The Final Game of Death

The producers of this rendition wasted their time on this vanity project of his, ego ridden, poorly paced and unexplained philosophical trash. The worst dubbing since Fist of Fury. It ought to have laid dead and buried like its director, producer and star. Had it been completed, this would be masterpiece has nothing of the pace and martial arts acumen of Enter The Dragon. It would surely had been his first failure and one almighty flop at the box office. The fights are too long and drawn out, leaving nothing to quicken the pulse. The audience desired pace and dynamism from this man. It is a blistering letdown. It would've been better he scrapped the whole thing and left the genre to fade like he knew it would.

Arrow Video's Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest set has been an absolute treat to anyone, fan or not, and an easy contender for the best physical media release of the year, from the long-lost Mandarian Cut of The Big Boss to this. The Final Game of Death puts the definitive stamp on what could have been Bruce Lee's greatest film and the ultimate expression of martial arts philosophy. As tempting as it might be to skip the preceding 3-hour long documentary to see the newly assembled representation of Game of Death, it would be doing James Flower, Brandon Bentley and company a major disservice for the sheer time and dedication they've put into crafting one of, if not, the finest piece of ever assembled for a home video release.

Covering everything known about the filmmaking process, behind-the-scenes issues, subsequent shooting and ultimately unfinished journey Lee's last film undertook, incorporating all 2 hours of the previously found and recently rediscovered footage from his original shoot, it expresses many of his philosophical beliefs in their purest form. From casting to filming to endless delays, there's no doubt Flower and Bentley know their stuff. There's even time dedicated to covering the contractual hand ties that lead to the 1978 film, Clouse's unfortunate handling of an impossible situation and how it kept alive Bruce's undying gift with many filmmakers and craftsmen still taking cues from him and his films to this day.

It's with this build-up that Flower then proudly introduces the newly crafted presentation of Game of Death, one that adheres to showcasing a representation of what would have been possible at the time. Utilising stock Golden Harvest sound effects, Joseph Koo's musical cues from Lee's past movies, newly shot footage to provide a contextual prologue, a new voice dub and a brilliantly animated title sequence crafts the most accurate intention to Lee's original work. No one will ever know for certain how Lee had intended Game of Death to originally play out but The Final Game of Death makes it known that no matter the representation, the legacy of both it and its tragical fallen star will always endure.

When I first heard about this special feature-which would include all the surviving footage shot for Game of Death, with multiple takes and no sound-I honestly expected it to be a dull, drawn-out experience. But I couldn't have been more wrong.

Kudos to the team who assembled this-it's absolutely brilliant! The background score, made up of evocative renditions of themes from Bruce Lee's earlier films, was haunting and deeply emotive. It complemented the raw footage beautifully and added real cinematic weight to each moment.

Watching this material-some of it unseen for nearly 50 years-was genuinely thrilling. It offered an incredible insight into Bruce Lee's vision, process, and presence.

The newly created end credits were also a standout. They felt authentic and gave a strong sense of how the credits might have looked had Bruce completed the film himself.

However, there were a few major missteps. The dubbing in the final edit was unfortunately really terrible-so much so that each time someone spoke it immediately pulled me out of the film entirety. Even worse was the voiceover for the newly added projector scene, which came across as an exaggerated, borderline offensive caricature.

Also, the absence of John Barry's iconic theme during the final fight scenes was a major loss. That music defined the original release, and its omission here was keenly felt.

Still, this feature is a must-watch for any Bruce Lee fan. Hopefully one day, someone will fully re-edit the material and give Game of Death the definitive treatment it deserves. Game of Death Redux 3.0, anyone?

Clearly expalined why bruce lee is that sucessful not only in his martial art but also in the movie making capturing the audience and striving for perfection with his innovativeness. The amount of underlying meaning and reasoning is that great.

It contains much of slow progress, you do not feel bored but the monotone makes it drouzy.

The amount of work and dedication Bruce Lee has put into it is just admirable.

Love how the moviemakers not only deconstructed the meaning about the movie but also focusing on the things what happening outside the movie making. The events, the reasoning why delays or days of filming and who the cast is formed. Makes it really enjoyable to watch.