The Bruce Lee On Blu-ray Thread

[Ian Jane]

Non-boxed set Bruce Lee discs coming from Arrow.

[Ian Jane]

The chance to catch "Enter the Dragon" on the big screen had me pretty stoked. But I couldn't shake the feeling that while I totally dig the film, it wasn't exactly at the top of my "must-see in theaters" list. Mind you, this makes it the fourth time I've watched it in four years – not that I didn't want to watch it again. It's just that if I had a choice, I'd have gone for older sci-fi flicks or some classic comedies. But much to my surprise, the experience was way more awesome than I thought it'd be. Blown away, actually. The combo of the theater vibe and a new 4K UHD release seriously amped up my enjoyment. First off, let's talk sound – Enter the Dragon's groovy soundtrack has always been a favorite, but blasting through those theater speakers kicked it up several notches. And yeah, I usually catch this flick with my boys, so I know I was fully invested during earlier views. I can say with confidence I was not peeking at my phone. Still, this time around, there were these subtleties in the story and the characters that hit me. Maybe it's from seeing it quite a few times, but I figure it's got more to do with being glued to that massive screen and not having everyday life distractions. By the way, can't not mention the UHD quality – it's like eye candy when projected large. Details on faces and threads pop, and the vibrant colors are noticeable. I'm crossing my fingers for more vintage gems on the big screen, but here's the bummer – the theater was like a ghost town. Except for my family, there were, what, maybe a dozen others in the audience? Such a shame.

I am going to a different theater again tonight.

My son went and saw it the other night and had a similar reaction, he'd seen it a few times on disc and loved it but was really more taken with it more now than ever after seeing it theatrically.

[Darcy Parker]

There's a Bruce Lee anime series in the works set to debut next year.

https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2023/...emiere-in-2024

I wonder if it will make any references to Chinese Gods, the HK animated Bruce Lee movie from the late 70s.

[Jason C]

The chance to catch "Enter the Dragon" on the big screen had me pretty stoked. But I couldn't shake the feeling that while I totally dig the film, it wasn't exactly at the top of my "must-see in theaters" list. Mind you, this makes it the fourth time I've watched it in four years – not that I didn't want to watch it again. It's just that if I had a choice, I'd have gone for older sci-fi flicks or some classic comedies. But much to my surprise, the experience was way more awesome than I thought it'd be. Blown away, actually. The combo of the theater vibe and a new 4K UHD release seriously amped up my enjoyment. First off, let's talk sound – Enter the Dragon's groovy soundtrack has always been a favorite, but blasting through those theater speakers kicked it up several notches. And yeah, I usually catch this flick with my boys, so I know I was fully invested during earlier views. I can say with confidence I was not peeking at my phone. Still, this time around, there were these subtleties in the story and the characters that hit me. Maybe it's from seeing it quite a few times, but I figure it's got more to do with being glued to that massive screen and not having everyday life distractions. By the way, can't not mention the UHD quality – it's like eye candy when projected large. Details on faces and threads pop, and the vibrant colors are noticeable. I'm crossing my fingers for more vintage gems on the big screen, but here's the bummer – the theater was like a ghost town. Except for my family, there were, what, maybe a dozen others in the audience? Such a shame.

I am going to a different theater again tonight.

[Ian Jane]

There's a Bruce Lee anime series in the works set to debut next year.

https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2023/...emiere-in-2024

[Jason C]

So if I've been buying most of the Bluray releases of Bruce's films, are the "4K restorations of The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death and brand new 2K restoration of Game of Death II" all the definitive versions? Or are some of the these alternate cuts superior and I should watch one of them my next time through? Are some the earlier Blu-ray releases still considered superior to the Arrow release?

[Jason C]

The box it was shipped in was some of the thinnest cardboard I've ever seen and it was essentially the same size as the set. Wrapping it in Christmas paper would have given it the same amount of protection. In my case all 8 corner look like this.

[agent999]

It's weird, even some people in the UK's sets have turned up damaged. I suspect this was down to the actual manufacturer of the box shipping them out without proper protection rather than being the result of getting damaged across the Atlantic. Diabolik did the right thing by offering money off for a damaged set, but I think most other retailers just sent them out and hoped for they wouldn't get a complaint. It's not like the actual box design was at fault, there have been plenty of other sets using this type (Second Sight's Dawn of the Dead springs to mind), so it must be some really shitty packaging early in the manufacturing process.

I would say that Arrow should do a replacement programme for the boxes, but if they send out empty boxes to people they're just going to get damaged as well.

[Jason C]

I'm so furious. This beautiful box was delivered looking like it was dragged behind a car. WTF! Only ordering from Diabolik DVD from now on.

[Takuma]

I got my Arrow set in the expected state (looks like Bruce Lee punched it into one of the corners). Quick observations:

The Big Boss: A Japanese English is included, but it’s a different track than what I expected. Three years ago Japanese distributor TWIN recreated the Japanese version using the Fortune Star masters as a base but changing the audio, and this version had instrumental music in the OP credits and an English language Mike Remedios song with vocals at the end. Arrow however has a Chinese language song with vocals in both the OP and END. I must admit I don’t know which one is authentic. Anyone?

Fist of Fury: The packaging says Japanese English audio is included, but it’s nowhere to be found on the disc! Damn! This is my favourite track for the film. The bonus materials contain an English export cut which I believe is the standard version with English OP and END credits via seamless branching. The OP features the Mike Remedios song from the Japanese English version, however, the END has a different song than what TWIN had. EDIT: I was mistaken. The song is there! Sorry everyone!

Way of the Dragon: Thank you Arrow! The authentic Japanese version is included, at least as far as I can tell. Toei logo, correct ending, no computer generated screens! This is like the old Japanese BD which features a 35mm print scan, and unlike the TWIN release which was a reconstruction full of mistakes like computer generated text screen, no Toei logo, wrong ending.

Tower of Death: This contains Japanese English audio even though it wasn’t listed in the specks I think. However, now we have the Criterion / Shout Way of the Dragon situation where the JP audio track is incomplete because the film is a couple of minutes shorter than the real Japanese version which has alternative long END credits with two songs. Arrow ends after the first song as the film is over.

[Takuma]

Here in Japan Lee's Golden Harvest films are having a nationwide theatrical re-release... again. Last time was three years ago when I saw them all (and The Way of the Dragon twice). Should be the same DCPs again (somewhat half-arsed reconstructions of the original Japanese cuts with English dubs, Mike Remedios theme songs and Lee's battle cries lifted from Mandarin prints) except they've added Tower of Death to the line up. I'm actually going to see it tomorrow. I don't know how it differs from the standard version and the JP version doesn't seem to be included in the Arrow set. Fantastic film btw.

edit: comments here: https://rockshockpop.com/forum/movie...683#post417683

Speaking of the Arrow set, mine will be arriving on Monday. Curious to see if they have the authentic Japanese cut of The Way of the Dragon (like on JP BD) or the messed up reconstruction (like on JP UHD).

[agent999]

Apparently the Korean cut of G.O.D. II in the set is missing four minutes. I wonder if Arrow will fix it? A bit of a pisser as I've not seen the Korean version before. I know the film is considered a turd, but the action is decent. I've seen far worse.

[Mark Tolch]

dammit. I want this.

[agent999]

The Mandarin cut of Big Boss is fucking sweet. It's shots from a theatrical print (with burnt in subs) cut into the 4k transfer so its new bits are always noticeable. But it looks thorough: some of it is literally a few extra frames in a shot. There are a couple more bits of blood (you now see James Tien get that nasty cut on his head, and there's a bit more of the big boss himself bleeding) but, obviously, no saw through the head. You also get to see Bruce go for his last fuck before the big confrontation, which is where he gets that bag of prawn crackers from.

The Arrow UHD disc wipes the floor with the previous un-colour corrected French UHD.

This set is the release of the year so far.

[agent999]

Not normally one for sexy packaging, but the Arrow Bruce Lee set (the red one, I prefer the outer artwork and inner digipack art) is glorious. And it's got some films in it too. If anyone is interested, I'd recommend jumping on the limited edition for the book, lobby cards and photos (there's bound to be a standard edition eventually without the book etc.). Mine arrived undamaged, but it does sound like they're prone to damage in transit though. The only slight issue is Warners making them use the bog standard art for Enter the Dragon (and it not being a UHD).