Birth of the Dragon movie Review

Birth of the Dragon

Being a huge Bruce Lee fan, I made it a point to be able to watch any films that would re-tell the legend and the story of Bruce Lee. And one such controversial film was released this week. Amidst the controversy and the negative reviews, I decided to give it a go even if Bruce Lee's own daughter, Shannon Lee abhors the film. The movie Birth of the Dragon is said to be inspired by the events of the legendary underground fight between a Pre-Jeet Kune do Bruce Lee and Northern Shaolin master Wong Jack Man. much of the controversy of this film was borne from the deceiving trailer which presented the movie as a Bruce Lee Bio-Pic. When in truth, it was only a semi-biopic that is blemished with fictional characters and an expanded story line. The events of the film is seen through the eyes of a fictional character named Steve Mckee (probably based on hollywood movie star and one time Bruce Lee student Steve Mcqueen). Mckee served as the bridge between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man's epic fight. Critics lambasted the film for whitewashing (a hollywood term for exchanging Asian characters in favor of Caucasian ones). While the Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man fight indeed happened, the cheesy climax ruined the film for me. I came to watch the film because of the Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man fight, which was based on the article "Bruce Lee's toughest fight" written by Michael Dorgan. The well researched article neither confirmed nor denied whether Bruce Lee indeed won the fight against Wong as what is more popularly known to the public. And the movie handled that part of the story well. At least for me. I don't need to go into details about the other expanded fictional stories of the movie, because honestly, those parts ruined the film for me. They could have just stayed true to the narrative of that legendary fight and kept it at that with probably some improvements on the story for more dramatic effect. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story which was a semi-autobiographical film about Bruce Lee back in the 90's have handled that part deftly. Though that movie also had additional fictional stories in their narrative (most notably a scene depicting Lee and Wong having a rematch in public which actually never happened), but at least it remained true to their intentions for the majority of the movie. Not unlike in this movie where we have an eastern-western Romeo and Juliet love story that did nothing to push the film forward. In fact it only made Lee and Wong comical in the climax. I was also annoyed at the Bruce Lee actor Philip Ng's forced portrayal and imitation of Lee. I get it that the producers were looking for someone who looks like Bruce Lee but his facial expressions sometimes gives me the laughs. Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee story actor) was the better actor, as he was able to convey the dramatic parts of the movie as well as the fight scenes. Yu Xia who plays Wong jack man on the other hand handled his role deftly as he was able to showcase his fight choreography flawlessly for someone who does not have a martial arts background. Birth of the Dragon also turned off a lot of Bruce Lee fans because of their portrayal of Lee as an arrogant person. Though that is not that much of an issue for me, because men with too much self-confidence are always cast/misunderstood as arrogant (see Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan as an example). What I do like about the film are the references and Easter eggs of significant Bruce Lee moments like the one inch punch and Lee's battle with a henchmen who wore knuckle claws (perhaps a nod to Enter the Dragon). Fight scenes were handled just fine. When it comes to Bruce Lee films, nothing still beats the original. When you watch films such as these, you should never compare and base your criticisms on the actor's martial arts skills or the fight scenes. Because comparing them with Bruce Lee is unfair. To conclude, Birth of the Dragon is an interesting film about Bruce Lee if you could skip all the unnecessary additions to the story. However, if you are looking for a semi-autobiographical film that is well done and stays true to its intentions, then Dragon: The Bruce Lee story is the better film.

Philip Ng as Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee v.s. Wong jack man (Yu Xia)

The Legendary Fight