Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave

Rating:
Summary: A strangely enjoyable film with a grossly misleading title
Review: Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave - it's a great title for a movie, isn't it? Unless you're just slapping that title on the final product and opening the film with a shot of somebody jumping up out of the ground in front of a fake Bruce Lee tombstone, knowing full well that this movie hasn't the first thing to do with Bruce Lee and that it's all just a scheme for making more money by exploiting the name of the legend. Strangely enough, I don't even mind because I have some sort of obsession with Bruceploitation movies that compels me to watch and usually enjoy any of them I can get hold of. I do have a problem with the plot summary that usually comes attached to this film, however. I knew going in that the film had nothing to do with Bruce Lee, but those without such knowledge are told that Bruce comes back and fights the Black Angel of death in some sort of supernatural kung fu story. Folks, this doesn't happen - no Bruce Lee, no graves, no Black Angel of death. I can't even be sure of whom the star of this film is. The actor is billed as Bruce K.L. Lea but is often referred to as Bruce Le; Bruce Le happens to be my favorite Bruce clone, but I can't make the actor in this film look like the Bruce Le I have come to know in other movies.

I can't really list any good things about this film, yet for some reason I really enjoyed it. Our hero Wong Han comes to America to see his old friend and fellow kung fu teacher, only to learn that the guy just committed suicide. With no place to go, he bunks down in the school, only to be attacked by a great big axe-wielding black man; afterwards, he finds himself at the police station being berated for what he claims is self-defense. A mystery man bails him out, only to ask Wong to help him find a certain young lady. Wong refuses, but almost immediately he finds himself saving the girl in question from being raped; it turns out that she just happened to be his dead buddy's employee and only friend. Deborah Chaplin plays Susan, and I have to say that the lady is just gorgeous and mesmerizing. Wong's luck seems to be changing as Susan locks on to her new hero. Of course, bad things are afoot. Apparently, the Village People or a horrible facsimile thereof were involved in Wong's friend's demise, and these folks keep attacking and kidnapping Susan. Naturally, Wong has to fight them and find out the truth behind his friend's death. The plot jumps around like a cat walking on a bed of hot coals, but a surprise or two at the end does offer some proof that a plot of some sort actually did exist. The ending is quite a downer, I must say.

Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave is just weird. Wong carries around his friend's box of ashes (which sports a big photo of the guy on front) around his neck all over town, for one thing. The evil quintet of Village People wannabes is downright silly. The fights aren't bad at all, in my opinion, and there are a good many of them, but the strange relationship between Wong and Susan attracted most of my attention. Susan is thoroughly taken with Wong, basically locking on to him from the start; there seems to be a little romance on both sides eventually, but it sure isn't your typical kind of relationship. The weirdest thing of all about this film, though, is the fact that I enjoyed it as much as I did given the fact that the acting is sub-par, the dubbing is awful, and the plot is exceedingly thin in places.

Rating:
Summary: Kung Fu Crap at some of its best!
Review: I don't know what is wrong with most of the other reviewers here. Actually, I suppose I do know what is wrong: you couldn't figure out how to enjoy this movie. And that's your right, I guess, so whatever. But I totally loved it. Of course it is a low-budget, horribly-filmed, poorly acted, campy piece of 70's movie garbage. But if you aren't expecting that to begin with, then you are clearly daft. What else would you expect from a movie thus named?

However, low quality as it may be, for people who enjoy such movies, this is quite nice. I have seen rather a number of these kinds of horrible martial arts flicks, and I must say I generally get some kind of kick from them, whether it be the horrible dialogue, the strange dubbing, the astonishingly wild plot, or at least some good fighting. This film ranks right up there with "Clash of the Ninjas" and "Kung Fu Zombie" as one of my favorite. Why, you ask? Are you really interested in why?

This film features a laughably terrible transferal to DVD. Everything is wildly blurry. It was so bad that I thought I was actually watching it in a tiny theatre in the 70s. Contrary to most people's preference, I found this endearing. They could have maybe cleaned it up, but they chose to keep the feel of the original release there. It isn't like you really need it to not be blurry- most of the blur is just depth of field blur from the camera having too large an aperture in many shots.

But let's see... What else does this film offer. And mind you, I'm being serious with all of this.

One thing I really liked was the relationship between the star and the superbly attractive damsel. Feminists would hate this movie, because the female lead spends most of her time being caught or nearly killed while the hero- a man- keeps saving her tail. I don't care about everything being PC all the time, so I thought this was kind of funny and cute. I'd like to rescue some beautiful girl, too. But the way these two characters interact is quite bizarre, and I found it intriguing. She instantly likes this guy, but he is too focused on other matters at hand to pay any attention to her. This does eventually bite him in the end, though, and it is sad.

The plot of the movie is interesting for this type of genre where things are usually fairly cut and dry- set 'em up and knock 'em down. This story is a tale of betrayal, subterfuge, and manipulation that keeps going until the very end. The pacing of the movie keeps things flowing, as well- there are few lagging points in this story. And I also enjoyed the tone of the film, which was rather serious. It was a serious drama speckled with bits of kung fu fighting. And, while the acting and film quality maybe have been some of the very worst, I don't think this film would have the same feeling if these things were better. It would not have the same charm if it was all well acted- more than likely, this movie would just blend in with lots of other well-acted crap from the 70's. As it is, the recipe produces something not quite reproducible, and therefore, to me, unique.

The kung fu was also good, but that is not the main reason I watch these movies, paradoxically enough.

If you are going to spend your time trying to watch these types of movies, you might as well look for things to enjoy. Once you learn to look at them correctly, you will find the true and priceless value of their existence.

Cheers,

Gregory Scott

Rating:
Summary: WELL, THIS WAS A VERY UNPLEASANT WAY TO SPEND MY MONEY TODAY
Review: I JUST BOUGHT THIS TRASHY-A** MOVIE TODAY, AND I GOT DONE WATCHING IT JUST 30 MINUTES AGO. AND I'MA TELL YOU THIS, I WANT BACK THE 84 MINUTES THAT I WASTED ON THIS MOVIE! I COULD'VE BEEN DOING SOMETHING MUCH BETTER DURING THAT TIME! ANYWAY, HERE'S THE PLOT; A CHINESE MARTIAL ARTIST [BRUCE LEA] ARRIVES IN LOS ANGELES. SHORTLY AFTER HE ARRIVES, HE FINDS OUT THAT HIS FRIEND HAS DIED UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. THINKING IT WAS MURDER, HE SETS OUT TO FIND THE PEOPLE THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS FRIEND'S DEATH. ALL OF THE FIGHTS WERE BORING AND MINDLESS. AFTER WATCHING THIS MOVIE AND AFTER SEEING HOW BORING BRUCE LEA REALLY WAS IN THIS MOVIE, I NOW TEND TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT BRUCE LI. BRUCE LEA IS AS WORSE OF A KUNG FU STAR THAN BRUCE LI EVER WAS! AND TRUST ME, BRUCE LI HAD SOME VERY VERY BAD MOVIES OUT. BUT THIS, THIS IS JUST TOO STUPID FOR IT'S OWN GOOD. I USUALLY DON'T DO THIS, BUT SINCE I REALLY DON'T WANT ANYONE TO PICK UP THIS MOVIE, HERE'S A SPOILER; HIS FRIEND ACTUALLY FAKES HIS DEATH TO GET HIS HANDS ON SOME SERIOUS DRUG MONEY. HE APPEARS AT THE END OF THE MOVIE AND HE FIGHTS BRUCE LEA IN THE FINAL FIGHT. NOW THAT YOU KNOW THE END, YOU DON'T NEED TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID! BUT IF YOU STILL WANNA SEE THIS, I CAN'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!