Review of Game Of Death (2 Disc Set)

Introduction

Hong Kong Legends have long been known to Hong Kong and kung fu cinema fans as one of the best DVD labels around, remastering old prints and finding, or in some cases, even making their own extras. Game of Death, Bruce Lee’s last film, made some years after the Little Dragon’s tragic death at 33, is the first of HKL’s Platinum Editions. This 2–disc set comes with an outer cardboard sleeve, labeled as “Number 1” of the Platinum Editions to enhance collectability, is HKL’s best production yet – read on to find out why.

Video

The overall quality of restoration that HKL have done is unbelievable. The picture is clear with accurate skintones and virtually no blemishes or flaws. The print seems to be in fairly good conditions, by Hong Kong standards, and the restoration is even more impressive when you consider that the bulk of GoD was shot in 1978, and the Bruce Lee footage in 1972!

The only problems with the picture lay with the filmmakers’ dubious attempts to construct a construct a story around 11 minute of Lee footage. An example comes in the opening of GoD, when a overhead light falls and nearly crushes Lee’s character (or more accurately, the actor playing Bruce Lee playing Billy Lo). The director uses a close-up of Lee that clearly does not match any of the shots before or after it, being much grainier, with different lighting sources and locations! Of course, believability is not helped by the fact that the actor playing Bruce Lee has a physique that looks NOTHING like Lee’s famous upper body. But let’s not nit-pick, the job done on the transfer is outstanding and will never be bettered.

Audio

HKL have also remixed an English 5.1 track from the original stereo sound. Good use is made of the front soundstage and the bass has a decent kick to it, without being overpowering. The dialogue is clear throughout and, as with all HKL discs, special care is taken to produce subtitles that are easy to read on all colour backgrounds during the Cantonese language deleted scenes. The score by John Barry, of James Bond fame, is suprisingly effective and must rank up there with some of his best.

Features

This is where HKL manages to turn a mediocre film into an essential DVD purchase: the features here are their greatest achievements yet.

Although it’s the second disc that is fully dedicated to extra features, the first disc is pretty impressive as well. First off, a predictably informative and fascinating commentary by Bey Logan has been created by HKL to accompany the film. Here Logan gets to show some of his exhaustive knowledge on this troubled production, and is especially worth listening to considering the extent of his involvement in this release (Logan found the famous Lost Footage wallowing in s***e, forgotten in the Golden Harvest vaults). Also of great interest to ANY Bruce Lee fans are five deleted scenes, present in the Chinese language version but not the English. These are all remastered and presented in anamorphic widescreen, with their original Cantonese language tracks and English subtitles. They include an alternative title sequence (which I much prefer to the one used in the end), an extended ending and a fight sequence with one of the best kickers around, Casanova Wong. Finally, there is an animated biography of Bruce Lee which, similar to on other HKL discs, is narrated by ‘Trailer Man’.

As with all HKL releases, the menus are classily animated with music accompanying them. The menus on the second disc are especially good, themed as five ‘floors’ or extras that you can ascend or descend to access the goodies. And believe me, there are more than enough to fill all of the five floors…

On the first floor we are given an introduction into the film and the man. There are two essays here – one is on Jeet Kune Do, the martial art Bruce Lee ‘invented’ and made extensive use of in this film, both in technique and philosophy; the other is on the history of GoD. We are also shown two photo galleries.

The second floor contains the obligatory TV spots and trailers. The original theatrical trailers look very good and have obviously also been remastered too.

The third floor is dedicated to Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee’s most accomplished student and his opponent in the newly found nunchuka fight. The written biography gives us the basic background to Inosanto’s life. Next is an 11-minute interview that tells us more about his views and his relationship with Lee. Finally on this level is a ‘Jeet Kune Do Seminar’ hosted by Inosanto, which is a very substantial extra (41 minutes), the likes of which I haven’t seen before. Here we are shown various combat methods – kicks, punches, dealing with armed attackers – and this serves as a very good advertisement for anyone thinking of taking up the martial art.

Here on the fourth floor there are two interviews, and some outtakes. The interviews are with Taky Kimura (Lee’s close friends and student), lasting 10 minutes, and with George Lazenby (yes, the Bond – and the relevance is as pretty much as little as you would expect), lasting 7 minutes. The outtakes is an rare, if brief, look at what happened behind the scenes. This blooper reel comes in at 4 minutes.

Finally, on the top floor is where the REAL jewels are kept. The biography of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, basketball superstar and a student of Lee, is again a pretty comprehensive piece. However (rather ironically for Jabbar), it is dwarfed by the other two giant extras on this floor. ‘Legacy of the Dragon’ is a 47-minute documentary on the life of Bruce Lee, and is entertaining and well researched. This feature contains just the right balance of footage and analysis, and is really an excellent piece of work. Lastly, ‘Game of Death Revisited’ is the remastered footage of Lee’s originally planned ending to his project, and contains the nunchuka fight I referred to earlier. The footage lasts a staggering 40 minutes (bringing a whole new meaning to ‘deleted scene’) and look pretty good, although not up to the same quality as the movie itself.

Conclusion

Game of Death is by far the worst Bruce Lee film (if we can call it his), but still contains a strange charm to it – a ‘classic’ bad movie. Whilst the effects are not so special as stupid, and the plot is idiotic, the fights are good and the end credits – a homage to Bruce Lee’s films – almost bring a tear to the eye. The locker room fight stands out, and obviously the actual Lee footage at the climax is excellent. Remember that Game of Death has Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Casanova Wong all in one movie! Just for that lineup, it would be worth having.

HKL have done an amazing job here, because even though this is Lee’s worst, it is one of his most interesting due to the way it was made. The extras are stunning, and I urge any martial arts fans to get this 2-disc set even on that basis alone.