Directed by: Rob Cohen
Starring: Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, Michael Learned, Robert Wagner
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is based on the book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, by Lee's widow Linda. Like any biopics, there are factual inaccuracies, omitted people and/or events, and other sections pumped up for dramatic effect. It is still pretty spirited and entertaining anyway. I go by what is on the screen and, for the most part, it's pretty good.
Jason Scott Lee (a Hawaiian actor unrelated to Bruce Lee) is the right fit for the martial arts superstar. He is physically gifted and convincing in the martial arts scenes. He captures the joy and spirit of Lee himself, which separated him from other martial arts stars who took themselves way too seriously. Others have tried to fill the void left by Lee after his untimely death at 32 in 1973, but no one in either Asian or American cinema has been able to do it. Lee's star was on the rise when he was stricken with brain edema (in his mistress' apartment- a point left out of the film) and died. Enter the Dragon (1973) was his last completed film and it was a high point of the genre. Would Lee have continued to push the boundaries of the genre? Or was Enter the Dragon the best he could offer and anything after that would have paled in comparison? We will never know.
Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong by a superstitious father who was forever fearful that demons (or Death itself) would come after Bruce. He taught his son English and occasionally dressed him as a girl in order to trick the demons. If demons are that easily fooled, then they are not much to be scared of. Lee soon moves to America, settling in Seattle where he works as a dishwasher and creates a new form of martial arts called Jeet Kune Do. He encounters racism and poverty, but soon teaches his new style to a growing number of students, much to the dismay of the local Chinese leaders.
He falls for one of his students, Linda Emery (Holly), who falls for and marries Bruce against the wishes of her prejudiced mother, who has an obligatory change of heart later after her first grandchild is born. Lee's martial arts schools grow into a successful chain and he is soon discovered by a Hollywood producer who casts him as Kato in the late 60's TV series The Green Hornet. Lee's brief success allows him to pitch a martial arts oriented TV series titled Kung Fu. Lee envisioned himself as the star, but non-Asian David Carradine was cast and the rest is history.
During his stay in America (and in Hong Kong later), Bruce is involved in a series of fights which are choreographed too similarly to low budget martial arts films to be entirely believable. But they're fun, even if Lee is able to bend the laws of gravity and physics on his way to victory. Lee also battles the demons his father always feared. The demon looks like a knight out of King Arthur's court, but it is sufficiently foreboding. Their final fight involves the demon coming after Lee's son Brandon, who died a few months before this film's release. It is poignant watching Bruce protect his son from death. Brandon was still alive when Dragon was filmed, but the timing of this film's release enriches the scene with extra meaning.
Lee becomes a huge Hong Kong film star after The Green Hornet was cancelled and he moved back there. Lean, intense, and good looking; Lee transcended the martial arts genre and turned his films into something special. Enter the Dragon was to be his reintroduction to American audiences. Bruce Lee imitators (like Bruce Li, Bruce Le, and Bruce Ly) were thrust on to the public after Lee's death, but of course they were mere imitators.
Dragon moves along well while covering the various high and low points of Lee's brief life. The score, while moving, is a little too overwrought for this biopic. Big budget biopics like to throw in inspiring music to underline every success in their subject's life. If Bruce Lee crossed the street without getting hit by a car, the score triumphantly underscores this. I recall Invincible, the 2006 Mark Wahlberg football drama in which the music triumphantly announces when the hero scored a touchdown....only the touchdown wasn't actually a touchdown.
No comments:
Post a Comment