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LEGACY
OF RAGE
AKA:
Born Hero
Year:
1986 Reviewer: Pat
King
'Legacy
Of Rage' has often been described as notable for teaming the
son of Bruce Lee and his co-star on 'Enter
the Dragon' Bolo Yeung (aka Yang Tze). But since Bolo
spends approximately five minutes on screen it is probably
more notable that two of the leading stars and one of the
action directors met with tragic untimely deaths. Brandon, son
of Bruce Lee notoriously died of a gunshot wound on the set of
'The
Crow' when a live round was mixed with blanks on March
30th 1993, bringing with it talk of a Lee family curse as his
iconic father also died prematurely under questionable
circumstances. Regina Kent also had an early demise as she
died of brain cancer in 1999. The car action director Blacky
Ko would also die of an asthma attack brought on by heavy
drinking in 2003.
'Legacy
of Rage' was Brandon's first starring role and his only Hong
Kong produced picture. He wanted to make a Hong Kong film
because he had such high admiration for the action films
produced there. It would also serve as a valuable portfolio
piece to help him obtain more high profile roles in the west.
It would be another four years before he would star in the
appalling and very low budget 'Laser Mission' (a.k.a. 'Soldier
Of Fortune'). From there he would take on the main supporting
role in 'Showdown in Little Tokyo' (From Mark Lester the
director of Schwarzenegger's 'Commando') in which he really
makes a show of leading man Dolph Lundgren. Then would come
his first full lead role in a Hollywood picture. 'Rapid
Fire' turned out to be a surprisingly good martial arts
action adventure by Hollywood's standards, by which time
Brandon was starting to show how he was maturing as an actor.
Finally he star in a major Hollywood comic book adaptation
which quite likely would have launched him into the A list of
Hollywood actors. 'The Crow' would turn out to be Brandon's
finest hour. Sadly the role would cost him his life as history
would repeat itself in the Lee family legacy.
Brandon
(Brandon Lee) is working two jobs hoping to buy his dream
motorcycle. But his dreams are soon shattered when his best
friend Mike (Michael Wong) uses Brandon as a fall guy when he
has greedy corrupt cop Sharky Kau (Lam Chung) killed. Brandon
is sequentially tried and sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Meanwhile Brandon’s fiancée May (Regina Kent) fights off an
attempted rape by Mike who has had designs on her since he had
first laid eyes on her. Scared and carrying Brandon's child,
she eventually agrees to hide in Brazil with Mr Wong who
treats her as a daughter. After Brandon is finally released,
May returns to greet him. However , unaware that she was
pregnant when he was sentenced, he immediately assumes that
the boy she has in tow belongs to Mr Wong and walks away. May
then has the misfortune to encounter Mike who has since taken
over the criminal business from Uncle Yee (Chan Wai Man). Mike
then has May and her son kidnapped. When Brandon hears of this
he launches an all out assault on Mike's gang.
Made
the same year as John Woo's seminal 'A
Better Tomorrow' , 'Legacy of Rage' followed in the wake
of heroic bloodshed. The gunplay is somewhat more acrobatic
albeit less refined and more rough round the edges than the
work of Tung Wai on 'A Better Tomorrow'. Martial arts
sequences however remain infrequent, brief and basic. In fact
it is quite possible the only reason there is any martial arts
at all is due to the casting of Brandon as gunplay is clearly
the order of the day.
'Legacy
of Rage' may not even be in the same category as 'A Better
Tomorrow', but it
makes for relatively pleasing pop entertainment.
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