The 1986 martial arts action flick "Legacy of Rage" has the benefit of being the first starring role of the late Brandon Lee (the ill-fated son of deceased martial arts legend Bruce Lee). It was also the only film that Brandon Lee made in Hong Kong, and likewise the film is spoken in Cantonese (though the voices are dubbed - as the practice at that time was to film movies without sound, and then dub in the actors' voices later).Brandon Lee is in fine form here (despite never hearing his natural speaking voice), though the film itself - written and directed by Hong Kong action veteran Ronny Yu (who would later gain fame in the West with the American horror films "Bride of Chucky" and "Freddy vs. Jason," and the martial arts epic "Fearless" with Jet Li) - is somewhat of a mixed bag; it's more or less a standard action film, with lots of stuff about gangsters, drugs, and John Woo-style gun-play. Also, disappointingly, there isn't much of Brandon Lee using his father's patented Jeet Kune Do skills against the bad guys being sent his way.Lee plays Brandon Ma, a hard-working average Joe with a beautiful girlfriend named May (Regina King, in her film debut) and dreams of buying a motorcycle. Brandon's best friend is Michael (Michael Wong), who is also the son of a local Hong Kong gangster and is looking to take over his father's business and thus make a name for himself. He also has unrequited feelings for May, and he soon cooks up a scheme to get rid of Brandon so that he can have her for himself. This scheme would involve the murder of the undercover narcotics detective that has been hassling his father's organization, and then setting up Brandon as the scapegoat. The plan goes off without a hitch, and Brandon is sent to prison for eight years for the crime. But when he learns the truth about what's happened to him and why, that's when he sets out to get revenge and save May.While we all know Brandon Lee's tragic story (he was killed while filming a scene of his last film, 1994's "The Crow"), "Legacy of Rage" definitely shows the talent the younger Lee inherited from his more-famous father. Brandon Lee may not have been as skilled a martial artist as his father (this is really debatable and a pointless argument, if you ask me), but he certainly may have been a stronger and more charismatic and charming actor. He certainly did not want to be remembered as a martial arts star like his father, but he did want to be remembered as an ACTOR. "Legacy of Rage" may not have much in the way of kung-fu action, but it does show that Lee was a strong and capable action hero, much like he would show in his later English-speaking features "Showdown in Little Tokyo" (1991), "Rapid Fire" (1992) and of course, "The Crow" - his last and most famous film.So "Legacy of Rage" is worth viewing maybe once or twice, as a worthy introduction to the skills of the extraordinarily talented Brandon Lee.6/10P.S.: Bolo Yeung (who appeared as a villain in Bruce Lee's last completed film "Enter the Dragon") also has a brief appearance here, as well.

Before I saw this, I thought Rapid Fire was Brandon Lee's first movie, but I like him more in this one than Rapid Fire. This movie shows that he really had talent. Michael Wong looks so young in this movie, and he's one good looking son of a gun. Regina Kent plays her usual role of bossy brat. Her career ended short like Brandon's.The movie is dubbed, and it's a so, so job. You can still tell that its a dub because the lip and the word doesn't match.Simple story, but it works, and is pretty good entertainment even after quarter century. One thing that's original about this movie is that each scene happens in a little bit different settings than you usually see, and each scene is beautiful.See it for the charisma of Brandon Lee, and unusual settings where thing happens.7.5/10

This was a great debut for Brandon Lee, it's action packed, with a very cool story and awesome performances. all the characters were great, and it had quite a few shocking moments, plus Michael Wong is extremely menacing as the main villain. The violence in this film is not pretty, and, the ending really pours it on, plus Brandon lee had good chemistry with all of the cast. It's exciting throughout, and the finale is full of gunfire, plus Brandon lee's dubbing was surprisingly not that bad at all!. They really don't make em like this no more, and the film is very stylish, plus the film pulls no punches. Yes it's a little predictable, however i still enjoyed it very much and Brandon Lee's presence clearly helped a lot, plus the prison scenes were really cool!. There isn't a lot of martial arts action however it's quite exciting, plus the ending was great. This was a great debut for Brandon Lee, it's action packed with a very cool story, and awesome performances, i highly recommend this one!. The Direction is very good. Ronny Yu does a very good job here, with great camera work, awesome angles keeping it stylish, and he kept the film at a very fast pace. There is TONS of blood and violence. We get a stabbing, lots of harsh bloody beatings,Hundreds of extremely bloody gunshot wounds,people spurt out blood all over the place throughout,eye bashed out,gory impaling and tons of blood!. The Acting is excellent!. Brandon lee is AMAZING as he always was, and was amazing here, he is extremely likable, witty, kicked that ass had good chemistry with the cast, and was just tons of fun to watch!, his dubbing wasn't too bad either(Brandon Ruled!). Bolo Yeung is good in his very short role, however his dubbing was terrible, and i didn't see enough of him sadly. (Bolo Rules). Regina Kent is good in her role, she was cute and had good chemistry with Brandon. Michael Wong is excellent as the main villain, he was extremely menacing and unpredictable. Rest of the cast are fine. Overall i highly recommend this one!. ***1/2 out of 5

I thought, how could a movie with Brandon Lee and Bolo Yeung possibly be boring. I expected very little plot substance, but at least one or two good fight scenes. Even the climatic fight scene was ho-hum.When Brandon Lee fights a bad guy in this movie, it is punch one or two punches and it is over. His fight against Bolo was just like that. Bolo goes for a punch Brandon punches twice and it is over, next bad guy please.The acting is weak at best. Probably not helped by horrendous dubbing. But even the facial expressions weren't that great (perhaps on par with other really bad Hong Kong Action movies) with anger looking more like shocked constipation.Definitely not worth the time.