Enter the Dragon on HD DVD
I received my HD DVD of Enter the Dragon the other day and found some time to watch it last night. Of course, the picture quality was great, especially for a film that's over 30 years old. The film was just as I remembered...a bit slow and not enough action to really satisfy me but Bruce is still Bruce and that guy is the man! It still puzzles me however whenever people put this film on their "Best Martial Arts Films" lists. I can think of at least a dozen if not more films that I enjoyed more.
So that got me thinking...how would I rank Bruce's films? Well, he's only got 5 of them so it's not too hard. Here are my rankings...
#5) Game of Death - Last on the list just because it's not Bruce in the majority of the film, but a lookalike (a Korean actor btw). Bruce died during the filming of this movie but they decided to splice together what he did film with some footage of a lookalike actor and released this half ass movie. But still, it's got an awesome final sequence where Bruce enters the villain's lair and battles several levels of opponents including his real life student Danny Inosanto (in a classic nunchucks vs. nunchucks battle!) and the famous fight against Kareem Abdul Jabbar! This film was also the one that introduced Bruce's widely copied yellow track suit. That was some great stuff. This film could've been really great had Bruce finished it.
#4) Enter the Dragon - Like I said above, a bit too slow. And the action sequences are not up to par as Bruce's other films. And what was with that hall of mirrors in the castle? What would be the reason to have that built in? I can just imagine telling the architect, "Hmm...I think I wanna put a hidden hall of mirrors in this room here just in case I have to fight someone and I want them to be confused." Yeah, it looks cool on film but not real practical in real life, huh?
#3) Way of the Dragon (USA title - Return of the Dragon) - This movie sent Bruce to Italy to battle bad guys and the results are some great fights with cool locales. Who can forget Bruce's classic fight against a young Chuck Norris in the Coliseum? I also love the alley fight in the back of the restaurant. And Nora Miao is definitely a cutie!
#2) The Big Boss (USA title - Fists of Fury) - Bruce's first film. Yeah, it's not as action heavy as his other films but the reason I love this film is for its rawness and savagery. Bruce actually doesn't lift a finger for the majority of the movie but when the evil owners of the ice factory kill his family, it's ass whooping time! Plus, I love the soundtrack for this movie too.
#1) Fist of Fury (USA title - The Chinese Connection) - In my opinion, Bruce's most complete and overall well made film. The story, acting, fighting are all top notch. Bruce returns to his martial arts school and finds out that his beloved teacher has been murdered by the rival Japanese school. From then on, it's lights out for the Japanese. Lots of memorable fights in this one and Bruce's best acting job. This film was also remade by Jet Li in Fist of Legend, another great film.
So that got me thinking...how would I rank Bruce's films? Well, he's only got 5 of them so it's not too hard. Here are my rankings...
#5) Game of Death - Last on the list just because it's not Bruce in the majority of the film, but a lookalike (a Korean actor btw). Bruce died during the filming of this movie but they decided to splice together what he did film with some footage of a lookalike actor and released this half ass movie. But still, it's got an awesome final sequence where Bruce enters the villain's lair and battles several levels of opponents including his real life student Danny Inosanto (in a classic nunchucks vs. nunchucks battle!) and the famous fight against Kareem Abdul Jabbar! This film was also the one that introduced Bruce's widely copied yellow track suit. That was some great stuff. This film could've been really great had Bruce finished it.
#4) Enter the Dragon - Like I said above, a bit too slow. And the action sequences are not up to par as Bruce's other films. And what was with that hall of mirrors in the castle? What would be the reason to have that built in? I can just imagine telling the architect, "Hmm...I think I wanna put a hidden hall of mirrors in this room here just in case I have to fight someone and I want them to be confused." Yeah, it looks cool on film but not real practical in real life, huh?
#3) Way of the Dragon (USA title - Return of the Dragon) - This movie sent Bruce to Italy to battle bad guys and the results are some great fights with cool locales. Who can forget Bruce's classic fight against a young Chuck Norris in the Coliseum? I also love the alley fight in the back of the restaurant. And Nora Miao is definitely a cutie!
#2) The Big Boss (USA title - Fists of Fury) - Bruce's first film. Yeah, it's not as action heavy as his other films but the reason I love this film is for its rawness and savagery. Bruce actually doesn't lift a finger for the majority of the movie but when the evil owners of the ice factory kill his family, it's ass whooping time! Plus, I love the soundtrack for this movie too.
#1) Fist of Fury (USA title - The Chinese Connection) - In my opinion, Bruce's most complete and overall well made film. The story, acting, fighting are all top notch. Bruce returns to his martial arts school and finds out that his beloved teacher has been murdered by the rival Japanese school. From then on, it's lights out for the Japanese. Lots of memorable fights in this one and Bruce's best acting job. This film was also remade by Jet Li in Fist of Legend, another great film.
posted by Myong Choi at 8:01 AM
3 Comments:
"WHY DID YOU KILL MY TEACHER? WHY WHY WHY?"
;-)
Yep. One guy we can count on, it’s Bruce L. to keep entertaining us and schooling us throughout the ages.
Speaking of HD-DVD (and, I hope I'm not being too esoteric with a The Sopranos reference, but, hey, figure by the time Transformers opens -- and, I'm not talkin' 'bout Transformers with the following, by the way -- the whole "what was The Sopranos ending supposed to mean" talk will be all but over), and I dunno' if this commercial's limited to Japanese TV, but, while watching NHK Fujisankei news (on AZN TV), what did I see for one of the commercials for the newscast? None other than Michael Imperioli, AKA, The Soprano's Christopher Moltisanti doin' a friggin' Toshiba HD-DVD TV ad [!]. Yeah, it opens up with him walking into some street scene set talkin' 'bout how he went to acting (not film) school after high school.
He starts looking into the eyepiece of one of the on-set cameras, talkin' 'bout how film is his passion (and, I mean, you REALLY believe that this guy IS passionate about film, no joke), and, man, if you've followed The Sopranos from the last season, even, you know that Chris M. was runnin' around like a chicket without his head along with being the consummate film professional while filming The Sopranos universe's mob/horror flick (its impetus, "like that Saw $#!7" "The Godfather II meets Saw) Cleaver. Yeah, HBO went as far as to come up with a The Making of Cleaver that aired after the episode that featured the Daniel Baldwin (starring as himself in The Sopranos as Cleaver's lead) vehicle's opening.
I like how Michael I. says "HD-DVD." Sounds like "Aitch ahDee Deeee Veeeeee Deeee," really pronouncing those initials.
The TV ad continues, shows him driving around town, more talk about how film is his passion. Cripes, you could swear it’s more of a Chris M./TV commercial filmed on a non-bloody/horror street scene of Cleaver than an ad thepianistically-helmed by Michael Imperioli. But, you know the latter is true because he does one of those on-screen signatures of his name at the end of the ad.
And what happens at the end of the ad? Fade to black; no, no, no, just kidding. He’s shown in an “end-of-the-day” kinda’ scene, ready to actually watch an HD-DVD show, and his couch is like, almost three feet away, flat screen up more toward the ceiling (and quite grey walls in his place, apparently) almost like you gotta look up to watch the screen; kinda’ like if you’re sitting in the third row of a theatre (not too close to d’a TV screen, ah, Chrissy, wha’ you wanna’ go blind o’ somet’in?). What’s he watching? P. Jackson’s King King.
Sigh. We sure DO need more Aitch ahDee Deeee Veeeeee Deeee titles don’t we? Maaaaarone!
Myong, you need to either ban this fool or tell him to get a blog of his own. Ridiculous.
Post a Comment
<< Home