Game of Death (1978)
** (out of 4)
Billy Lo (Bruce Lee) is a popular action star who is being forced by a mob ruler to sign with them. He refuses and has several attempts on his life so he stages his on-set murder so that he can find out who is behind all of it and seek revenge.
GAME OF DEATH is perhaps the most controversial kung fu movie ever released. In case you don't know, Lee started filming this movie in 1972 but put it on the back burner to go film ENTER THE DRAGON. Before he could finish GAME OF DEATH he died and the footage pretty much remained unreleased until the producer decided to try and build a movie around it. What you have is GAME OF DEATH being released in 1978 with the footage of Lee surrounded by actors filling in for him.
I can certainly understand the hatred that some people have for this movie and I can understand why some don't consider it a real Bruce Lee movie. At the same time, there is actual footage of him used here and it's quite excellent so it's somewhat hard not to recommend the movie even if the producers were obviously trying to make a cash grab with what they did. There's no question that there are some embarrassing moments here that put this closer in the category of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE rather than THE CROW.
The biggest problem with this film is that they simply don't have too much of a movie. There's maybe twenty-five or so minutes of Lee footage here and the rest is done by an actor who doesn't look anything like him and more times than not he's wearing glasses or even a beard. Trying to cover up the fact that this isn't Lee just makes the film look really cheap and it's so poorly done that you can't help but laugh at it. I'd also argue that all of the new footage just doesn't contain anything interesting in it. Heck, Chuck Norris gets a credit and appears less than a minute worth of running time.
As far as what makes the film worth watching, it's certainly the footage of Lee, which takes up the ending here. This includes some terrific fight sequences and it's hard not to recommend the movie based on these scenes alone. Lee, decked out in that now legendary yellow outfit, does a great job during the fighting sequences and especially his big battle against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This entire sequence is wonderful to watch as are the other fights. How can a Lee fan not be thrilled by these scenes?
GAME OF DEATH is exploitation at its highest power but the ending is just so great and so thrilling that the film is still worth watching.
