Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

REVIEW
This rousing chop-socky story of Bruce Lee rises above its mediocre bio-pic roots thanks to the winning combination of its undeniably exciting subject, a breezy and witty screenplay, elaborately staged fight sequences, and the riveting presence of Jason Scott Lee in the lead role. The film follows B. Lee from his early days in Hong Kong to his life as an ambitious American immigrant. Fame beckons when he is discovered by an appropriately sleazy Wagner to costar as Kato in the TV series "The Green Hornet." After its cancellation, he moves back to Hong Kong to begin a short career as a martial arts star, suddenly dying at age 32. J.S. Lee's winning smile, chiseled body and effervescent personality carry the adulatory movie, adapted from the book by Lee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell. While the film's love story is "nice," it is the fight sequences that are mesmeric -- capturing the exaggerated look of kung fu fights, with their gravity-defying leaps, flailing legs and fists, hissing and crowing noises, and physical punishment that would pulverize any mere mortal.