Originally published August 12, 2023. Updated April 22, 2024.
Enter the Dragon, 1973.
Directed by Robert Clouse.
Starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Bob Wall, Shih Kien, and Jim Kelly.
SYNOPSIS:
Bruce Lee’s classic Enter the Dragon, released just a month after his death in 1973, arrives on 4K Ultra HD with a brilliant restored print and just a couple bonus features. However, the code for the digital copy unlocks a bunch of legacy extras; it’s just a bummer they weren’t found on a bonus Blu-ray.
I was born in 1970, so I experienced Bruce Lee’s movies after their theatrical runs, when muddy prints played on TV on Saturday afternoons. I’ll admit I didn’t think a lot of them at the time. It wasn’t until my adult years, when I saw the 1993 bio pic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, that I began to appreciate who he was and had a chance to reappraise his films.
Sadly, 1973’s Enter the Dragon was a capstone on his career, save for a couple films cobbled together from unfinished projects and released posthumously, when in reality it should have been a launching pad for bigger and better things. Bruce Lee could have been a major action movie star during the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s, and perhaps he would have provided a counterbalance to the Caucasian guys who dominated the genre at that time.
Like the rest of his movies, Enter the Dragon has a pretty basic plot, but the fun lies in watching Bruce Lee not only fight off dozens of adversaries but also play the role of a spy. His character is known simply as Lee, and he’s given a mission to infiltrate an island fortress where a criminal mastermind called Han (Shih Kien) plans to stage a martial arts tournament.
The other martial artists joining Lee on the island include Roper (John Saxon), who happily accepts Han’s invitation because he’s in deep with gambling debts, and Williams (Jim Kelly), who takes down a couple overly aggressive police officers and steals their squad car before leaving the country.
Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game in which Lee fends off various opponents during the day and sneaks around the island fortress at night, discovering a major drug operation as well as a large group of prisoners who end up playing a role in an all-out melee in act three. The finale features Lee squaring off against Han in a room full of mirrors, a sequence that is often regarded one of the best in any martial arts movie.
Enter the Dragon was released just months after Bruce Lee’s death and went on to huge success at the box office in Hong Kong, the United States, and other countries. Warner Bros.’ new 4K Ultra HD release of the film serves it up with stellar image quality. It’s certainly a far cry from those muddy, cropped standard-def prints I saw as a kid.
Warner Bros. has also included the original theatrical cut of the film as well as a Special Edition that originally debuted on DVD in 2004 with about three minutes of extra footage. According to an introduction by Bruce Lee’s widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, that’s the version he originally wanted fans to see. I don’t think the Special Edition is necessarily that much better than the theatrical, but with a three-minute difference in running time, I’m happy to watch the version Lee wanted the world to see.
Aside from that introduction, there’s only one other bonus feature on the disc, a legacy audio commentary by the film’s producer, Paul Heller, and its writer, Michael Allin. They’re not quite as warm in their remembrances as one might think, and their recollection of certain events is a little lacking, but they still impart enough information to make this a worthwhile listen.
Finally, there’s a code for a digital copy of the movie. In the past, I’ve often received review copies of discs ahead of the street date, and I often redeem the digital codes at that time. However, I’ve typically moved on to other things by the time the street date arrives, and I don’t usually check the digital copy again.
This time, for various reasons, I was a bit delayed getting this review done. I had redeemed the digital code ahead of the street date but checked the film in Movies Anywhere before and after, and, lo and behold, a bunch of legacy bonus features appeared the second time I looked.
So if you’re annoyed, like I am, at 4K Ultra HD releases like this one that don’t throw in a Blu-ray disc with the legacy extras, make sure you check the digital copy after the street date.
Of course, that raises the question of how to address those digital extras, since I’m technically reviewing the physical media. In this case, I’ll at least let you know what you can find when you redeem the code, especially since there’s a large amount of content there:
• The Curse of the Dragon (87 minutes): Narrated by George Takei of Star Trek fame, this is a look at Bruce Lee’s death, its aftermath, and the equally tragic fate that befell his son, Brandon, on the set of The Crow.
- No Way as Way (26 minutes): This is a look at Bruce Lee’s fighting philosophy through archival clips of him as well as thoughts from boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, George Takei, his widow, and others.
• The Tao of Wing Chun (20 minutes): A look at the brand of martial arts that helped Lee shape his philosophy.
• Return to Han’s Island (10 minutes): A tour of the shooting locations in Hong Kong.
• Blood and Steel: The Making of Enter the Dragon (30 minutes): This is a worthwhile companion to Curse of the Dragon that focuses specifically on this film.
• Bruce Lee: In His Own Words (19 minutes): A batch of old interview clips with him.
• Linda Lee Cadwell Interview Gallery (approx. 13 minutes): Various short clips ranging from less than a minute to two minutes. Why not just string them together into one bonus feature?
• Location: Hong Kong With Enter the Dragon (7 minutes): Another look at the on-location shooting in Hong Kong.
• Backyard Workout With Bruce (1 minute): A black-and-white home movie of Lee working out in his backyard.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
