It is a shame that they have yet to make a really good film about Bruce Lee. This film almost does it but fails in so many ways. Firstly Jason Scott Lee does a reasonable job but clearly he is no Martial Artist and it shows. Bruce was the best Martial Artist we have seen in movies so to have someone so poorly trained spoils it somewhat. Jason does well and along with the many stunt men used we do get to see some decent action, but it falls way short of the quality of what Bruce could do. Secondly, sorry again Mr Scott Lee but Bruce was electrifying on screen. Even when not fighting he was so charismatic that your attention was immediately drawn to him. Also we did not see Bruce's humour or how he could mystify people with his speed. Bruce could snatch a coin from someones hand while replacing it with another. Thirdly, the story is so full of inaccuracies that it fails to show the true fight Bruce had to get where he was. As others have mentioned the back injury was not during a fight but during him exercising, it was not necessary to make that part up as Bruce had many real fights that could have been shown, such as during filming Enter the dragon, when an extra challenged Bruce and Bruce knocked his teeth out with one powerful and fast kick. Forth, It seems more focused around Linda, who sweet as she no doubt was, did not make Bruce. She did not talk him into opening a Kung Fu school, she actually attended one of his schools. She did not talk him into writing his book, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce had been doing this most of his life, making copious notes on his fighting style and philosophy. Fith, the references to the bad spirit Bruce is shown plagued with. I am sure Bruce may have been influenced by Chinese superstition, but I have never read anything he wrote or heard him say anything that showed it affected his life as much as this film shows it did. Six, the massive impact Bruce had on both Chinese Kung fu films and later Hollywood films could have been included. You would think from watching this movie that Bruce made a couple of films then died. Green Hornet is mentioned but not any of his other TV roles such as Longstereet or his part in the James Garner film, Marlowe. Also nothing at all about the many films Bruce made as a child actor in Hong Kong.So I hope that one day we will get a film that really shows why Bruce Lee was so amazing as both a Martial Artist and Actor.

However, it also, does stray too far into fantasy. This biopic movie directed by Rob Cohen really does take a lionized approach to the legendary martial artist/movie star, Bruce Lee's life. These over the top embellishment really resulted in mixed reactions. Some Bruce Lee fans felt, that the use of artistic license, really hurts the historic authenticity of the film. Others, felt that the extreme improvisation made for a more interesting and challenging movie, rather than a straight, and boring historic accurate adaptation. In my opinion, I felt that slightly haunting, but fantastical subplot of Bruce Lee's family, being haunted by demons was a bit too over the top and wasn't really needed for the film. It wasn't a childhood nightmare that prompt Bruce to begin his martial arts training. Unlike what we see in the movie, Bruce actually began his martial arts training at the age of thirteen after getting beaten up by a street gang. However, it was somewhat entertaining, seeing Bruce Lee (Jason Scott Lee), having nightmares of a giant demonic samurai. It was also pretty cool, seeing him battling that say, demon to protect his son, Brandon (Iain M. Parker). Even, if it's so, out there, crazy. Who knows, maybe, there was a real-life, curse on Bruce Lee's family? Making this worse is the fact that Brandon turned down the opportunity to play his father here, opting to do 1994's The Crow instead. Brandon Lee would die from an accidental gun discharge during the making of that film, a few months prior to this film's release. Loosely based off, the biographies written by Linda Lee Cadwell, Bruce Lee's widow; "Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew' & Robert Clouse's "Bruce Lee: The Biography". The movie tackles, how Bruce Lee became the most famous martial artist of all time; while dealing with his cultural duality. You really do see, his struggles to keep his strong Chinese heritage alive, while, also finding his identity as an American. While, Jason Scott Lee is not related to Bruce Lee and had no previous martial arts training or experience. He was an accomplished dancer and really embody, what Bruce Lee was, in looks and the way, he acts. He's so charismatic and likable here, that you simply cannot take your eyes off of him. He is equally adept at action scenes and love scenes, and even if you don't like martial arts films, you will like this movie very much. I really love how the film, dealt with easing of harsh racism tones of the two countries with the romantic sub-plot of Bruce Lee meeting his future wife, Linda Lee (Lauren Holly). The two actor's chemistry, together, really makes this subplot, work. I really felt the heartwarming moments, between them. However, their relationship in real life was a little more, complicated than what's shown in the film, with Bruce Lee's rumor, adultery with actress, Betty Ting Pei. Still, much credit, goes to both Lauren Holly to portraying a realistic character in Linda, and for, composer, Randy Edelman for The Dragon's Heartbeat. That theme song is so uplifting and inspirational it has been used in countless trailers in the 2 decades since it first came out. This film pays a mostly honest tribute to how revolutionary, the man was, to not only fighting style, but his influence in both East and West filmmaking. However, in the movie, it's said, that Bruce Lee's acting career started when a producer discovers Bruce after witnessing his martial arts abilities. In real life, Bruce's family had connections to the world of show business and even Bruce Lee acted sporadically since his early childhood. He first appeared in 1941's The Golden Gate Girl when he was only 3 months old, and later in 1957's Hong Kong movie, The Thunderstorm. It wasn't his martial arts skills that got him, into the door of Hollywood, at first. While, I do champion, in the way, he change, how Asian Americans were portrayed in film. Still, the notorious idea that all- Asians know Martial Arts is bit, laughable. The film make it seem, like every Asian knows it. As if, it's was a well-kept secret. While, the fight scenes in the film, were well-choreograph and done pretty good. I really found, most of the whole-forced fighting conflicts to be, a lot of filler. Some, really good examples are, the fight scene at the film set of 1971's Big Boss and the scenes with the Chinese Martial Art School. Contrary, in reality, there was no real fight on the set of The Big Boss and while, other Martial Arts instructors were indeed, only teaching people of their own race, most Chinese martial arts school in America were a lot more understandable on Bruce Lee training non-Chinese in the arts. Another thing, I find, kinda jarring in the film, is how, the film, portray, Bruce suffering a severe back injury, due to a fight gone wrong. In reality, Bruce got the back injury, while exercising with weights. While, he indeed fully recovered since then; in private however, he continued to suffer from chronic back pain. Unlike, the movie that says, the demon curse, lead him to an early grave. It's more like, likely, that this back pain, cause Bruce Lee, to die at a young age, due to bad allergic reaction to a painkiller, given to him, for treatment. Overall: While, this movie does take liberties about the life of Bruce. It was also well-written as a tribute to both him and his fans. It was written as a way to include the myths, rumors, and greatness that made him a larger than life, type of a hero. It's an amazing movie, definite worth checking out for any fan of his films.

Bruce Lee was an amazing man and Jason Scott Lee was pretty convincing as Bruce even though he doesn't really resemble Bruce. He's a little bigger than Bruce and maybe even a little darker (Bruce was part German). His personality is very similar to Bruce even his voice. Besides his similar mannerisms to Bruce, the movie dramatizes the struggles Bruce Lee had to deal with such as racism. I don't know how much of the drama from the film actually happened in real life, but it seems so real that you really feel sorry for him. I know most of the film was made up and even the synopses about the film says loosely based on Bruce.Some of the reviews I've been reading seems kind of overly critical and harsh. I have to agree that the fight scenes for example were too long considering Bruce Lee's philosophy about fighting was to simplify and use the most effective way to come out of a fight. Bruce Lee after all was a street fighter. He started training when he was 13 and not as a young kid because he kept getting beat up in street fights as a teenager. Also, Bruce Lee was an actor since he was an infant. His dad used him in one of his plays. There were many black and white films of Bruce as a kid. So Bruce Lee was a child star and the film focuses more on his martial art abilities for some reason (I guess for Hollywood glamor). Besides ignoring Bruce as an actor as a young kid, I remember reading about his frustration when he was an instructor teaching his martial art style Jeet Kune Do. His students thought there was an ultimate technique but he tried to explain to his students there is no ultimate technique and that you are the one to figure things out for yourself. His students didn't understand it and at one point he closed his schools.Even though this film is a made up story about Bruce, this isn't the only biopic that's not accurate. Many biopic films focus more on the dramatization than actual events for artistic reasons. Filmmakers are artists as well remember. The soundtrack to this film is excellent. I enjoyed this film simply for the fact Bruce Lee was one of a kind man besides just a martial artist. He is such an influential icon that I can't imagine the movies we watch these days (especially with actions films) would've become without him.

Happening across the book THE TAO OF BRUCE LEE by Davis Miller brought back some fond memories: memories of seeing THE GREEN HORNET teleseries when it first aired, and being amazed by The Hornet's sidekick, Kato, as he took out villain after villain with what seemed to be almost supernatural abilities (but which clearly were NOT: the punches and kicks had a BELIEVABILITY about them, a verisimilitude lacking in most television and motion picture slugfests); memories of the hot summer days, not very many years later, spent slouched down in my seat watching this same Human Dynamo dispatch an assortment of villains up on The Big Screen, punctuating each kick and punch with an ear-splitting scream or his trademark howl. "Soon I was lost in the thunder," writes Miller. "I'd bathe in dreams and in lightning." Much has been made of Bruce Lee's alleged fighting ability; even Miller seems to climb atop the fence by the end of his book. (He recounts discussions with another martial artist, full contact heavyweight karate champion Joe Lewis, that would suggest another book might be a good idea: if anyone's been overlooked long enough, it's Joe Lewis- and of Lewis's ring skills there's little doubt: I saw him fight twice, and he was MOST impressive, even against much bigger opponents. I read somewhere that Bruce Lee himself once referred to Lewis as "the greatest fighter on the face of the Earth." How's THAT for an endorsement?) This movie, however, is about as true to life as any of the other exploitation movies that literally followed in his wake. Lee was all too human (as his death attests) and had his flaws (unlike the rest of us): in the book HONG KONG BABYLON, it's revealed that the woman in whose bed his body was found was the girlfriend of a Triad boss. But the fact remains that Bruce Lee was- and IS- an inspiration to millions- myself included. This movie does him a great disservice.