If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Born in America, Bruce Lee (Jason Scott Lee) grew up in Hong Kong with his father. After a fight with western soldiers, his father sends him away to study in American. His father warns him of the demon that haunts the male children of the family. In 1962, he is washing dishes in San Francisco. After a fight with the kitchen staff, he's fired. After a fight with a bunch of jocks, he's asked to teach them how to fight. Linda (Lauren Holly) becomes one of his students. They start dating despite the discrimination and the disapproval. Opening his own school, he is challenged to a fight for teaching to non-Chinese. He is blindsided and severely injured. Later TV producer Bill Krieger (Robert Wagner) brings him in to play Green Hornet's sidekick Kato which leads to his eventual stardom.This is a fine biopic that is turned into a kung fu movie. Bruce Lee's story is quite effective. The rougher parts of his life is glossed over as his widowed wife Linda probably had a large say in the movie. I would like to have seen his life turn into more of a fantasy. The part of him fighting his demon could be used to much better effect. The demon is his greatest fight and provides a great opportunity. Nevertheless this is a very compelling biopic with a solid performance from Jason Scott Lee.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is directed by Rob Cohen who also co-adapts the screenplay with John Raffo and Edward Khmara. It stars Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, Robert Wagner and Michael Learned. Music is by Randy Edelman and cinematography by David Eggby.Based on Bruce Lee: The Man I Only Knew by Linda Lee Caldwell (Bruce Lee's widow), "Dragon" is more tribute movie than biography. A big success on release, it's a film that still causes some consternation with a number of Bruce Lee fans. The reasoning is because in true Hollywood style it tinkers with facts, misses out other notable points and has some time line issues. Yet if you can accept it as a "painted always in a positive light" homage piece more than a definitive biography? Then you find the essence of the man and his short life is there in glorious splendour.In many ways it's an inspiring tale of a complex man, while it also plays out as a wonderful love story between two people of a different race making it work at a time when such a thing was frowned upon by the ignorant. Lee's skills as an artist and a human being are firmly portrayed, with Jason Scott Lee (no relation) proving to be admirable in his depiction of such. The fights are very well choreographed and perfectly OTT, but crucially they do not come at a cost to the story, it's the narrative that shines through even as the action appeases the action hungry hoards. While rightly there's iconography unbound, naturally.The production value is high as regards quality of colour photography, set and costume design and recreations of famous moments. Edelman's score is a heart swelling and heroic scorcher that avoids over dosing on Oriental strains, Cohen moves it along at a nice clip and Holly is fabulous in her sympathetic portrayal of Bruce's wife. It's not all perfect, though. Away from the issues the hard core Lee fans have, the Demon that haunts the Lee family dreams is more funny than scary and the finale feels rushed and not dramatically fulfilling. It's fair that Lee's wife voices over the end and tells us it's about celebrating his life, but his death remains a key issue and skipping over it is a mistake.In the year of the film's release, the Lee's first child, Brandon, would be killed whilst filming The Crow, aged 28. Thus as Linda Lee Caldwell helped craft a film about a husband who died aged just 32, she lost her son. There is added poignancy in that, it's something that undeniably makes Dragon even more of a moving experience, but rest assured, as a film tribute to Bruce Lee, it earns every one of its emotional and thoughtful beats. 8/10

Lost track of how many times I have seen this movie. A multitude of times growing up and is still one of my favorites.Jason Scott Lee does an amazing job of portraying Bruce Lee. An epic tail, great story, the hardships, and love, making this a great all around film.Being an Asian male born and raised in the western world may be one of the reasons I have a certain connection to the film more than others but I can't see why others wouldn't be able to relate.None the less, this movie has given me lots of inspiration, and recommend this film for anyone else who is seeking some great vision or just wondering who Bruce Lee was; because this film does an excellent job of displaying his life.

Dragon is a semi-fictionalized bio-pic of Bruce Lee, the most famous martial artist and one of the most famous film stars of all time. It tells the story of Lee's youth in Hong Kong, before going to America where he is a dishwisher, goes to university, meets his wife Linda, sets up a successful school, writes his book on the philosophy of material arts and becomes a successful actor in Hong Kong before dying at the age of 32.This film is based on Linda Lee's book and she was involved with the production, but this film does have a artistic license with the events of Lee's life, especially of the inner demons he has to fight and some of the fight that Lee fought.This is the only Hollywood film that I am aware of that looks at the life of Bruce Lee. As well as the fight scene which were done with relish, the film goes deeper then that. There is the obviously love story between Bruce and Linda, there is the philosophy of Bruce Lee and his style of material arts which he developed and there is the fact that Bruce Lee had to battle against racism in America and the politics of the film industry. There were moments of comedy as well, which were decent for a small laugh.Jason Scott Lee (no relation) and Lauren Holly both offer good performances in this film, but I think Rob Cohen, the director of later hits the Fast and Furious, xXx (terrible film) and the Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor, did his best work with this film. He shows that he could easily direct fight scenes and able that he could balance it out with personal drama.If you are interested in Bruce Lee or material arts this film is worth a look.