Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."

Director

Rob Cohen

Cast

Jason Scott Lee - Bruce Lee

Lauren Holly - Linda Lee

Robert Wagner - Bill Krieger

Luoyong Wang - Yip Man

Ric Young - Lee Hoi-chuen

Sterling Macer - Jerome Sprout



Martial arts expert and actor Bruce Lee died in 1973 at the young age of 32. The circumstances behind Lee's death is a topic still discussed especially among fans and students. 
The 1993 biopic "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story," based on the book "Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew" by Lee's wife Linda Lee Cadwell, alludes that his death was mysterious. It has become a bit of an urban legend. 
Firstly, as far as biopics go, I've mentioned before on this blog that they generally seem easier to get involved in when they focus on one aspect of a subject's life rather than cover their entire lifespan in two-hours, give or take. While watching someone's whole life depicted on film has the potential to be  entertaining, it can easily miss the mark of showing audiences why the subject is worthy of a biographical movie in the first place. Or the multiple life events depicted might delude that specific point. It could also be breezed over because of time restraint. I suppose it all depends on the subject, what their life was like, and who's writing the movie. 
"Dragon" focuses mainly on Lee's adult life. 
The story begins as Lee's father, Lee Hoi-chuen (Ric Young), a former Cantonese opera singer and actor, awakens from a dream in which a demon pursues his son Bruce. 
His father enrolls young Lee into Chinese martial arts under the instruction of Yip Man (Luoyong Wang). When Bruce (Jason Scott Lee - no relation to Bruce) is a young adult, Lee Hoi-chuen insists he must leave Hong Kong and head back to America. Part of this is due to the demon that torments the Lee family. 

Luckily, having been born in San Francisco as his father often performed operas in the city, Lee has an American birth certificate which will allow him back in the U.S. 
This rags-to-riches biography follows Lee's early days in the Bay Area working a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant, going to college, meeting his wife Linda (Lauren Holly), teaching martial arts to anyone who wants to learn regardless of race and background, becoming a father, and opening a Jeet Kune Do Martial Arts Institute in Oakland. 
We follow Lee's rise to fame beginning with his role as Kato on the television series "The Green Hornet."
Soon after, Lee finds he's very popular back in Hong Kong where producers want him to star in martial arts movies.
He takes on his first major lead role in "The Big Boss." 

"Dragon" concludes as Lee is wrapping up filming on his first Hollywood motion picture "Enter the Dragon." 
The goal of the movie is to portray Bruce Lee the person rather than the celebrity. 

Jason Scott Lee as Bruce Lee,
filming a scene for "Enter the Dragon."

The human side of Lee is spontaneous, humorous, and loves life. He's also deep, contemplative, scholarly, and extremely talented. Outside of his fame and notoriety, these qualities are captured well in the film thanks to Jason Scott Lee's performance.
The racism Lee encounters in his time spent in the Bay Area is heavy-handed. It seems everyone he encounters living in the Bay Area is racist. Lee's fellow students at the university are racist. Hollywood producers are racist. (that part is believable.) The maître d' at a random restaurant is racist. Even some in the Chinese community are portrayed as racist. I'm sure Lee sadly encountered prejudice and racism as his career grew. 
At the same time, Lee doesn't let these despicable attitudes hinder him. In one scene, he claims "emotion can be the enemy." 
Even in the 1960s and 1970s, the Bay Area's population consisted of a variety of individuals from different parts of the world. And they were intermingled. I grew up in Oakland from the 1980s through the early 2000s. The rampant racism portrayed as existing in the Bay Area is laid on thick - perhaps too thick.
In the final act of the film, he has an argument with Linda who wants to move out of Hong Kong and back to the States with their children, and she wants Lee to go back with them. Lee gets angry and yells at her claiming opportunity in America is for white people only while Asians are publicly mocked. 
"Here I am somebody, I'm special," Lee says. "Back there, I'm just another two-bit, know-nothing dishwasher from a fishy-stinking restaurant." But by this time, Lee has gained considerable fame and appreciation in the states.
When it comes to the demon pursuing Lee and his family, from what I've previously read there's no evidence to suggest that he had reoccurring hallucinations or dreams of a demon.
However, the Lee's before him believed their family was cursed. His father suffered the loss of his first born son. He even dressed young Bruce as a girl during the initial years of his life in an attempt to fool this demon believed to be tormenting the family. 
The demon is an integral sub-plot in the film. But it becomes a little confusing after one scene in which adult Lee goes to visit his martial arts teacher, Yip Man, while he's working in Hong Kong. He tells his teacher about the demon he keeps seeing.
"We all have inner demons to fight," Yip Man says. "We call these demons 'fear', and 'hatred', and 'anger'. If you don't conquer them, then a life of a hundred years is a tragedy. If you do, a life of a single day can be a triumph."

While filming a scene for "Enter the Dragon" Lee is confronted by the demon one last time. The demon sees Lee's son, Brandon and attempts to go after him instead. This leads to a fight between it and Lee, where Lee comes out victorious.

But, the movie suggests that this demon was the cause of Lee's death. The closing scene has a voice over from Linda telling the audience that  Lee died days before "Enter the Dragon" was released after falling into a "mysterious coma."

"There are many people that want to know the way he died, I want to remember the way he lived," she says.

Various sources point to cerebral edema as the cause of Lee's death as he often suffered from headaches near the end of his life. 

The website www.historyvshollywood.com claims Lee's alleged mistress, Betty Ting Pei, gave him a painkiller for a headache which may have led to an adverse reaction that ultimately led to his death.

Incidentally, Bruce's son, Brandon, died 37 days before the release of "Dragon." 

Like his father, he also died young at the age of 28.

Is it supposed to be left to the audience to determine how Lee died? This part of the movie feels muddled. 
Nevertheless, "Dragon" balances between a martial arts movie on one side, and a biographical depiction on the other. The fighting scenes are well choreographed and entertaining to watch. 

Jason Scott Lee and Lauren Holly.

What's not mentioned in the film is that Lee's first movie appearance is the 1941 film "The Golden Gate Girl." He was three-months old at the time. Since then, he's appeared in 21 films. 
The movie's soundtrack, though, is repetitive. Every time something successful happens, the same triumph tune plays. By the final act, it's almost laughable. 
Overall, the movie is entertaining and intriguing, despite the inaccuracies it contains.

While Lee suffers from various situations that nearly ruin him, including a severe back injury and the racism of those who cross his path, he still comes out with worldwide success. Any anger or hatred he carried with him isn't depicted much save for a few instances of yelling and self-pity. 

"Dragon" aims to pay reference and respect to Lee. It pretty much accomplishes that goal, while giving the audience insight into the person, Bruce Lee.