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| zjpbl6| The Game of Death II |
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| Director: Corey Yuen, See-Yuen Ng, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo |
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| Cast: |
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Bruce Lee, Tai Chung Kim, Jang Lee Hwang, Roy Horan, Roy Chiao |
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Action & Adventure |
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| Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 |
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(NTSC Widescreen) |
| Studio: 20th Century Fox |
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DVD Region: 1 |
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R |
| DVD Release: May 2004 |
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Discs: (DVD) [$9.98] |
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| Reviews: Okay, this one is unusual, due to some very heavy editing. First of all, I must respectfully point out that the below reviewer isn't talking about this flick, New Game of Death. He's talking about an entirely different movie: Tower of Death, aka Game of Death 2. That movie is an indirect sequel to the 1978, Robert Clouse-directed Game of Death. This movie, however, is something else. Like most kung-fu movies, it is known by another name: Goodbye Bruce Lee. But here it has been edited and changed around. Goodbye Bruce Lee was a psuedo-documentary in which Bruce Li was introduced as the man who would complete Bruce Lee's unfinished movie Game of Death. There was even a short interview with Kareem Abdul Jabbar at the beginning, as well as some shots of Li working the high-bar, giving us a peek at his acrobatic skills. Then, mid-course through this documentary, a "movie" began, in which Li fought some crooks and eventually rescues his fiancee, who is held in a martial artist-filled pagoda. This edit of Goodbye Bruce Lee features all of that, save for the Jabbar interview and the original narration, which have both been removed. Now it is made to resemble just a regular movie, and not a documentary at all. However the editing has left it very odd. For example, it still begins with Li working the high-bar. But instead of narration explaining who this man is, the theme music (a very Blaxploitation sounding song called "King of Kung Fu") plays relentlessly, and there is no dialog. Then Li is taken to a producer's office, where he's told that he's been chosen to complete Bruce Lee's movie Game of Death. Li agrees, and the producers have him and his girlfriend sit down in a projection room, so they can show him "the portion of the movie that Bruce finished." The projectionist starts the movie and from there on we're into the New Game of Death. There is no more mention of Bruce Li and his girlfriend in the projection room. Sound confusing? It is. As for the movie itself, it's confusing too - and I think this is mostly due to the English dubbing. Back when this was released, I think US distributors just tried to get the dialog to match the movements of the actors' mouths - they weren't so worried about accurately-translated dialog. And that really shows in this movie. Several times it's very obvious that the dialog has nothing to do with what's going on. And as for the fighting, well it isn't that great. Bruce Li was no Bruce Lee. As if you didn't already know that. There are some saving graces, though: the pagoda guardians are fairly interesting in a campy way, and Li does the best with what he's been given in this film. Two scenes that had me laughing: Li's brother discovers that his apartment has been trashed as the opening chords of the James Bond theme blast on the soundtrack. And two, Li walks into his trashed home, steps into a room, and steps back out in the black and yellow tracksuit that the real Bruce Lee wore in his Game of Death. Anyway, my advice: rent the movie if you want to see it. Maybe one day the original version, Goodbye Bruce Lee, will be released. |
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