Each Bruce Lee Film Ranked

In lots of walks of life, a mixture of recency bias and real progress makes it simple to suppose that the most recent factor can also be the best factor. Nonetheless, this thought course of would not apply to the martial arts film style, the place a person who died in 1973 continues to be the yardstick all different stars are measured with — and usually fall brief.

Bruce Lee’s dying on the age of 32 minimize brief his life however not his legend. It may be simple to neglect that his “Bruce Lee period” was simply the ultimate, star-making section of his profession. Earlier than breaking via together with his English title on “Inexperienced Hornet,” Lee appeared in 20 Hong Kong films, usually utilizing his Chinese language title Lee Jun Fan and stage names like Lee Siu Lung (“Lee Little Dragon”). Which means that a real Lee aficionado has loads of comparatively obscure materials to wade via — from the 1941 movie “Golden Gate Lady,” the place he seems as a child, to his drama turns in “The Thunderstorm” (aka “Lei yu,” 1957) and “The Orphan” (aka “Ren hai gu hong,” 1960).

Even so, once we consider Bruce Lee, we usually consider the very particular interval of his profession the place he used the title to make a collection of instantaneous martial arts classics. As a result of he died so younger, he solely had time to star in a handful of those high-kicking films, however luckily for viewers, lots of them are excellent. However which of the 5 Bruce Lee films is one of the best? Let’s discover out.

There is not any method round it: Bruce Lee’s closing film, “Recreation of Loss of life,” is a large number. The 5 years between Lee’s dying in 1973 and the movie’s premiere in 1978 created a wierd golem across the skeletonized the rest of what the film was initially purported to be. The footage Lee had filmed earlier than passing away had been padded with further scenes that function patchwork strategies starting from semi-competent physique doubles to precise cardboard cutouts of the deceased star.

Lee filmed choose scenes for “Recreation of Loss of life” in 1972 earlier than heading off to make “Enter the Dragon” (1973). The unique plot was heist-themed, and Lee’s character spent a lot of the movie scaling a big pagoda, dealing with a collection of more and more tough opponents. In a really historic and time-consuming act of Brucesploitation, the Golden Harvest studio and “Enter the Dragon” director Robert Clouse merged the accessible Lee footage with a reimagined revenge story that is 100 minutes lengthy and accommodates some 12 minutes of Bruce Lee … relying on whether or not you rely the footage of Lee’s very actual funeral that the film selected to include.

“Recreation of Loss of life” has its moments. Within the uncommon situations you really see Lee, he is reliably nice. The movie can also be infamous for unveiling his well-known yellow jumpsuit, an iconic look that impressed Beatrix Kiddo’s (Uma Thurman) getup in “Kill Invoice: Vol. 1.” Nonetheless, if the cringe issue of the film’s many flaws and unsavory origin story is an excessive amount of — because it very nicely may — you may need to take a look at the 2019 minimize “Recreation of Loss of life Redux,” a 40-minute model that is included within the “Bruce Lee: His Best Hits” Criterion Assortment (2020) and focuses on Lee’s unique footage.

“The Massive Boss” – typically referred to as “Fists of Fury” — could fall wanting “Recreation of Loss of life” relating to its popular culture prominence, nevertheless it overcomes the 1978 movie and earns its place amongst Bruce Lee’s best hits by advantage of being an entire film. It would not harm that “The Massive Boss” is heaps of enjoyable, both. It unleashes the Bruce Lee of legend upon the unwary world — or not less than Thailand, the place the film takes place. 

“The Massive Boss” pulls a little bit of a bait-and-switch with its protagonists, first specializing in courageous martial artist Hsu Chien (James Tien) whereas Lee performs unassuming ice manufacturing unit employee Cheng Chao-an, who’s made a solemn vow to avoid bodily fight. This goes roughly in addition to one may assume, and as Tien’s character exits stage left, Lee steps entrance and heart to unleash his full fury. 

This makes for a sluggish burn expertise the place you solely get to look at a Bruce Lee film after sitting via a significantly worse non-Bruce Lee martial arts flick, which does not do “The Massive Boss” any favors. Mix this with manufacturing values that examine poorly to Lee’s later fare, and the film is successfully a demo tape from an artist on the brink of a breakthrough. The intro is way too lengthy, the comedic beats and fights are rougher across the edges than you’d count on, and the plot is flimsy even by the style’s requirements. Nonetheless, director duo Wei Lo and Chia-Hsiang Wu’s film continues to be an entertaining watch, and important viewing for any Lee fan. 

What “The Massive Boss” began, “Fist of Fury” perfected. Director Wei Lo’s streamlined story of Kung Fu pupil Chen Zhen’s (Lee) quest for vengeance towards an antagonistic Japanese dojo options thrills, disguises, some extraordinarily pointed commentary on the wrought historical past between China and Japan — and, above all else, Lee in full kicking, wailing, raging, nunchuck-wielding invincibility mode.

If the Bruce Lee picture you will have in your head is that of the quintessential Hong Kong Kung Fu hero, that is the final word Lee movie for you. For all intents and functions, Chen Zhen is offered as a borderline superhero who’s utterly unable to lose a good battle and who’s greater than prepared to battle soiled to even the percentages. The movie’s invariably intense martial arts sequences do their stage greatest to hammer dwelling his nature as a strolling cheat code.

Other than Chen Zhen’s capability to kick his method via a fully-staffed dojo, the factor that units “Fist of Fury” other than Lee’s different martial arts movies is its comparatively severe tone. If Lee smiles right here, it tends to be earlier than or after a killing blow. No victorious walks towards the sundown for him, both. As mighty as Zhen is, on the finish of the day he is only a man who’s victimized by political forces he is totally powerless to cease. After all, issues are nonetheless simply as corny as you’d assume from a Nineteen Seventies martial arts movie, however the themes of discrimination and the obsessive, unrelenting nature of Zhen’s rampage just be sure you will not mistake this for a Jackie Chan film in a rush.

Because of the assorted utterly Bruce Lee-free Brucesploitation movies that flooded the market after his dying, diving into the star’s filmography could be surprisingly difficult for the informal fan. It would not assist that a few of his actual films carry a number of titles — as an illustration, the 1972 movie “The Approach of the Dragon” is usually labeled as a 1974 film known as “Return of the Dragon.”

Nonetheless, no matter its title card says, “The Approach of the Dragon” stays a necessary piece of martial arts cinema. Its inconceivable premise — a battle over the destiny of a Chinese language restaurant in Rome — works to its favor, as Lee’s rural martial arts grasp Tang Lung expertly dismantles each prejudices and an all-star array of opponents. “The Approach of the Dragon” is a real Lee showcase, as he not solely performs the principle function but additionally wrote and directed the film. Among the many many highlights that ensue, one stands out above the remainder. Certainly, the tense, tactical Colosseum showdown between Lee and fellow martial arts legend Chuck Norris (who performs the fist-for-hire Colt) is definitely probably the most legendary film fights of all time — even with the in any other case slim Norris consuming numerous cheeseburgers beforehand to turn into noticeably larger than Lee.

That being mentioned, the remainder of the movie is nicely price watching, as nicely. From the unassuming and even unfavourable first impression the protagonist offers to the opposite characters to the laundry listing of various martial artists he mows down after unveiling his true skills, “The Approach of the Dragon” is a masterful lesson on making an environment friendly martial arts film.

For those who’ve ever seen a martial arts movie the place the protagonist competes in a mysterious match, there is a respectable probability that the film in query owes a nod to Bruce Lee’s best-known movie, “Enter the Dragon.” It distills each side of Lee’s earlier films — reminiscent of spy antics, revenge missions, memorable antagonists, and nice battle scenes — into one foolish but extraordinarily spectacular and entertaining package deal that is rightfully revered as considered one of one of the best kung fu films in historical past. Even when nothing else in Lee’s catalog pursuits you, make sure to take a look at the mind-bending mirror scene in “Enter the Dragon” the place his character — who’s additionally named Lee — faces off towards Han (Kien Shih), a nefarious villain who would not look misplaced in a James Bond film.

Lee died mere days earlier than “Enter the Dragon” launched in theaters in Hong Kong, so he by no means bought to see how his best film impacted the world. Nonetheless, he put in loads of work to make sure that the movie adhered to his imaginative and prescient. Lee did not present up on the primary day of taking pictures due to a artistic dispute with Warner Bros., which the studio handed off as Lee getting a case of nerves. Other than this, “Enter the Dragon” confronted a large number of challenges that would probably have disrupted the film and even ousted Lee from the manufacturing. Fortuitously, Lee prevailed and managed to make a Hollywood movie that did not lean on conventional Western-style motion tropes however as an alternative stayed true to his Hong Kong motion roots. To say the least, Lee selecting to do what he did greatest paid off.