PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

alexanderdavies-99382 "Game of Death" was a film that Bruce Lee failed to complete on account of halting production so he could make "Enter the Dragon." After the tragic passing of the martial artist in 1973, his unfinished movie was eventually released in 1979. For the fans, it was to be a final glimpse of their idol after Bruce Lee had revolutionised both the Hong Kong film industry and Martial Arts in general. The travesty for the film that was made in the late 1970s, is in such poor taste. The reason for this, is on account of it being exploitive, it's an insult to Bruce Lee and everything he stood for. In addition - and I was stunned by this - actual footage of Lee's funeral was used for the film! Why Robert Clouse wanted to become involved is anyone's guess! He had gone from making the classic "Enter the Dragon," followed by "Black Belt Jones" and now this. The so-called plot is exploitation personified and bears no resemblance whatever to Lee's concept for his own version. The lookalikes for Bruce Lee aren't very good at all but at least they look as though they can fight quite well. A seasoned character actor like Dean Jagger should have turned this film down. Begrudgingly, there are a couple of fight scenes that are digestible but not much else to enjoy. Sammo Hung has a pretty good fight with Bob Wall. The confrontation in the locker room between one of the lookalikes and Wall is also OK. Then and almost out of nowhere, the man himself makes a late appearance in the film's plot and we suddenly whiz back in time to the latter half of 1972 when Bruce Lee was working on "Game of Death." His three fight scenes are excellent as always and this is the first time that a one on one nunchuku scene had been put on film. Lee is on screen for 11 minutes but it is by far the best footage by many miles. The footage looks a lot more cinematic and professional than Bruce Lee's previous three movies. It is a considerable loss that he couldn't complete the film. Briefly, the original idea was for Bruce Lee and a team of his fellow martial artists to discover what was inside this Pagoda, which had a martial artist guarding each floor of the building. Lee and his party were to have progressed by defeating each guard and reach the top floor. Bruce Lee began shooting his version in August of 1972 and halted production in October of the same year. His film would have dwarfed the one that was released in every way possible!

BrickNash Game Of Death has to go down as one of the most blatant cash grabs in movie history.The reasons for making it were (in the beginning) quite honourable. Finishing Bruce Lee's last film that he was working on before he died? Sounds quite a ice thing to do. Except that he film makers totally threw Lee's original concept out the window and instead wrote some hokey crap about a very thin revenge story. Add to this the fact that Lee had only shot 40 minutes of footage which changes the game quite a bit. If he shot say an hour or an hour and a bit then of course things could be padded out with some new footage but as it was there was barely half a film there and no solid script. With all this in mind the motivations of the studio starts to become very clear.Technically there's nothing really wrong with the film. The cast are all good, I particularly enjoyed Hugh O'Brian and Colleen Camp so I don't blame any of the actors or being involved at all. The fight scenes are all competently staged by kung-fu legend Sammo Hung and it's all done with a fairly decent hand at the end of the day. The Score by the late great John Barry is also really good.The trouble is that it's all just a bit dull. The character of Billy Lo seems like a total boring bastard and has one of the most yawn worthy personalities in the film. His voice and manner are always so serious and proper to the point of getting on your nerves. The film also feels a bit like a TV movie akin to something like Columbo or one of the 70s Spider-Man TV films.Where the film trips up though is it's utter disrespect to Lee. The film makers try to shoehorn in archive footage of Bruce at every opportunity, even from some of his famous films and almost none of it matches the new footage in terms of look and film stock. The two lookalikes are OK I guess but you can tell a mile off that it's not Bruce and the constant and obvious way that they and the camera covers their faces gets annoying.The film steps over the line when they use real footage from Bruce Lee's funeral which is completely and utterly tasteless and it really doesn't have anything else in the film to make up for it.As I say, I completely understand why they wanted to do this film as the fans were eager to see the unreleased footage but they don't even use very much of that either (Seriously!).There's an old saying that says "Just because they are pretty doesn't mean they aren't whores" and that's true here. It might have had some decent production values for the time (though not in the special FX department.....ugh!) and a decent cast but it's the pretty cold intent behind the film which thoroughly earns it the label of "garbage" and unfortunately that's exactly what it is.The sequel is not much better but it has more dynamic fight scenes and at least a full hour of it is it's own film.

atlasmb If you have ever seen Bruce Lee in a film, don't bother watching this one. This film is a travesty and an insult to the genre. If you are a film buff, skip this film, too. They pasted together archival footage, used embarrassing doppelgangers, and so obviously inserted heads on top of bodies, so it looks like a jigsaw puzzle.Did the legitimate actors who appeared in this film really know what they were getting themselves into? I hope not, but some might have been hanging on to their careers by their fingertips.Wiseman say "It is better to watch Enter the Dragon thirty times than to see this film once."

gavin6942 A martial arts movie star (Bruce Lee, sort of) must fake his death to find the people who are trying to kill him.Why this movie exists is really the ultimate question. They wanted to pass it off as a Bruce Lee movie, but it is not one. No matter how you slice it, and then paste it back together, putting footage from older Lee movies into a new story does not make it a Lee movie.Some of the edits are really sloppy, and many times the stand-ins are just awful. There is a nice section of fight footage later on, but it is not enough to make this work. What should have happened is this film being split into two: a full film with a different actor replacing Lee, and a short film just showing footage of Lee's fights that never made it to a film because of his passing. The blend is just a mess.