Cast:

Jason Scott Lee

Lauren Holly

Robert Wagner

John Cheung

Nancy Kwan

Action:

John Cheung

Fran Joseph

Jerry Poteet

Producer:

Raffaella De Laurentiis

Director:

Rob Cohen

Score:  

DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY

AKA:  N/A

Year: 1993    Reviewer: Scott Napier

Universal director Rob Cohen introduces Jason Scott Lee in this epic life story of Martial Arts Legend 'Bruce Lee'. Loosely based on the book 'Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew' by his wife Linda, 'Dragon' highlights his life from the age of 6 in Hong Kong to his untimely death in 1973 after completing 'Enter the Dragon' which he never saw the finished film. In a similar situation, his son Brandon was killed by a faulty blanks gun in 'The Crow', 8 days before filming finished shortly before this film was released.

First, I am not going to go into to depth of plot-wise as I am sure most of you know the life of the legendary Bruce Lee. The film kicks off with Bruce at the age of six starting to learn Wing Chun but it vitally misses his involvement with the Cha Cha competition but I guess Rob Cohen felt if this was inserted, it would just drag the film down. We now jump to 1959, which saw his immigration to America after police warnings over street gang fights. Working in San Francisco as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant, Bruce has relations with future wife Linda and 9 months later, they marry and so on...

To cut running time a little, I guess Cohen had to alter his story around to make it more appealing for audiences - this may result in disappointment to see that the entire story is not in this film but more so because Rob Cohen chose to film scenes that did not occur in Bruce's life. For an example, the challenger in the movie (played by John Cheung) attacks Bruce from behind to cause his spine injury but in real life, he did not warm up while lifting weights, more so it happened 6 years later in 1970. Therefore, fans looking for a biography in film maybe disappointed. However, I do recommend it if you already know his life-story and are just seeking an entertaining movie.

Distributor:  Columbia Tristar

Region:  2 (PAL)

Running Time:  114 mins

Video: 

Very disappointing that a Columbia Tristar product is presented in non-anamorphic however it is in the full 2:35:1 ratio. As you would expect from a major recent film, it is in good nick with no visible defects.

Audio:

English DD 5.1, German, French, Italian and Spanish 2.1, Czech 2.0 and a 'Voiceover' Polish 1.0 soundtracks. English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Portuguese subtitles (removable).

Extras:  

- Audio commentary by Rob Cohen

- Behind the scenes featurette

- Cast & crew biographies

- Clips from 1971 interview with Bruce Lee

- Jason Scott Lee screen test

- Storyboards

- Over 200 photos of Bruce and promotional material

- Two trailers for the film containing deleted footage

Notes:

This Region 2 version heavily edits the nunchaku sequence. According to their recent policy regarding nunchaku, the BBFC should have reinstated this sequence but I have enquired to the BBFC about this and they say it could have be Rob Cohen who cut it in order for it to pass.  The Region 1 version is uncut.