, who set him up with a job at the factory they all work at. Cheng, who sworn on his mother to never fight again, is alas forced to when some of his cousins and fellow co-worker go missing and suspects his employers to have something to do with it.

This was Bruce Lee's first major film, the one that brought him to fame, but curiously enough it wasn't at first intended to be a Bruce Lee film. It was originally written with James Tien (Cheng's cousin in the film) in mind for the lead role but while shooting Bruce Lee displayed his awesome skill and talent and thus the film was modified to have Bruce Lee be the star. Proof of this exists within the film itself; for the first half it is Tien who plays the star, kicking ass and getting the most screen and fight time. Bruce Lee hardly fights, or does anything for that matter, in the first half of the film (which only adds to the anticipation in my opinion). But, as the film goes on, Tien is quickly pushed to the side in order for the camera to capture Lee. Tien later went on to have roles in Lee's The Chinese Connection and Game of Death.

The story is whatever, it's extremely conventional but it's really only an excuse to see Bruce Lee beat the shit out of people, right? And it shouldn't need saying but Bruce Lee is very good at just that.

Bruce Lee wasn't exactly the greatest actor just yet but his fighting was top notch. The fight choreography was very solid and there were some pretty awesome scenes (and some slightly disappointing ones I should add). There's plenty of very large brawls that were handled very well and no one should be surprised when they see Bruce Lee whoop the asses of twenty guys all at once.

It was released by Golden Harvest, perhaps the best distributor and production company of Kung Fu films, only ever rivaled by Shaw Brothers (the company of which GH is an off-shoot of). Golden Harvest brought fame to the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and arguably even Chuck Norris, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen.

The success of this film, and indeed the success of Bruce Lee in general, sparked a very large worldwide market for Kung Fu films during the 70s. Not the first of its kind, and of course not the last, it was a very important work in the genre. While I still prefer Shaw Brothers over Golden Harvest (for the 70s at least) and I prefer my Kung Fu films set in Edo or Meiji period (or the regional equivalent) rather than modern settings, I still greatly appreciate The Big Boss and enjoy it immensely.

A must see for Bruce Lee and Kung Fu fans. A central part of Bruce Lee's unfortunately small filmography.

Purchase The Big Boss on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Bruce Lee Collection

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012) Review

Director: RZA
Stars: RZA, Russell Crowe, Batista, Lucy Liu
Genre: Kung Fu

I was a bit disappointed with this one. I didn't expect anything amazing but I still ended up getting less than expected.

I won't even really bother with a plot synopsis; it's about a blacksmith who makes really awesome weapons and then there's revenge and killing and yadda, yadda, yadda. It's your typical kung fu plot. 

The Man with the Iron Fists does a decent enough job paying homage to kung fu films of yesteryear. And who better to make it than a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, a rap group heavily influences by kung fu flicks? Unfortunately, RZA is the only Wu member we get to see in here.

It kind of feels like this is RZA making his dream movie. I definitely feel that he was very genuine in his approach to this and it's probably something he's wanted to do all his life. That's awesome. And you can definitely see the influence from older films of the genre in here. From bad dubbing, to funny stick on facial hair, and everything in-between.

It's over-the-top in a very intentional way. Not as crazy as newer Japanese gore films, such as Tokyo Gore Police, but it's still pretty crazy for an American film. It's not trying to be a serious film, it knows exactly what it is and it roles with it. Hardcore fans of kung fu films will definitely find some satisfaction in here. 

All, or most, of the blood seemed to be computer animated. I'm not much of a fan of CGI in films, especially when it plays a huge part. It looks bad. Maybe it's just me but I thought the blood was so stupid looking, and not in a good way. I understand that a lot of the scenes would have been hard to do with traditional effects, but hard work tends to have a bigger pay off. Really not a fan of the effects in here. 

The fight choreography is decent I guess. It's nothing special though. There's a lot of cut-away shots and extreme close-ups and alternating angles during the fighting. I hate that. I'm a fan of long takes or some medium takes with just a few cuts. I hate when the camera angle is switching every three seconds. It's distracting, dizzying, and just annoying. One of the most important things I look for in a martial arts film is the actual quality and uniqueness in the martial arts, and quite honestly The Man with the Iron Fists has pretty mediocre fighting.

It's a shame that the camera work during the fighting is pretty bad, because there's a lot of times during the rest of the film where the cinematography is actually pretty awesome. 

RZA composed most of the film's score. I was a fan of his work in Afro Samurai, and I loved what he's contributed to Wu-Tang Clan's earlier stuff (though I've never been much of a fan of RZA's solo stuff). It's pretty good here. You either love RZA's composing or hate it. I didn't mind it but I think it could have been way better. There's a few old Wu-Tang songs in here too, which was cool. There's even a nod to the Wu-Tang Clan song "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit" when they mention that the Brass Body's fighting style is tiger-style.

Most of the acting here is pretty bad. RZA shouldn't of had the main role, he's a really boring actor. Batista is just plain bad. The only noteworthy performances here were from Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu. I'm a huge Lucy Liu fan so just the fact that she's in here makes the film enjoyable for me. I suppose the bad acting is keeping with the trend of being similar to kung fu films of yesteryear? Still, it didn't have to be boring acting.

There's a brothel that has some truly stunningly beautiful Asian girls. Seriously, they're amazing.

There's some cool scenes in The Man with the Iron Fists and for the most part it's enjoyable. But, quite honestly, it's nothing special. Almost everything in it is mediocre. It manages to have somewhat of its own style though, aside from the satirical parts, and RZA seems like he might have potential as a director. 

Recommended for: hardcore kung fu fans, fans of any cast or crew

Purchase The Man with the Iron Fists on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD