Source: Birth of the Dragon via Facebook
Birth of the Dragon was designed as a way to pay homage to the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee and provide more insight into the film star’s early life. Released on Blu-ray towards the end of 2017, many fans of the Way of the Dragon actor will have been excited to learn things they may not have known before. But unfortunately, the film was heavily criticised by critics and is not considered as a good representation of Lee at all.
For lovers of all things martial arts, Lee is arguably the most important practitioner of all time. He appeared in some of the seminal films of the genre, such as Robert Clouse’s Enter the Dragon in 1973, and also helped to change the way Asians were represented in American film. When it was announced that there would be a fictional account of the young Lee’s life brought to film in Birth of the Dragon, some were sceptical while others were excited to see a new side to the man. It turns out that the scepticism was justified, and the film from George Nolfi was a poor representation of Lee’s early career with a large amount of theatrical embellishment added for good measure.
Birth of the Dragon has an extremely low approval rating of 26 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, a site which is usually reliable for its film scores. It got slated by many top critics as well, with some pondering over how and why the film got made in the first place. The picture was also received badly by Shannon Lee, the daughter of the late actor. She said it lacked a “complete understanding of his philosophies and artistry,” and also noted that “they haven’t captured the essence of his beliefs in martial arts or storytelling.”
The legend of Lee is still strong in popular culture, and if Hollywood was to release a proper biopic, it would open to a huge audience. Taken too early at the age of 32, Lee would have had great franchise potential today. There have been numerous spinoffs which have taken inspiration from the actor’s famous films over the years. For instance, online slots like Dragon Shrine and Dragon Ship have clearly used elements from the classic Lee films of the early 1970s. Lee has also featured as a special unlockable character in EA Sports titles UFC in 2014 and UFC 2 in 2015. This is a touching tribute to the man who would have taken the mixed-martial arts world by storm if it had existed during his living years.
It would be interesting to see if this latest inaccurate biopic of Lee inspires his daughter to collaborate with filmmakers and create something which does the martial arts man justice. She did say that her family had to generate their own material in order to “get audiences to understand the depth and uniqueness” of her father.
For now, those who want to keep their fond memories of Lee intact should stick to the classics that he starred in. Birth of the Dragon just doesn’t live up to the legend’s memory well enough.
