Bruce and the Deadly Fingers of Kung Fu After the death of Bruce Lee in the cinema of Hong Kong began a real boom of imitative films, openly exploiting the spirit of the films of the late master. Cute producers found young sports guys of varying degrees of similarity to the Little Dragon, riveting the new “Fists of Fury” and “Death Games”. Not escaped this fate and beginner Jackie Chan, from which director Lo Wei at one time tried hard to make a new Bruce. This special subgenre - Bruceploitation - lasted a whole decade until the mid-80s, giving rise to both very mediocre and quite high-quality, with all their secondary, paintings. The model of this direction considered today I would rather refer to the second category.
The film begins with a small documentary dedicated to the life and creative path of Bruce Lee. Respect for the memory of the master is clearly present here, which added to my eyes the advantages of this simple fighter in his final assessment. The plot revolves around the book “fingers of kung fu”, allegedly written shortly before his death by Bruce and containing some secret knowledge of a special secret style, mastering which will become almost invincible superfighter. Of course, such a valuable artifact is hunted by the leader of the local drug mafia, part-time master of martial arts. The task of Bruce Wong, who recently returned to Hong Kong from America to visit relatives, is to get to the book first and master the “finger style” of the Little Dragon himself, preventing this knowledge from leaking into the wrong hands. To help him in this difficult case will be several like-minded people who have their own accounts with the criminal boss.
Of all the many doppelgangers, Bruce Le was perhaps one of the most successful and prolific. Not being outwardly similar to the “original”, he tried hard to copy it in everything – hairstyle, plastic movements and fighting style. Separately, his funny way of dressing - I understand, it's the '70s with their specific fashion in clothes and shoes - but in some places there is an unintended comic effect. The real Bruce looked more solid in his films. Nevertheless, Le can not take away his mobility, agility and a good demonstration of technique - I do not have information about the real level of his skill, but I think he had some experience, no wonder in many of his fighters he also acted as a director of hand-to-hand combat.
From the films of the Master of the East, his eternal girlfriend / companion Nora Miao migrated here, like a red banner crossing, doomed to be the girlfriend of another Bruce. Of course, nothing special and interesting from it is not necessary to expect, just a cute appendix to the main character.
Perhaps nothing new shows here and the mighty Bolo Young, appearing in the picture from the power of 10 minutes, but this charismatic personality attracts attention from the first frame. Even “Dragon’s Coming Out” forever defined his most commonly used type in cinema – a sinister silent henchman who loves to kill people with his bare hands. Standing out among the lowly thin Chinese with impressive muscle mass, Hercules of the East easily lifts opponents into the air and twists their arms. And this athlete is far from so simple, he has many years of experience in serious martial arts. I have always been impressed by the fighting style of Bolo - soft cat movements with sharp unexpected blows to different points and it moves, despite its impressive weight, very quickly and smoothly. Since Bruce will be busy with the groom, one of his volunteer assistants will have to deal with this live machine. Undoubtedly, the presence of Bolo Young adorns any picture in which he appears.
Alas, but the Big Boss is far from as colorful, quite standard and does not have any stylish villainous highlight (like the steel claws of the same Khan in “The Exit of the Dragon”, for example). An ordinary gang leader who knows how to fight well. Their final fight with Bruce is not bad, but nothing more, fighting game with the participation of Bolo looked much more interesting. Similarly, in “The Way of the Dragon”, the guest Chuck Norris completely eclipsed the indefinite main villain who headed the crime syndicate.
As in every “Bruce” action movie, the level of violence and sex is very high, there are scenes of brutal murders. If the script is frankly weak - an abundance of empty chatter and superfluous characters, dull wandering around the streets - then the fighting scenes are dynamic and good. A lot of hand-to-hand fights, both one-on-one and with a bunch of opponents, the range of cold weapons used is quite wide: knives and sticks in the hands of gang members, sai and sword. Of course, the nunchucks are not forgotten, Bruce Le masterfully manages them in the frame.
In general, this is a good genre picture. Poorly worked out, indistinct scenario more than compensates for a large number of well-made and really diverse fights that allow the masters and stuntmen to turn around. Of course, I say this, making a discount on the year of release of the tape, fans of modern fighting games, may not impress. I strongly recommend this uncomplicated action movie to fans of the heritage of Bruce Lee, Bolo Young and connoisseurs of Hong Kong cinema of the 70s, the benefit of the combat component here is complete order.