Jeff's Reviews

Thoughts on every movie I've ever seen.

The Way of the Dragon (1972)

Directed by Bruce Lee

Starring Bruce Lee, Nora Miao, Chuck Norris, Ping Ou Wei

Author

Nice intro sequence. A bit slow overall. A bit too much time is spent trying to develop the crummy story. Nice 60’s flavor and music. Funny sounds he makes when he fights. The fighting sounds were a bit gay because the sounds were so unnatural. When a fighting scece uses natural sounds and it’s still exciting, then you have one good fighting scene. Nice camerawork during the fights. The zooms to the close-ups are cool. Quite a few focus problems.

Lee’s secret is his balance, his leverage, and his sculpted body. The Ali footwork is kinda cool, and the knuckle-cracking when he makes a fist is funny. What’s with that nose twitching thing he does? Lee is OK, but I was expecting a lot more. The fight scenes weren’t too long, were very simple, and were faked pretty badly. And there just wasn’t enough fighting. The choreography isn’t so great. I actually think I like watching Jackie Chan better than Bruce Lee. Lee’s got a little of that silly humor, but Chan is a lot funnier. Norris is an ugly, hairy slob. It’s funny how they portrayed him as the stereotypical American. He’s got balance, but not the leverage or the sculpted body that Lee has. He’s just not pretty, and unfortunately, he has tried to make a career trying to be as cool as Bruce Lee was. The flamboyantly gay dude was a bit much.

Lee’s mannerisms are copied everywhere. He really had a lot of influence.

3 Comments

  1. Wrong movie. This is a Filipino martial arts film with a Bruce Lee lookalike.

    • Nice catch. Thanks!

  2. Quite good, I think.

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