ENTER THE DRAGON V. GAME OF DEATH- WHO WILL PREVAIL?
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! In this corner, we have Bruce Lee, against, well, Bruce Lee (sort of). In this preview, we will examine Enter the Dragon vs. Game of Death. Click the links for in-depth reviews (spoiler free) of Enter the Dragon and Game of Death. Just as a note, while both films technically “star” Bruce Lee (who gets first billing) Game of Death was released some five years after his death, and uses a number of stand-ins throughout the film.
In this matchup we have the last two films of the immortal Bruce Lee, and some would argue, his two most popular, at least with Western audiences. While both films have a certain crime-fighting element to them, each film takes a radically different approach.
The Fighting
Enter the Dragon sets its crime-fighting protagonist undercover into a tournament style role. As such this will probably appeal more to viewers who enjoy more of the one-on-one tournament style fighting, a la Bloodsport or Best of the Best. I find that these fight scenes tend to be more extensive, as opposed to the ten-on-one single punch knockout style fights. But don’t despair, these multi-opponent type of fight scenes also appear throughout the film. Nonetheless, most of the truly great fight scenes in this film are the one-on-one tournament fights.
Game of Death, on the other hand, is more of a pure revenge based film where our hero goes against a crime-syndicate on their home turf. Although not a tournament style film, there are a number of one-on-one style fights, one of the most famous ones being Bruce Lee against his then student Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. However, this film features many more of the multi-opponent style fights, which are enjoyable in their own right. Whichever style of action-fighting the viewer prefers, both serve up some great examples of each.
Other Film Elements
As for general plot and character development, there were obvious limitations in Game of Death. The filmmakers had to use a number of stand-ins for Bruce Lee and, understandably, tried not to draw too much focus to this fact. Nonetheless, both films are generally engaging enough outside of the fight sequences to make them an enjoyable watch, although no one would expect them to win any Academy Awards. As a side note, Enter the Dragon has some of Lee’s most iconic quotes contained within.
How We Remember Them
As for legacy, as with any Bruce Lee movie, there is “legacy” in spades. As mentioned above, Enter the Dragon is replete with some of Lee’s most famous quotes relating to his philosophies, not the least of which is his demonstration of the art of “fighting without fighting.” On the other hand, we can thank Game of Death for perhaps Lee’s most iconic costume. Even twenty-five years on, one can still see tributes to the yellow-and-black jumpsuit, i.e. Uma Thurman’s character in Kill Bill Vol. 1. Each of these films certainly has something going for it, and now it’s up to you to decide which one moves on to the next round!
What do you think about this matchup of Bruce vs. Bruce? Let me know in the comments section below!
Enter the Dragon Vs. Game of Death (1978)?
- Enter the Dragon (100%, 10 Votes)
- Game of Death (1978) (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 10
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