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Reviews
Xin du bi dao (1971)
A Great Fantasy Martial Arts Film
I usually like more realistic action films like Bruce Lee. Not the latest Die Hard where they break the laws of physics every ten minutes. And I don't like the current stuff with too much CG and wire-work.
That said, I love this film. Especially in the original Mandarin. Fine production values, two heroes Chiang and Jimmy Wang Yu and a great villain "Hero Lung." A classic movie baddie.
The only possible improvement would be if Bruce Lee had starred. Still, I'll have to say Chian is perfect as a young master swordsman who would rather cut off his own arm than live with dishonor.
I've heard that Jimmy Wang Yu was not a trained martial artist, but a pretty tough guy in real life. Too cute guys.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
An Epic Waste. Get the Music
Only the music makes this bearable. A wonderful score, which deserves to be in a real Bruce Lee biography. This has an inaccuracy rating of over 90%, which probably gives it the number one spot of bio-cinema. What a waste.
While Jasaon Scott Lee is OK, he physically too big to portray Lee; and his fighting 'style' is worse than the Lee rip-offs, whoooo! wah! wowwwwhh! What was Rob Cohen thinking of? Well, 1/ Lee doesn't deserve a realistic rendition of his life and / or 2/ his life wasn't exciting enough, let's spike it up. Of course, anyone with a passing knowledge of Lee knows that the real stuff was more engrossing than a screenwriter's dreams.
An epic waste of money and of a talent (I'm not speaking of Jason Scott). Get the CD.
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
Better than the Excellent KK 1
I loved KK 1; and I love KK 2 even more. This is probably the best martial arts movie, not for the fight-action (that has to go to Bruce Lee), but the ideal (and true) that a good man is far tougher than a bad one. When Sato repents, and asks Miyagi's forgiveness : "Nothing to forgive, old friend." I recently saw Jet Li's "Fearless" and it's nice to see a martial art movie that returns to things of the heart.
I hate the wire work of today's movies; I also know others love them. But for something to tug your heart, you have to cut out the flying flying flying kicks. Obvious CG breaks it for me. Keanu Reeves and Jet Li become 'equals' because of sap wire work. With enough money / technicals, you can make a passable fighting film, like Zhang Ziyi's films; but they will be dated. Bruce Lee will not be dated.