Way Of The Dragon [dvd] [2008]

The master of Kung-fu and originator of Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Fist) tries his hand at making his own martial arts masterpiece. Bruce Lee wrote and directed this film, as well as stars as Tang Lung, a student of 'Chinese Boxing' in Hong Kong. Tang travels to Rome, Italy to help out a friend's family who has opened a restaurant there. The family has been harassed by the local crime boss and his underlings, who threaten to destroy the restaurant if they don't sell it to the mafia. Tang helps out by training the restaurateur's five sons in the ways of 'Chinese Boxing' to fend off the thugs, and when the crime boss actually shows up, throws himself into the fight. The boss later enlists the aid of a Japanese, a European, and an American karate master to deal with Tang and the boys, which leads to a final showdown between Tang and the American master (played by none other than a young Chuck Norris!).Needless to say, there's not a lot of plot here. This is mostly a Westernized version of any episode of "Kung-Fu Theater", with some attractive sights of surrounding Rome thrown in. Bruce didn't necessarily do a bad job with this film, but he wasn't exactly a master storyteller, either. The biggest draw for me, personally, was seeing Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris, and was what made me want to buy the DVD. Don't get me wrong; Bruce does kick some major ... in this one, and shows off quite a bit of his legendary martial arts and weapons skills, particularly with the nunchaku. There is a little bit of comedy in this one as well (the dubbing alone was comedy enough for me), and a little plot twist near the end, though that does little more than warrant a few head-scratchings. The final fight between Lee and Norris is...well, decent, taking place in the Roman Colisseum, but it could've been a bit better. Seeing the two warm up before the fight ups the anticipation meter a little and shows off some of Chuck's skill, too. As far as DVD extras, there aren't any, but since this is an older film (and not a well-known one), I'll let that slide.Yeah, it's no "Crouching Tiger" by any stretch, but as a straight-up,...kung-fu flick, it does the job well enough. Hey, it's Bruce Lee, after all, and fans of his should get their money's worth. Just try not to take it too seriously...

Greatest action movie ever. Bruce Lee is lightning fast. Love this movie

No issues with

Why does the video keep messing up? It keeps freezing or cutting off the best part of the movie!

Quality is low

Perfect!!! Thank you so much!!! =)

Just what I was looking for

good movie arrived on time and in great condition

Story: Tang (Bruce Lee) has just arrived in Rome, but he isn’t on a holiday, instead he has come to help his cousins in the family business. A restaurant run by his family is doing well and making profits, but they’ve attracted the attention of an organized crime syndicate. The mobsters want to take over the business and property for their own empire, but Tang’s family is trying to hold their ground. Since Tang is a martial arts expert, he plans to not only defend the business himself if he needs to but to also train his cousins to stand up to the criminals. But even with his immense skills in battle and his dedication to his family, can Tang and his cousins fend off an entire crew of professional crooks?Entertainment Value: This time around, Bruce Lee serves as writer and director, in addition to being the star of course and his presence in the creative elements is obvious. This movie has a different feel than The Big Boss or Fist of Fury, with more realistic martial arts fights, a shift in location to Europe, and an enhanced sense of humor. The dialed up humor is a positive, as Lee has a good feel for comedy on both sides of the camera, so even when the fight scenes get a tinge of humor, it works so well. The fight scenes aren’t as over the top as some in his previous films, but rest assured, they’re action packed and still get wild. Bruce brings out the nunchakus and does serious damage, while he also has a showdown with Chuck Norris. This epic sequence has the two battle it out in an extended fashion with some brutal strikes and both men really bring out the big guns to make sure it is a memorable scene. Also of note is the little kitten who shares the screen with these action icons during their clash, as the tiny feline certainly steals the show when on screen. The story is competent, the martial arts are fantastic, and Bruce Lee is, well, Bruce Lee, so The Way of the Dragon earns a high recommendation.As I said above, you can tell there is a shift in this movie with Bruce Lee working as the writer and director, as well as the lead. He embraces the sense of humor we had seen flashes of, making it more prominent and letting himself explore more on that front. I love that he isn’t afraid to laugh at himself either, often making himself the butt of a joke, always with a big smile. A few of the action scenes even show some humor and while it might sound out of place, it works. As an actor, Bruce is great fun to watch in The Way of the Dragon and shows more of his charm than before, likely because he was able to show personality with his increase creative control. He thrives in the martial arts scenes and is peak form here, while his showdown with Chuck Norris is one for the martial arts cinema hall of fame. The cast also includes Tony Liu, Nora Miao, Robert Baker, and Robert Wall.

I have always thought Return of the Dragon was so-so compared with Lee's other four major movies ever since it's release way back when. Not anymore. Not after seeing this Blu Ray. Now it's 2nd right behind Enter the Dragon. See, back in the day I couldn't get past the goofball kiai's of Lee's character due to the English dubbing. I watched this movie in Mandarin (with English subtitles) and Tang Lung sounds EXACTLY like Lee in Enter the Dragon! His kiai adds to the effect of power in each blow he gives the bad guys. I highly recommend watching this flick as well as Fists of Fury and Chinese Connection in Mandarin language to hear the real Bruce Lee's battle cries when he's in action.

Shout Factory does it again. Their release of this classic movie on blu-ray didn't disappoint. As with their Chinese Connection blu-ray release I purchased, the video and audio quality for this one was really good. I had a blast revisiting this classic Bruce Lee movie in HD. The disc features a nice set of bonus content for your viewing pleasure. This is the must see version of this amazing movie. It's worth every penny. What are you waiting for? Go buy this movie right now!

From a pure martial arts standpoint, this is the best of Bruce Lee's films.In his other films, while some of his opponents were martial arts practitioners (like Jackie Chang and Sammo Hung) I'm pretty sure most of his fight scenes were done with stuntmen or actors learning the moves for the movie. This limited Bruce's ability to truly show off his skill. The problem is you can't really see that by watching one of those movies because the skill level of the participants is the same throughout each of them.Way of the Dragon is different. Watch very closely at the fight scenes in the beginning of the movie. When Tang Lung and his friends fight the gang members, the pace is slow, the movements aren't as crisp. You can see Bruce is fighting actors and stuntmen.Then compare that to the final two fight scenes. Hwang In-Shik, Bob Wall and Chuck Norris are real martial artists. They didn't start their careers as actors who then learned martial arts. They began their careers as martial artists and became actors later. The difference it makes in the fight scenes is stark.The speed increases 100 fold. You can tell there are times they are actually hitting each other. Their movements are crisp, concise and most importantly, Bruce doesn't have to hold back. This is when you really see just how good Bruce Lee's martial arts really was. It wasn't just his speed, it was his 'preciseness'. In karate we call it 'focus'. All that speed and velocity is focused to a small point to achieve power. Norris, Wall and Hwan as martial artists themselves understood that and brought that same dynamic to the fight scenes as well.There was only one other movie Bruce Lee did that showed this. And only for a brief moment. When he fights Bob Wall in Enter the Dragon, his first three strikes to Bob Walls face are simply exquisite. I'm not sure anyone but other martial artists can truly appreciate how perfectly executed those simple punches were or the skill it takes to do it. And I believe only another martial artist, like Bob Wall, could have done that scene with him.So the next time you watch this movie, try and notice the difference. Take the first fight scene then skip to the last two. I think you will have a better understanding then of just how insanely good Bruce Lee was.

This is probably my favorite of Bruce Lee's movies. It's a shame that his untimely death prevented him from creating a larger body of work. I expect most people looking at this item are already familiar with his films and I'm sure other people will provide synopses in their reviews. So I will just adjust the quality of the disc itself. In short, it is excellent. The image quality is great and the supplemental materials are very interesting. Shout has done their usual excellent job. The Shout Select series is one of my favorite ongoing collections.

I purchased this movie for my son so he typed up the following review;I was extremely excited after getting this as a present. I'm quite pleased with this movie. Bruce Lee has a certain it factor that draws your attention to him every time he's on screen. Every fight he is involved in is pure entertainment. This is of course capped off by his legendary showdown with Chuck Norris. That moment is a memorable one for fans of martial arts movies. The scene where Bruce Lee used a set of nunchaku against a group of thugs was also a personal favorite of mine. If you're a Bruce Lee fan this movie is highly recommended.

More than any other single man, Bruce Lee brought appreciation for martial arts into the consciousness of the West via cinema. There was intense interest in it for many years after his untimely passing, with the torch probably being carried most visibly by Mr. Norris. I was a little surprised by how silly this movie was in places, but even those parts were entertaining to me because of the charisma of Lee (you've got to love his insulting dismissal of opponents by merely shaking his head or his finger "NO" LOL...). Thin plot aside, the real reason to watch any Bruce Lee movie is for the action, and this one does not disappoint. More than just a martial artist and movie star, Lee was also a philosopher and all-around fascinating human being (check out the book Bruce Lee - Artist of Life). He was extraordinarily well physically toned and mentally focused, and as he once said, you should "be like water" and adapt to your situation, whatever it may be. His graceful, fluid movements were the result of intense training, but he made it appear totally natural and effortless.The overall plot has already been discussed elsewhere here, but in the end, the baddies tire of losing every confrontation and resort to flying Chuck Norris to Italy to eliminate the pesky Bruce Lee do-gooder character. The epic end battle is, appropriately enough, staged at the immortal Roman Colosseum. It is the highlight of the movie and must be one of the best fight scenes either of them ever did (and I believe the only time Chuck was both the bad guy and was defeated). This is a legendary scene and is the kind that inspired movies and video games of the '80s and beyond. I've always noticed how incredibly rigid Chuck's posture was while fighting, with an upright torso and abdominal muscles that were doubtlessly highly conditioned, although he didn't have the rippling muscle definition of the hyperactive Lee. By contrast, Lee's style of was fluid and graceful, almost catlike, with Norris being more of a pale, hairy ogre of great strength and discipline.This movie and one of Chuck's earliest and best starring roles in A Force of One (another epic battle, this time vs kick boxing champion Bill "Superfoot" Wallace") are the two best places to see Norris as more of a true martial artist fighting another great martial artist rather than just being an actor. It's a shame to think of the great movies we missed as a result of losing Lee so early....I have to think he would have been in others with Chuck at some point.....

As with all the Bruce Lee movies I've seen, the dubbing is absolutely awful, but I try to ignore that part of it. It's the action I'm looking for. I definitely like this movie. And it's fun to watch a young up-start Chuck Norris trying to compete with veteran Bruce Lee. I would definitely watch it again.

This film was written, produced and directed by Bruce Lee himself, forget the plot the duel to the death scene with Chuck Norris is # 1 on the Lee's movie fight scenes. One can see there are many Hollywood touches in the film since Lee have been acting in Hollywood since the mid 1960's and certainly have learn from the experience. There you have 2 marital art champs at their prime - what more can you ask. One can only wish Lee would have lived longer to make more films (sigh...).

Return of the Dragon is the American version of Way of the Dragon, it was a great movie, so when I purchased Way of the Dragon, I was surprised at the difference. "Way", explains a lot of the scenes that were cut from "Return", and the music is better. The movie has been digitally cleaned up, so the look of the film is great. The only criticism is that this version doesn't have a Cantonese track so that you can here Bruce's own voice, but perhaps in a future edition.

I have always liked Chinese Connection a little more than this movie, but Return of the Dragon takes second best for me because of one reason, the epic battle between Bruce and Chuck. It was a fight scene for the ages. The movie is worth owning just for the fight, even if you are not a Bruce Lee fan. Although, the karate rivalry in the story was pretty cool too.

Bruce Lee never reached his prime in film making; dying before his time. The Way of the Dragon, is a loosely put together story, with fight scenes used as glue along the way. This film was out of stock for years, but this re-mastered version is worth the wait; being much clearer in both audio and video. The tour of the City of Rome Italy is beautiful. But I must admit, the face-off fight between Chuck Norris and Bruce is classic. This is the main reason to get this film. It shows how adaptable Lee's Jeet Kune Do fighting style was. Bruce used Mohammad Ali like foot work and feinting to wear down his opponent, then attacked with his lightening speed and power. This is a must have for all Martial Arts fans.