Long zai jiang hu

This was another interesting but not very exciting film. For me I was rather in-between about liking and disliking it.

To begin with it was nice seeing this as one of the very few not to mention early Brandon Lee films. At first this struck me more as a US production, considering that it was officialy released in the UK around 1993 (the same year he tragically died on the set of "The Crow").

I got my chance to watch this back in 2001. The thing that made me feel emotional after watching the film was wishing he'd still been alive to make other quality films. For me The Crow is still one film that stands out a brilliant achievement, it's not surprising to learn that there would've been so many promising role for him in the pipeline.

My only disapointment with Legacy of Rage was the fact that not much martial arts was demonstrated despite the showdown with "Enter the Dragon" co-star and Bruce Lee student Bolo Yeung. You couldn't help but feel slightly put off considering the fight didn't seem to last that long since things were more geared towards gun battles. But to top it off the dubbing was real annoyance as it's becoming both lame and outdated with most of these actor's not being able to speak their native languages, what a crock of s**t.

Overall not a bad film at all, but it's high time that voice dubbing becomes a thing of the past?

"Legacy of Rage" proves that Brandon Lee had enough talent to become an action star in his own right, without counting only on his famous father's name. He is a strong, likable, handsome, assured and charismatic hero - and this is only his film debut! And when he gets angry, he is one dude you don't want to mess with. Regina Kent is adorable as his girlfriend, and Michael Wong turns in a convincing performance, as he changes from a bitter young man to a ruthless crime boss. The film itself is rather slow and unexceptional story-wise (half prison flick, half revenge flick), distinguished from similar American fare mostly by a few superb hand-to-hand fight scenes and the amount of blood in the climax. (**1/2)

The 1986 martial arts action flick "Legacy of Rage" has the benefit of being the first starring role of the late Brandon Lee (the ill-fated son of deceased martial arts legend Bruce Lee). It was also the only film that Brandon Lee made in Hong Kong, and likewise the film is spoken in Cantonese (though the voices are dubbed - as the practice at that time was to film movies without sound, and then dub in the actors' voices later).

Brandon Lee is in fine form here (despite never hearing his natural speaking voice), though the film itself - written and directed by Hong Kong action veteran Ronny Yu (who would later gain fame in the West with the American horror films "Bride of Chucky" and "Freddy vs. Jason," and the martial arts epic "Fearless" with Jet Li) - is somewhat of a mixed bag; it's more or less a standard action film, with lots of stuff about gangsters, drugs, and John Woo-style gun-play. Also, disappointingly, there isn't much of Brandon Lee using his father's patented Jeet Kune Do skills against the bad guys being sent his way.

Lee plays Brandon Ma, a hard-working average Joe with a beautiful girlfriend named May (Regina King, in her film debut) and dreams of buying a motorcycle. Brandon's best friend is Michael (Michael Wong), who is also the son of a local Hong Kong gangster and is looking to take over his father's business and thus make a name for himself. He also has unrequited feelings for May, and he soon cooks up a scheme to get rid of Brandon so that he can have her for himself. This scheme would involve the murder of the undercover narcotics detective that has been hassling his father's organization, and then setting up Brandon as the scapegoat. The plan goes off without a hitch, and Brandon is sent to prison for eight years for the crime. But when he learns the truth about what's happened to him and why, that's when he sets out to get revenge and save May.

While we all know Brandon Lee's tragic story (he was killed while filming a scene of his last film, 1994's "The Crow"), "Legacy of Rage" definitely shows the talent the younger Lee inherited from his more-famous father. Brandon Lee may not have been as skilled a martial artist as his father (this is really debatable and a pointless argument, if you ask me), but he certainly may have been a stronger and more charismatic and charming actor. He certainly did not want to be remembered as a martial arts star like his father, but he did want to be remembered as an ACTOR. "Legacy of Rage" may not have much in the way of kung-fu action, but it does show that Lee was a strong and capable action hero, much like he would show in his later English-speaking features "Showdown in Little Tokyo" (1991), "Rapid Fire" (1992) and of course, "The Crow" - his last and most famous film.

So "Legacy of Rage" is worth viewing maybe once or twice, as a worthy introduction to the skills of the extraordinarily talented Brandon Lee.

6/10

P.S.: Bolo Yeung (who appeared as a villain in Bruce Lee's last completed film "Enter the Dragon") also has a brief appearance here, as well.

Before I saw this, I thought Rapid Fire was Brandon Lee's first movie, but I like him more in this one than Rapid Fire. This movie shows that he really had talent. Michael Wong looks so young in this movie, and he's one good looking son of a gun. Regina Kent plays her usual role of bossy brat. Her career ended short like Brandon's.

The movie is dubbed, and it's a so, so job. You can still tell that its a dub because the lip and the word doesn't match.

Simple story, but it works, and is pretty good entertainment even after quarter century. One thing that's original about this movie is that each scene happens in a little bit different settings than you usually see, and each scene is beautiful.

See it for the charisma of Brandon Lee, and unusual settings where thing happens.

7.5/10

Made by D & B Films (no need to thank me), "Long zai jiang hu" was the first movie I saw with Brandon Lee - unlike the other posters, I actually saw it when it came out - and it was ultimately nothing too special, but all of the action stars of the past and present have had to work their way up, and it was certainly better than "Rapid Fire" and "Showdown In Little Tokyo" (which was admittedly entertaining in a cheap way, Tia Carrere's obvious body double and the snuff video scene with that gorgeous blonde notwithstanding).

The action's okay, and the scene where our hero bursts a villain's eye with a garotte still makes me wince 16 years later, but the best bit is when our hero visits a wimpy friend to get some armed help; wimpy friend says "I only have these," and unveils an armoury that would give Charlton Heston wet dreams. Still, you do wonder what would have happened had Brandon lived.