MotW: Birth of the Dragon

You should include the year the movie came out in your template.

I actually own the Blu-Ray, so this may not be easier for people to find online. I don't know if anyone is streaming it.

Before anyone watches this movie, I recommend watching this video on YouTube:



It is Bruce Lee in action, taking to the public, displaying his unique mannerisms, and even demonstrating a non-lethal version of the one inch punch.

Bruce Lee started MMA in America because he believed the only fighting style that mattered is having no style, but adapting to the fight like water adaps to all kinds of surfaces.

This is the time when he wasn't famous yet, but had a mission to introduce Kung Fu to the West. After all of that, he end up having his own TV show, and soon became a legend in the movies.

This movie is totally badass, and definitely has become one of my top movies to show off to friends, everyone end ups loving it because of the unique plot, with one of the best fight scenes I have seen, and a story that ties different type of characters anyone can easily relate to wanting to be better.

I admire those guys that were on top of their game in the early 60s actively seeking masters coming from the East, locally, in secluded Asian towns, so they can get trained, and kick ass. I'm sure many did accomplish it.

Yes, indeed.

By the way, the guy that plays Bruce Lee on Birth Of The Dragon totally nails it, it is truly remarkable, and shocking.

And apparently so does the guy on this trailer:



He also played Street Fighter Ryu before.

Yes, since he played Ryu, I was hoping for him to become Liu Kang in the new MK movie, but it will likely be someone else.

The guy on Birth Of The Dragon does an amazing job as well, when it comes to manerisms, and personality, he totally nails it.

I would actually advise to watch Birth Of The Dragon before Tarantino's because this movie really pumps you up on Bruce Lee, and you'll likely end up wanting to see Tarantino's movie even more.

I takes place around 9 years before the release of Enter The Dragon.

Oh man, the fight just cuts out in the end!  I wanted to see the ending.

I feel this movie would be hard for Europeans to understand.

That white dude represents exactly the way guys act around here, specially when they are interesting in something. This guys portrays perfectly what an American wanting to learn Kung Fu would act in real life. It would not look like Karate Kid, it would look like this. This makes his character very relatable because he feels like every other friend you have that is a fan of something.

Another thing that won't be relatable for Europeans is the gang taxes. Those things are very real in America, and in Latin America as well, where there are many communities in which gangs like to tax the hell out of local business, and it is not a fantasy mafia thing, it is very real, and it gives a a very real context people can relate to the movie.

The cover is supposed to resemble Enter The Dragon because these are the events that further inspired Bruce Lee into believing in what he was doing introducing Kung Fu into the West, and lead to movies like Enter The Dragon to exist in the first place, that's why the name of the movie.

Also it is well known that Bruce Lee was often full of himself here in Hollywood. You can even see this in the newest Quentin Tarantino's movie. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that in San Francisco his younger self was even more of a dickhead when he was clearly feeling he was important for humanity. In fact that kind of self confidence, and the belief of the importance behind what he was doing is what made him stand out, and ultimately what brought him to the stardom he reached. I would go as far as to say that his personality was a lot more important for his success than his martial arts knowledge.

The fight was an spectacle too, if you actually put attention to all the drama that unfold during that fight, you can appreciate it even more, so many unspoken dialogues were part of that scene between the fighters, and it was what further solidified the relevance of the scene for the overall message of the movie. You can clearly see Bruce growing and maturing as the fight progressed. That alone is very hard to capture, but somehow they made it happen.

It is a good movie, but you need some context to understand it, even things like the one inch punch, and the kick-ass philosophy need some context before you can grasp what they represented.