TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Birth of a Dragon (Bruce Lee Biopic)

Go To

MrTerrorist Since: Aug, 2009
#1: Sep 19th 2016 at 9:39:12 AM

An affectionate nod to the classic Kung Fu films of the 1970s, BIRTH OF THE DRAGON is a dramatization of the true life but much disputed fight between Kung Fu greats Bruce Lee and Shaolin Master Wong Jack Man in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1964. Based on Michael Dorgan’s magazine article, “Bruce Lee’s Toughest Fight,” the film is written by Chris Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele, the Oscar-nominated screenwriters of “Ali” and “Nixon”. They wove together many conflicting accounts of the actual fight and added in fictional characters Steve Mc Kee (based on Steve Mc Queen who studied with Bruce Lee in the later 60s) and female lead Xiulan, whose fates become entwined in the outcome of the fight. A tribute to the films of Bruce Lee, that inspired generations of martial arts fans, the film is directed by George Nolfi (“The Adjustment Bureau”) and stars Phillip Ng, Xia Yu and Billy Magnussen. The Chinese/American co-production is produced by Kylin and Groundswell.

Well this was unexpected. I didn't know about this movie until now. As a fan of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, i'm interested to see how this movie will be different from the former.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#2: Sep 19th 2016 at 9:47:25 AM

Biopic sounds a bit inaccurate, as it seems to be more about a particular non-fictional event, rather than a biography.

Phillip Ng, eh? I've seen him in is Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, which was truly awful, though I don't really think it was his fault. He Vietnamese, though? That's an... odd name for a Hong Kong actor.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#3: Sep 19th 2016 at 12:00:02 PM

I'd heard a while ago that this was in the works, but I thought it was in Development Hell. It's not meant to be a biopic, but a fictionalization of an actual event, the fight whereby Lee won the right from the Chinese martial arts hierarchy to continue to teach martial arts to non-Chinese. In actuality, it apparently wasn't really his hardest fight, in a technical sense, because he won it pretty quickly, though not as quickly as he would have liked.

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#4: Sep 19th 2016 at 12:05:34 PM

An interesting approach, but I've heard some criticism of putting the perspective of the film on a fictional white character looking into the myth surrounding the fight.

higherbrainpattern Since: Apr, 2012
#5: Sep 19th 2016 at 12:19:44 PM

Yeah, like the fact that this is supposed to be a Bruce Lee biopic and the movie STILL finds a way to focus on a (fictional) white guy.

This is basically the same thing that happened with Stonewall all over again.

Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#6: Sep 19th 2016 at 12:19:56 PM

I can understand that criticism, but I can understand the choice to approach the material that way. Lee was kind of the mainstream US's introduction to Chinese martial arts, so it makes a kind of sense that the film is from a white guy's perspective, as in 60's white America seeing all this for the first time. Still, they could just tell the story straight, from Lee's perspective, and avoid such problems.

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#7: Sep 23rd 2016 at 7:14:39 PM

It's not a bad idea, but it seems to be a case of upstaging the subject rather than using him as a framing device. The reporter in Citizen Kane is vital to the story but there is no doubt Kane is the main character.

If it was one of Lee's real life American students the controversy would be smaller too, instead of a made up guy.

Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#8: Sep 23rd 2016 at 10:03:53 PM

If the fear is that the narrator will upstage Bruce Lee, I wouldn't worry. Bruce Lee became the best part of every movie he was in (his minor role in James Garner's ''Marlowe" led to its largely being distinguished as "The Phillip Marlowe movie with Bruce Lee in it," for instance). I know this film won't really have him in it, but geez...the guy's practically a folk hero (the only other entertainer I can think of who falls into that category is Harry Houdini). Things with just his name attached to them become interesting.

TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#9: Sep 25th 2016 at 12:34:00 AM

Didn't we already have a really good version of this film a couple of decades ago with Jason Scott Lee as the Little Dragon?

Because we did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon:_The_Bruce_Lee_Story in case you haven't seen it.

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#10: Sep 25th 2016 at 2:10:22 AM

From what I've heard it isn't really a bio-pic, but taking a page from Lincoln and focusing on one particular event in Lee's life and making it the focus of the film. Birth of a Dragon focuses on how a controversial fight with another San Francisco chinese martial arts teacher named Wong Jack Man and how despite winning the fight (according to him, Wong Jack Man debated Lee's claims) Lee saw the inefficiency of his Wing Chun style and lead to the development of Jeet Kune Do. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story has a similar fight with a made-up martial artist for the right to continue teaching westerners, where the man attacked him after the fight was over and injured Lee's back (which didn't happen that way, it was a training accident).

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#11: Sep 25th 2016 at 12:18:10 PM

It's interesting because the fight between Wong Jack Man and Bruce Lee has in general two starkly different tales told about it: Bruce Lee says he stepped into the ring and beat the living shit out of Wong Jack Man until he cowered and ran away and Bruce Lee was declared the winner. Wong Jack Man meanwhile states they were evenly-matched throughout a long, 20-mintues long or so fight, in which he says he had three chances to finish Bruce Lee but refrained from doing so he wouldn't be arrested on murder charges. Wong Jack says the fight ended more or less in a draw, but with Bruce Lee too exhausted to continue fighting, and they were separated. Bruce Lee went Unstoppable Rage and had to be physically restrained so he wouldn't fly in homicidal rage because he wanted to keep fighting despite (according to Wong Jack) being barely able to stand.

In general terms, the more famous account is Bruce Lee's and it is possible that it will be the one they will use in the movie, but the trailer shows them in a pretty evenly-matched fight so they're taking at least some from Wong Jack Man's account. Wong Jack's account generally sounds more credible: Most people agree the fight lasted some 20 minutes as he described, and there's more reason to believe him: Bruce Lee, despite his legitimate skill, was an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy to a tee who would never admit he lost a fight, and if Bruce trounced him so soundly as he claims, it seems strange that this would prompt Bruce to reinvent his entire fighting style, leave the area and never come back, and never dispute any of Wong Jack's counter-claims (keeping in mind Wong Jack Man literally said "This is the truth and if Bruce disagrees he can fight me again to discover who's right", but Bruce never said anything).

I'm curious which narrative the film will favor, if any. From the trailer, Wong Jack Man's narrative would make more thematic sense, as the trailer shows Bruce Lee being absurdly arrogant and egocentric (as you do) , the movie's fight ending in a draw with Bruce being too exhausted to continue, subsequently learning a lesson in humility as he sees himself unable to beat Wong Jack Man, would fit The Hero's Journey more (and explain better why Bruce reinvents his style).

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#12: Sep 25th 2016 at 7:12:59 PM

I've read that one of the reasons the folks who made this film wanted to make it is that, according to them, pretty much everyone who saw or was otherwise involved in the fight apparently has something different to say about it.

From what I understand, Lee stated that he wanted to develop a new style of fighting because, while he won the fight (in his version of the story) it bothered him that it took him 20 minutes to do it.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#13: Sep 27th 2016 at 1:09:55 PM

in which he says he had three chances to finish Bruce Lee but refrained from doing so he wouldn't be arrested on murder charges.

... my eyes genuinely just rolled.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#14: Sep 27th 2016 at 4:40:02 PM

Yeah, that's a pretty meaningless statement in a fight whose parameters were likely not "to the death." How's anyone to know if he's right or not? It begs the response "If I'd wanted to kill him, the fight would have been over in seconds."

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#15: Sep 27th 2016 at 8:20:38 PM

The truth is likely to be something in between. A 20 minute "no holds barred" fight would only occur between amateurs who didn't know how to finish a fight. As said Lee would have little reason to improve his style if he was able to defeat another Kung Fu Master if he beat them in 3 minutes.

What is known is that Lee did well in martial art demonstrations but refused to participate in tournaments because he disliked the rules limiting style and form. Chuck Norris said that while they trained together but were careful not to actually spar so that it didn't become personal. It is known that Lee accepted a large number of challengers while filming his movies, and was undefeated there. How he would fair in tournaments or officially sanctioned fights is unknown.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#16: Sep 27th 2016 at 9:12:42 PM

The context Wong Jack Man gives is the three times he supposedly had Bruce Lee's head in a headlock and could either crushed his trachea or simply strangled him until he lost consciousness but always let go because again, possible murder charges and a sense of honor. While the Neck Snap bit is harder to verify, most reliable accounts agree Bruce Lee was caught in several headlocks by Wong Jack Man throughout the fight.

Whether the fight was "to the death" or not is hard to pin down because well, it wasn't a sanctioned fight at all. It was a chaotic "anything goes" glorified bar brawl and by all accounts neither man held back. They were both fully prepared to murder each other if the other man didn't back down and yielded. That is actually why Wong Jack Man later regretted the fight deeply, he felt it was a rather immature, classless street fight unbecoming of either Kung fu Master motivated primarily by his and Lee's egos. In his older days, he came to regret the whole thing because of how brutal and crass it was.

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#17: Sep 27th 2016 at 11:55:12 PM

Looking into the story it seems that Wong also challenged Lee's claim that the Kung Fu community was upset with him for teaching foreigners. I'm actually curious now how the film depicts that element or if it's purely a contest of skill.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#18: Sep 28th 2016 at 6:02:55 PM

Wong Jack had, in fact, several foreign students. The reason for the beef seems to more be that Wong Jack Man as an old school "zen master" type, found Bruce's Hot-Blooded cockiness and disrespect for his elders a problem, and this caused their beef.

To the movie's credit, the trailer implies this is the case in the movie as well (in the trailer Wong Jack takes offense to Bruce Lee describing Kung Fu as "kicking ass", comments Bruce Lee's flaw is "himself", and in general seems to have a problem with Bruce Lee's raging ego).

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Kersey475 Since: Nov, 2009
#19: Aug 30th 2017 at 2:41:40 PM

When is someone going to get around to making the tvtropes page?

Beatman1 Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Gone fishin'
#20: Aug 31st 2017 at 6:08:41 AM

[up]Eventually.

From what I heard the film is just boring though. I love Bruce Lee, but most of the focus isn't even on him. It also doesn't help that his wife described the "fight" as a total sham in Bruce Lee: A Warriors Journey and that will always color my focus on it being depicted as this life or death struggle.

edited 31st Aug '17 6:09:26 AM by Beatman1

KevinKlawitter Kevin Klawitter from Minnesota Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
Kevin Klawitter
#21: Dec 26th 2017 at 7:57:08 AM

Oh, the movie is awful. Totally lacking in drama and insight, and Bruce Lee comes across as a total dick. The fight between himband Wong Jack Man is fairly well done, but the rest of the movie is terrible.

Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle; it's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#22: Feb 3rd 2020 at 6:24:42 AM

I just got around to watching this and am genuinely confused how you take one of the most famous real life martial arts fights in the world....and CHANGE THE ENDING.

Based on a Great Big Lie is too kind.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
jakobitis Doctor of Doctorates from Somewhere, somewhen Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
Doctor of Doctorates
#23: Feb 3rd 2020 at 6:34:58 AM

To be fair, what the actual real ending was is highly debatable. Depending on whose account you go by, you would think that either could have won or it was a draw.

"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."
Add Post

Total posts: 23
Top