Perhaps one day we'll get a real, true to life biopic of the legendary Bruce Lee. This film, already a couple of decades old, is short on detail and quite long on fictional elements, the major one to my mind being that he wound up in traction after being blind sided by a fighting opponent named Johnny Sun (John Cheung). The only time Lee ever injured his back to that extent was while doing a set of weight exercises without properly warming up, and even then, he didn't wind up in the kind of contraption depicted in the film. That Johnny Sun fight as well seemed to stand in for a legendary, but little witnessed fight between Lee and Wong Jack Ma, which formed the basis for the much later 2016 film, "Birth of the Dragon" with Philip Ng in the role of Lee. It accurately did take place when Lee was called upon to defend his practice of teaching martial arts to non-Oriental practitioners.
But if you're not particularly interested in historical accuracy, this film conveys some of the basics in Bruce Lee's life and his rise to martial arts and cinema prominence for a brief period in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Personally, I tried watching an episode of "The Green Hornet" once and thought it more than hokey, and couldn't get beyond one episode. No mention is ever made of Lee appearing as Kato in the 'Batman' TV series as well, three times in fact, so that's a cool trivia point for fans to know. What I find kind of interesting about cinema depictions of Lee is that he quite often was arrogant and cocky to a degree that made him personally unlikable, which I find to be diametrically opposed to what a martial arts master ought to be. Perhaps if he had lived longer, that image might have become more appealing over time.
As for Jason Scott Lee in the role of Bruce, he affects the man's appearance and mannerisms quite well, along with the fighting postures demonstrated in the story. The only thing I don't go for are the exaggerated facial contortions and manic screaming that goes with the fight sequences. Bruce Lee portrayed his character the same way in his most famous film role, 1973's "Enter the Dragon". There, it seemed to me that his excessive flexing would actually work to a disadvantage by way of wasted energy. However as an intimidating factor it would seem to work against someone without the skills and techniques to take on a champion of Lee's caliber.
But if you're not particularly interested in historical accuracy, this film conveys some of the basics in Bruce Lee's life and his rise to martial arts and cinema prominence for a brief period in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Personally, I tried watching an episode of "The Green Hornet" once and thought it more than hokey, and couldn't get beyond one episode. No mention is ever made of Lee appearing as Kato in the 'Batman' TV series as well, three times in fact, so that's a cool trivia point for fans to know. What I find kind of interesting about cinema depictions of Lee is that he quite often was arrogant and cocky to a degree that made him personally unlikable, which I find to be diametrically opposed to what a martial arts master ought to be. Perhaps if he had lived longer, that image might have become more appealing over time.
As for Jason Scott Lee in the role of Bruce, he affects the man's appearance and mannerisms quite well, along with the fighting postures demonstrated in the story. The only thing I don't go for are the exaggerated facial contortions and manic screaming that goes with the fight sequences. Bruce Lee portrayed his character the same way in his most famous film role, 1973's "Enter the Dragon". There, it seemed to me that his excessive flexing would actually work to a disadvantage by way of wasted energy. However as an intimidating factor it would seem to work against someone without the skills and techniques to take on a champion of Lee's caliber.