Bruce Lee-thal! (The Way Of The Dragon (DVD))

Name: oxonian

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	The Way Of The Dragon (DVD)
Date:	01/01/08 (180 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Supreme martial arts choreography, humourous and most memorable final fight scene.

Disadvantages: If I HAD to nitpick, I suppose the comedy is quite basic

The Martial Arts genre has, ever since I started watching movies, been at the very top in my mind and has never lost its place to any other type of movie. My heart was stolen the first minute I watched Enter the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee, when I was 4 years old. It's an 18 certificate movie, but my parents were far from strict about prohibiting me from watching films of a violent nature. As I watched Bruce kick and punch his enemies all over the place without taking a hit, I knew I had found my hero. Within 6 months, my father had purchased all of Bruce's blockbusters for me, and over the last 20 years I have watched them all countless times and never lost an iota of enthusiasm for any. However, there is one film that surpasses the rest in storyline and quality of fight sequences and that is Way of The Dragon.

Background
++++++++++

This film came at a major juncture in Bruce Lee's life. He had just featured as the leading man in two box office smash hits in China, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury. Both of these films were directed by Lo Wei, a fairly large and strong-willed man who attributed the discovery of Bruce's talent to himself. Bruce had been fairly happy to play the characters in the above epics, despite poor storylines, scripts and relations with Lo Wei, because he wanted the Martial Arts genre to consist of more hand to hand combat. In China, mainly in the 60's and early 70's, the Shaw Brothers Studio - the premier film company in the far east at the time, were churning out supernatural sword fighting "epics" that had characters ripping through the air hacking each other whilst doing loop the loops. These were tremendously unrealistic and were bringing the genre into such disrepute, no-one really watched them. Therefore when Bruce brought totally imperious hand to hand fight scenes to the Chinese audience, they flocked in their millions to watch.

Lo Wei had written a third film, once again packed with heavy action, but once again suffering from a poor script. Bruce decided he wanted out. This coincided with the event that he had just been rejected the lead role for the TV series Kung Fu, where he lost out to David Carradine. He had hoped to make his breakthrough into the western world through Kung Fu. Therefore, to attain the levels of recognition and success he desired, he thought he would use what he had learnt enough about film-making to write his own film. He would end up directing, producing, choreographing, casting and starring in it too - this film was 'Way of the Dragon'.

Storyline
++++++

Based in Rome, this film sees Bruce Lee playing Tang Lung, a fairly simple countryman from Hong Kong who is assigned by his uncle to help their Chinese relatives who own a restaurant in Rome. The situation is that a local syndicate is forcing Lung's relatives to sell their business to them, and as they do not want to sell out, the gangster who heads the syndicate is sending thugs to bully and beat them into submission. Tang Lung is a supreme exponent of Chinese Boxing (Kung Fu), and although he is a kind-natured man, he cannot stand by and watch his family being tortured, hence the film follows Tang Lung as he assists his family in sorting out the gangster and his thugs.

Fight scenes
+++++++++

For all who are not familiar with Bruce Lee in general, it is worth noting that he had formed his own Martial Arts style - Jeet Kune Do. Growing up, Bruce learnt Wing Chun, a very direct and effective martial arts style that maximises damage with very minimum motions, as opposed to classical karate where the throws and defence moves consists of a multitude of steps before its completion. Wing Chun formed the basis for his own style, interweaved with various other martial arts and fighting techniques such as boxing and fencing that Bruce had immersed himself in. Jeet Kune Do therefore is a conglomeration of anything that was useful from many martial arts styles, and simply purified from all that was irrelevant. Bruce wanted to teach the world that his style was more effective than any other, and Way of the Dragon was a perfect opportunity to see the beauty and effectiveness of this style. He tragically died at the age of 32 of a cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) in 1973, a year after making this film, after suffering an allergic reaction to a painkiller.

There are about six unbelievably breathtaking fight sequences, all of which are supremely impressive. One of these fight sequences was banned in the UK for 30 years due to the predominant use of the Nunchaku, an illegal and violent weapon made up by two 40cm long pieces of wood joined by a 10 cm chain. Bruce extensively uses this weapon to wipe out a large gang of Italian gangsters.

Lastly, and most definitely not the least, there is the final martial arts sequence. Now, I have watched well over 200 martial arts films in my life, but no fight has ever come close to, what I would deem as, the most magnificent and memorable battle hosted at the epic climax of this film. Tang Lung faces Colt, an American world champion karate exponent, brought over to Rome to beat him in the gangster's last effort to and take over the restaurant. Colt is played by Chuck Norris who back then was the 7 times world karate champion. He has since starred in many Martial Arts movies, but his career was launched as a consequence to this fight scene. The fight sequence is dramatic and explosive, aptly fought within the walls of the Roman Colosseum, symbolising the colossal and gladiatorial scale of this head to head. Everything is set for the ultimate showdown between Lee, portraying the classic oriental fighter - light, lean, fast, elegant, and graceful like a ballet dancer, against Norris, the typical western fighter who, in physical contrast is powerful, hairy, brawny and brutal like a gorilla.


Humour
++++++

Coupled with supreme martial arts knowledge, Bruce had a superb appreciation for comedy. The script is very funny, although it would never have won Bruce any nominations for Best Comedy Performance at any major award ceremony. Bruce Lee was a very intelligent man, he did, after all, study a PhD in Philosophy at Washington University, and this intellect manifests through his use of humour. The comedic element and light-hearted tone contrast heavily with bouts of fury and intense emotions, highly emphasising the action on screen. I think Bruce wrote Tang Lung's character with his own personality in mind. Bruce was quite intense himself, he had the propensity to be jovial and jestfing at times, yet, at others, he could then turn serious or terrifyingly furious.


Personal opinion
++++++++++++

This review may run the risk of appearing biased because Bruce Lee is my idol. The film is not without it's faults - for instance there is a scene where Tang beats up a thug, but does not touch his face, yet in the following scene, we see this thug with a bandage across his head and a black eye. Furthermore, compared with the likes of Hero, The House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, this film is probably not, in the view of the general population, going to be perceived as one of the greatest of all time. In fact, were it not for the fact that Bruce Lee is a legend and the grandmaster of the Martial Arts genre, this film, based on the script etc would probably have disappeared into the limbo where a lot of Chinese martial arts movies made in the 70's currently languish.

For me, any film with Bruce Lee is incredible... with reason. During a fight scene, Bruce is magic on the screen. However, what makes this film my favourite, way surpassing Enter The Dragon, which many classify as the definitive Martial Arts film, are two elements - a) Bruce's real life skills, personality, charm and agility is showcased through Tang Lung better than any other film character he has played, and b) Bruce's fight with Chuck Norris is without a doubt the greatest singular martial arts spectacle you will ever visually see.

If you are a fan of martial arts or action movies and have not seen the film nor fight scene, I would strongly urge that you rent or buy this movie. It is spectacular!

This film was directed by Bruce Lee and runs for 100 mins. It was made in 1972 and is certified 18 years and over.

Cast
++++

Bruce Lee ... Tang Lung
Nora Miao ... Chen Ching Hua
Chuck Norris ... Colt
Ping-Ao Wei ... Ho (as Paul Wei Ping-Ao)
Chung-Hsin Huang ... 'Uncle' Wang (as Wang Chung Hsin)
Robert Wall ... Fred (Bob Fred)
Ing-Sik Whang ... Japanese Fighter
Tony Liu ... Tony
Unicorn Chan ... Jimmy


Happy new year! Thanks for reading!

Summary: Showcase of Bruce Lee's Kung Fu close to it's very best!