DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY dares to be corny and gets away with it, thanks to sensitive scripting and direction, cleverly staged kung-fu sequences (fight co-ordinator John Cheung has worked with Hong Kong martial arts star Jackie Chan), and an inspirational performance by Jason Scott
Lee. (No relation to Bruce; in fact, Bruce Lee's son, Brandon, was accidentally killed during production of THE CROW just a few weeks before DRAGON was released.)
DRAGON traces Lee's life from his Hong Kong childhood to international success and early, mysterious death. Born in San Francisco while his father, an actor, was on tour, Bruce returns as a young man. He works as a dishwasher/delivery boy, goes to college and begins giving kung-fu lessons
leavened with philosophy. At the urging of his beautiful, white girlfriend Linda (Lauren Holly)--they date despite widespread disapproval--he opens a kung-fu school. They marry, and Bruce is cast as sidekick Kato in "The Green Hornet," but he moves his family to Hong Kong after he's passed over in
favor of white actor David Carradine for "Kung Fu," which he helped develop as a starring vehicle for himself. With ENTER THE DRAGON, a Hollywood picture to be shot in Hong Kong, Bruce is poised for international success, but fate intervenes.
Director/co-screenwriter Rob Cohen shrewdly opts for a three-tiered approach to the biographical material, making DRAGON a poignant interracial love story, a thrilling kung-fu flick, and a surreal fantasy in the which the hero literally confronts his inner demons. Jason Scott Lee captures his
subject perfectly, and his handling of the action scenes is particularly impressive. The result is one of the most purely enjoyable American films in recent years.
