Every Bruce Lee movie has been rated

In many walks of life, a combination of novelty bias and genuine progress makes it easy to believe that the newest thing is also the greatest thing. However, this thought process does not apply to the martial arts movie genre, where the man who died in 1973 remains the standard by which all other stars are measured – and usually falls short.

Bruce Lee’s death at the age of 32 ended his life but not his legend. It can be easy to forget that the “Bruce Lee era” was just the final stage of his career. Before rising to prominence under his English name in “Green Hornet,” Lee appeared in 20 Hong Kong films, often using his Chinese name Lee Jun Fan and stage names such as Lee Siu Lung (“Lee Little Dragon”). This means that Lee’s true lover has a lot of relatively obscure material to wade through – from the 1941 film “Golden Gate Girl,” in which he appears as an infant, to the drama of “The Thunderstorm” (also known as “Lei yu”). ). 1957) and “The Orphan” (also known as “Ren Hai Gu Hong” 1960).

However, when we think of Bruce Lee, we generally think of the very specific period of his career where he used the name to make a series of instant martial arts classics. Because he died so young, he only had time to act in a few of these high-profile films, but fortunately for viewers, many of them are very good. But which of the five Bruce Lee films is the best? Let’s find out.

There’s no way around it: Bruce Lee’s final film, Game of Death, is a mess. The five years between Lee’s death in 1973 and the film’s 1978 premiere created a strange golem around the skeletal remainder of what the film was originally intended to be. The footage Lee shot before his death was filled with additional scenes featuring patchwork styles ranging from semi-professional bodies to actual cardboard cutouts of the deceased star.

Lee filmed select scenes for the 1972 film Death Game before going on to make Enter the Dragon (1973). The original plot revolved around the theme of robbery, and Lee’s character spent most of the film climbing a large temple, facing a series of increasingly difficult opponents. In a truly time-consuming and historic work of Brucesploitation, studio Golden Harvest and “Enter the Dragon” director Robert Clouse combined available Lee footage with a re-imagined 100-minute revenge tale containing about 12 minutes of Bruce Lee… depending on whether You’re counting the footage of Lee’s real funeral, which the film chose to incorporate.

“Game of Death” has its moments. On the rare occasion you actually see Lee, he’s reliably adorable. The film is also known for revealing his iconic yellow suit, which is a signature look Beatrix inspired Kiddo (Uma Thurman) in “Kill Bill: Vol. 1.” However, if the irritating factor of the film’s many flaws and unsavory origin story is too much – as it may be – you might want to check out the 2019 version of “Game of Death Redux,” a 40-minute version included with the film. “Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits” (2020) standards collection and focuses on Lee’s original footage.

“The Big Boss” — sometimes known as “Fists of Fury” — may not measure up to “Game of Death” when it comes to pop culture relevance, but it beats out the 1978 film and earns its place among the films. Bruce Lee’s greatest songs Because it is a full movie. And it doesn’t hurt that “The Big Boss” is a lot of fun, too. It unleashes the legend of Bruce Lee on the unwary world – or at least in Thailand, where the film is set.

“The Big Boss” is somewhat engaging with its leads, focusing first on plucky martial artist Hsu Chen (James Tian) while Lee plays humble ice factory worker Cheng Zhao An, who has solemnly vowed to stay. Away from physical combat. This goes about as one might assume, and as Tian’s character exits stage left, Lee steps front and center to unleash his full fury.

This results in a sluggish experience where you can only watch a Bruce Lee movie after watching a much worse non-Bruce Lee martial arts movie, which does “The Big Boss” no favors. Combine this with production values ​​that compare poorly with Lee’s later performances, and the film is effectively a demo tape for an artist on the verge of a major breakthrough. The premise is too long, the comedic beats and combat are a little rougher around the edges than you’d expect, and the plot is flimsy even by the standards of the genre. However, the film by director duo Wei Lo and Chia-Hsiang Wu is still an enjoyable watch and essential viewing for any Lee fan.

What The Big Boss started, Fist of Fury perfected. Director Wei Lu’s simplistic story of kung fu student Chin Zhen’s (Li)’s quest for revenge on a hostile Japanese dojo features action, disguises, and some very sharp commentary on the tortuous history between China and Japan – and, above all, Lee in full kicking, wailing, raging, immune mode. Nunchuks are used.

If the image of Bruce Lee you have in your head is that of the quintessential Hong Kong kung fu hero, then this is the perfect Lee film for you. For all intents and purposes, Chen Zhen is presented as a superhero who is completely incapable of losing a fair fight and is more than willing to fight dirty even against the odds. The film’s always intense martial arts sequences do their best to illustrate its nature as a walking cheat code.

Aside from Chen Zhen’s ability to fight his way through a fully stocked dojo, the thing that sets “Fist of Fury” apart from Lee’s other martial arts films is its relatively serious tone. If he smiled at me here, it tended to be before or after a fatal blow. And walking triumphantly into the sunset doesn’t count for him either. Despite Zain’s power, he is ultimately just a man who has fallen victim to political forces and is completely powerless to stop him. Of course, things are still just as cliched as you’d expect from a 1970s martial arts film, but the themes of discrimination and the relentless obsessive nature of Chen’s rampages make sure you won’t mistake this for a Jackie Chan film in a hurry.

Thanks to the many completely Bruce Lee-free Bruce Lee movies that have flooded the market after his death, diving into the star’s filmography can be a surprising challenge for the casual fan. It doesn’t help that some of his actual films have multiple titles – for example, the 1972 film Way of the Dragon is sometimes classified as a 1974 film called Return of the Dragon.

However, whatever the film’s title card, “Way of the Dragon” remains an essential piece of martial arts cinema. Its improbable premise—a battle over the fate of a Chinese restaurant in Rome—works to its advantage, as Tang Long, Li’s rural martial arts master, dismantles prejudices and a group of opponents. “The Way of the Dragon” is a true showcase for Lee, as he not only plays the lead role, but also wrote and directed the film. Of the many highlights that followed, one stands out above the rest. In fact, the tense tactical showdown at the Coliseum between Lee and fellow martial arts legend Chuck Norris (who plays Colt’s hit man) is easily one of the most legendary movie battles of all time — even with the slimmest. Norris eats a lot of cheeseburgers Advance to become noticeably larger than mine.

However, the rest of the movie is also worth watching. From the mediocre to negative first impression the protagonist gives to the other characters to the list of different martial artists he cuts after revealing his true talents, The Way of the Dragon is a masterclass in making an effective martial arts film. .

If you’ve ever seen a martial arts movie where the protagonist competes in a mysterious tournament, there’s a good chance the movie in question owes a nod to Bruce Lee’s most famous film, Enter the Dragon. It distills every aspect of Lee’s previous films — spy antics, revenge missions, memorable enemies, and great fight scenes — into one silly but highly impressive and entertaining package that is revered as one of the Best kung fu movies In history. Even if there’s nothing else in Lee’s catalog that interests you, be sure to check it out The amazing mirror scene in “Enter the Dragon” In which his character – also named Li – encounters Han (Ken Shih), a sinister villain who wouldn’t look out of place in a James Bond movie.

Lee died just days before “Enter the Dragon” hit theaters in Hong Kong, so he never got to see how his greatest film impacted the world. However, he put in a lot of work to make sure the film adhered to his vision. He didn’t show up for me on the first day of filming Due to a creative dispute with Warner Bros., which the studio described as a tense situation. Apart from this, Enter the Dragon faced many challenges This likely resulted in the film being stalled or even Lee being fired from production. Fortunately, Lee prevailed and was able to make a film in Hollywood that did not rely on traditional Western-style action tropes, but instead stayed true to its Hong Kong roots. Lee’s choice to do what he did best has paid off, to say the least.