The Legend of Bruce Lee   Starring: Chan Kwok Kwan and Mark Dacascos Revolver Entertainment RRP: £14.99 REVD2824 Certificate: 15 Available 09 January 2012

When a talent dies at the height of their power, immortality and a million biopics soon follow and so it was with Bruce Lee. Lee’s myth has grown over the years, finally spawning a fifty episode, big budget series. So, what do you think the chances are of condensing the series down to three hours without making it an almost unwatchable hash?

The Legend of Bruce Lee (2010 - 3 hrs, 2 min, 30 sec) is a strange affair. The film, if we can call it thus, given that it's excerpts from the television series strung together, not to any great or lasting effect, is poorly constructed and often poorly acted.

The dubbing is peculiar, given that the Mandarin dub does not match the actor’s mouth movements and because there is not an option for an English dub, why did they not just leave the thing in its original language with English subtitles is a mystery. The disc only has the option for English subtitles, it contains no extras.

The story has Danny Chan (Kung Fu Hustle) as Lee, who not only resembles him, but who is also an accomplished martial artist. The best bits of this mishmash are the well-choreographed fights. The film also features Mark Dacascos, Michael Jai White and Ray Park.

I never got to see the series, but this does little to honour Lee’s legend.

4

Charles Packer