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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Not the best cinematic testament to the memory of Bruce Lee, 15 Aug 2001
Game of Death was a project Bruce Lee had originally dreamt up, prior to Hollywood tempting him with the offer of starring in Enter The Dragon.Game of Death is a film which Bruce Lee had set his heart on once camera's stopped rolling on Enter The Dragon. He even cast former one time James Bond, George Lazenby as a villain, who himself was a brown belt in karate and a close friend of Bruce Lee's. However, as we all know Bruce Lee passed away as Enter The Dragon was completed, therefore the much anticipated Game of Death was shelved. Bruce Lee had said, this was to be his next big project following Enter The Dragon. Nevertheless six years on from his untimely demise, Game of Death was released in 1979.It has to be said, this film was a dire cash in on Bruce Lee's sudden surge of popularity during the tail end of the 1970s.Robert Clouse and Raymond Chow, who were the production team behind this celluloid farce and attempt in paying homage to the late great king of kung fu, tried to utilise editing as their weapon of perfection, rather clumsily piecing together out-takes and scenes of Bruce Lee from earlier films, along with casting in the main role, what they thought was a Bruce Lee lookalike, by the name of Tong Lung, doesn't exactly bode well as an example of good film making.The scenes we do actually see of the man himself, are a treat, if an extremely rare one at that.The scenes we do see were filmed in early 1973 when Bruce Lee had the idea of putting together Game of Death.All in all, three fight scenes were caught on film however, due to the nonsensical censcorship laws in the UK, the best scene of all which is the incredible and breathtaking nunchaku duel between Lee and the Phillipino master of the sticks, Dan Inosanto (Bruce Lee's tutor of the nunchaku)is CUT!This means, unless you are prepared to pay a pricely sum for an imported version of the video, once again UK martial arts film fans and Bruce Lee enthusiasts are robbed yet again due the BBFC-come on its the 21st century. How offensive can two sticks joined together by a chain be deemed offensive in an age where film scenes showing graphic murders with guns and knives, etc escaping the machete of censcorship pratically everytime.So in the end, all we are left with is a film that promises much, but fails to deliver what would of have been a cracking martial arts thriller. Granted, there are some credible fight scenes as Tong Lung is a rather athletic and polished martial artist in his own right, but at the end of the day, Robert Clouse and Raymond Chow and the rest of the marketing team behind Game of Death have tried to sell this film off to members of the unsuspecting public as being a true Bruce Lee film, when we all know better.What fans desire, is the real Bruce Lee, and aside from the few treasured minutes of the Little Dragon in action, Game of Death is quite sadly an anti climax. But wait, I haven't even commented on the acting and script yet, in a nutshell, very poor, and not what Bruce Lee had envisaged at all I am sure.If you do decide to watch Game of Death, make sure it's the full uncut version, which in addition to the classic nunchaku battle, also features a furious fight scene of epic proportions shot in a greenhouse between Tong Lung and legendary leg fighter, Ka SaFa, also known as Casonova Wong, which was to later resurface in Game of Death 2.Maybe my comments are a trifle harsh, but hey, the makers of Game of Death promised us a real Bruce Lee movie.
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