Reviews

This would be a good popcorn flick if it didn't pretend to be a biopic. Instead, it takes Bruce Lee and makes him a one-dimensional Kobra Kai character. His rival serves somewhat as a foil to this, having more motivations and development early on. And while I don't doubt China Town had issues in this time period, the movie does use the White Savior trope to move the plot along. It is the self-centered white man who can see passed his own connection to his Chinese girlfriend who gets to be the hero and martyr for most of the movie. Lee and Wong at least seem to recognize that the problems go beyond one woman, and ramming heads doesn't solve that. Instead of addressing issues, this movie falls back on the idea that a fight fixes everything. If one fight doesn't, start another one. Protagonist McWhitebread has his shortsightedness vindicated when a mere request leads antagonists to shut down an entire brothel revenue stream over one multi-million dollar fight. The antagonist had no reason to go this extra mile or stay true to his word. This movie isn't about Bruce Lee's life. It's about how white America glorifies violence and laughs at the idea that self-discipline and helping others should be more important. I thought it would be vice versa, with Sifu Wong teaching Bruce Lee through both Wong's refusal to fight, and then his refusal to kill. Instead, the movie keeps going long enough that the poignancy of that is diluted. Lee's journey is relegated to a McGuffin serving to prove that in the end, a white man's anger and the glory of violence are more glamorous and important.