Young Bruce Lee

This is a good film and one that I did enjoy but I must say that it's not what I expected. After seeing the trailer and checking out the synopsis, my expectations were that this would be a film tracing Bruce Lee's early life, his journey to stardom and his martial arts. What you get is the first two but this film is severely lacking in the martial arts.It misses huge chunks of his martial arts development and while there are a couple of fights you will no doubt be disappointed. The characters even allude to Bruce Lee's fighting skills but we just don't get to see him actually develop and train. It's like there is a huge gap in the narrative.I feel I must also give Cine Asia a slap on the wrist. They usually do a great job with these movies, but the case sleeve features 7 images, 6 of which are depicting fight scenes, which is very misleading. The copy on the back is even worse; I quote "Showcasing an incredible hi-impact tribute to the celebrated Coliseum fight from Way of the Dragon, Young Bruce Lee is an inspirational motion picture event that is not to be missed!" Don't believe this for an instant.However, despite my criticism, I still feel that this is a very good film with some good performances and cinematography. It's narrated by and based on the book by Bruce's younger, Robert Lee, who gives a touching tribute to his brother. Just beware this film is more about Bruce Lee the man, than Bruce Lee the legend.

Cine Asia:From his birth on November 27th 1940 to his departure for San Francisco in 1959, discover how Bruce Lee lived through war and persecution and survived the brutal street-gangs of 1950's Hong Kong before going on to live his dreams.Produced by Robert Lee, Bruce Lee's younger brother, and based on his own first-hand experience, Young Bruce Lee is a breathtaking and evocative homage to the man who, uniquely, brought the power and majesty of Chinese Kung Fu to millions around the world.Showcasing an incredible hi-impact tribute to the celebrated Coliseum fight from Way of the Dragon, Young Bruce Lee is an inspirational motion picture event that is not to be missed!Bruce Lee never goes out of style. As an adult he only made a few films, but he made a huge impression on worldwide audiences and brought Hong Kong cinema into the larger world's consciousness. There has been no shortage of films seeking to capitalize on his iconic image, from the original glut of Brucesploitation films in the 70's and 80's, all the way through to biographical features over the years which only tenuously resemble the truth. However, while Hollywood tackled the artist as a young adult in America with Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, no one had really focused on where the man came from. His youth has been an untapped resource for understanding the phenomenon that was Bruce Lee, until now.Young Bruce Lee (AKA Bruce Lee, My Brother) is an attempt to show where Bruce came from. The story comes from his younger brother Robert, and while it is certainly a pretty glowing account, it does have quite a bit of backstory on Bruce and his family relationships that has not really been explored on screen.The film follows Bruce from birth through his time as a child star in Hong Kong cinema and ultimately to his forced exile to the USA as a young adult. A lot happened along the way, and Bruce wasn't always the tough guy we saw on screen.Critical response to the film has been rather tepid as it relates to the film's thematic content, with our James Marsh commenting that,BRUCE LEE, MY BROTHER is little more than an ornately decorated vessel - that looks great, sounds great, yet contains almost nothing of real interest.I can't help but agree with this statement. The film never really finds a narrative flow, there is little discernible plot and the seems to merely be a series of vignettes of Bruce's young life. It doesn't really succeed in being engaging in the way it should, the vignettes prove that there is ample material and good feeling surrounding a project like this that it should have been better. However, it never really gels.On the other hand, the film is technically superb. The cinematography is absolutely top-notch and stylistically very forward. The entire film looks as though it was shot on a sound stage, but in a very interesting and endearing way. Even the outdoor scenes are lit as though they are modeling product shots, which could be annoying, but the way it is done is simply breathtaking. All of this stylistic license helps to create an aura around Bruce that foreshadows his ultimate position among the Gods of Asian cinema, and for every moment I was left bored by the story telling, I was awed by the visuals twice as long.Overall, Young Bruce Lee is a mediocre film that was shot beautifully and is well-worth watching if only for the technical achievement that it is.[...]

This is not a martial arts film. It is a dramatised biography of Bruce Lee's life. That does not mean it is a bad film. There were times I was laughing out loud to bits of the film that were just on the right side of silly to be funny and not stupid.The film starts hours before Bruce's birth, and end with him leaving for America. The concentrate on his family life, and his frendships. I do like the way the take pictures through out the film, and then swap them for original pictures supplied to them. The show Bruce as a little tear away earning his reputation on the streets, but they do not show him actually fighting. Only probobly 15 mins of the film is dedicated to Bruce training or actually fighting. One thing I did think they got wrong was they did not show Bruce celebral enough. The reason Bruce was such a great martial artist was not just physical. It was the speed with read an opponent and counter them. He would outthink and trap opponents by being 10 moves ahead of them. It was the fact that he was always thinking philosophically that allows him to see beyond form based martial arts to create Jeet Kun Do. In the film they seemed to down play his intelligence.This is an enjoyable portrait of Bruce Lee's early years. His friends, family and experiences growing up. However if you are expecting a fight fest try not to be disappointed and enjoy the film for what it is.