La vie fantastique de Bruce Lee

I've watched this movie long time ago, and more recently after watching Young Bruce Lee (2011). It was curious to find that this movie picks up right where Young Bruce Lee ends. Put both of them back to back, and you get a complete story of Bruce's rise to stardom.

While Young Bruce Lee was a recent production and style was of modern people and props made to look like '50s Hong Kong, this movie was made in the '70s, and all the fashion, and hairstyle are authentic '70s style. It was such a different world back then.

Bruce's greatness was he believed in himself when no one else believed that he could be a star. He had to battle his way up both as martial artist and a movie star. Without his pioneering effort, likes of Jackie Chan wouldn't have had the market to thrive in. All the kung fu movie stars of the world owes a lot to Bruce in this sense.

It's amazing that after almost 40 years since his death, his presence has not diminished.I guess that's the true quality of a star. In this sense, he's maybe topped the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford etc. in that they remain as old actors, but Bruce Lee continues to find new audiences.

It would be interesting to see how this segment of Bruce Lee's life would be remade into a movie using modern production.

Bruce Lee was certainly a fascinating and talented individual, but the makers of this movie were either ignorant of those facts or were just instead more interested in making a quick buck. We learn very little about Lee in this movie - there's never a scene where we get into his head and get an idea of what he's thinking or feeling. Also, a lot of his background is ignored or glossed over; for example, we suddenly see him with a wife and two children halfway through the movie with no previous footage showing how he got them. The movie is more interested in delivering fight sequences instead. Now, the fight sequences in this movie are a bit better than usual for a 1970s Hong Kong movie, but the contrived ways the movie gets Bruce into fight sequences are so laughable that a lot of potential excitement is lost. If you want to learn more about Bruce Lee, find a printed biography of the man instead.

I saw this film under the title "Bruce Lee:the Man and the Myth" If this is the true story, he certainly led a pretty hectic life. All he seems to do is get into fights. But they are well staged and make exciting viewing.Li is a good lookalike for Lee and does a good impression of him. But he has neither the charisima or style of the man who meant as much to his generation as Valentino and Dean did to theirs. What is all boils down to is just another cash in on Lee's death. The exercise sequences are the most interesting.

Bruce Li turns in one of his best performances in this mostly fictional biography about the life of Bruce Lee. Li does a very good imitation of Bruce Lee but not surprisingly, falls slightly short of capturing the true essence of what made Bruce Lee such a special presence on film.

While this was supposed to a biography about the life of Bruce Lee, it is much more concerned with presenting Kung Fu street fights rumor and gossip, whether based on any true factual reality or not, might have at one time had it said Lee had a penchant for getting involved in. The fights themselves are not badly executed and again Li has most of Lee's mannerisms down pat. Still he always falls slightly short of the mark as you might well expect even from the best of imitators.

In the end, I have to admit to enjoying this film on a pure guilty pleasure level. It really is just using Bruce Lee's name as an excuse for yet another Kung Fu movie and cleverly ties itself to his legacy most likely hoping to cash in on his name. Still, Bruce Li isn't half bad at that and this movie moves at a nice, brisk exciting pace and is filled with decent Kung Fu fighting action. There's certainly worse efforts that this out there that also tried to cash in on the Lee name and legacy.

I imagine that somewhere, somebody has sat down to watch BRUCE LEE - THE MAN, THE MYTH expecting to see a worthwhile biography of the late, lamented martial arts master and instead found themselves sitting through a plot less (though action-packed) fight flick. Bruce Lee's life story is told through action rather than words as its basically little more than one long series of elaborate fight sequences in different locations with only the bare backbone of a storyline that manages to incorporate footage of Lee's corpse at his funeral and even his gravestone (which I presume isn't faked). All is not lost, however, as this is actually a fairly big budget and official-feeling version of the big man's life and times, managing to convey at times his struggle to bring Chinese cinema and kung fu to the western world, and even managing a little foreboding towards the end of the movie as his death becomes imminent.

Production values are good, with crisp, clear photography and great locations. However, where this film really excels is with the action sequences which are exceptionally good. Bruce Li acquits himself beautifully with his imitation of the master and manages to be very close to the man he plays in terms of style, action and characteristics. He fights very well indeed (some of the slickest, fastest, most powerful fighting I've seen in a kung fu film here) and the choreography, being excellent, adds to the experience. About 80% of the movie consists of the action and the rest involves elaborate training sequences and plot filler, wasting time until the next inevitable bout of martial arts mayhem. The only flaw is in the occasional bad dubbing, especially the hilarious interlude with a crowd of British joggers! This is a solid actioner, nothing more and nothing less, that pays tribute to Bruce Lee as it should.