If you've never heard of Bruce Lee then frankly you must have been living under a rock for the past 40 odd years, Bruce Lee was to martial arts what Elvis Presley and The Beatles were the modern music. His impact of the world of martial arts was unprecedented and since his legacy no one has ever managed to replicate the mammoth success that he had. Without Bruce Lee there would be no Jackie Chan or Jet Li as he managed to change the way people see martial arts around the world. He single handedly brought martial arts into mainstream Hollywood and made it more accessible for everybody across the world to become captivated in not just his style of Kung Fu but in hundreds of styles of different martial arts across the globe.
Bruce Lee was born on the 27th November 1940 in America yet all his family were of Chinese origin. He started practising the art of Wing Chun which is a popular style of Kung Fu and quickly became a master at his craft. After appearing in TV Shows and several Hollywood blockbusters which were centred around his craft, he became a legend in the industry before his untimely death on the 20th July 1973 at the age of 32, there have been numerous rumours surrounding his sudden death but one that has always been very
prominent is that he accidentally overdosed on painkillers, he had never taken them before so the dosage he took was too much for his body to handle.
There have been numerous videos and DVD documentaries charting the legends short life and Bruce Lee: Martial Arts Master is one I picked up a few weeks back for my Dad from play.com for Father's Day as he's a huge fan of his. The DVD only cost me £3.99 on play.com whereas on Amazon it would have set me back a good £15 so I'm glad that I managed to pick up a bargain.
The documentary itself was made back in 1993 and was only released on DVD sometime in the last couple of years. It runs for approximately an hour and 7 minutes and is rated 12.
The documentary charts how Bruce Lee got into the film industry and then how he developed into the legend that he is known as so long after his death. It tells the story from the people that knew him best including his brother, close friends, trainers and even students of his that have never forgotten how much of an impact he had on each of their lives in many different ways.
The DVD even includes archive footage of Lee's late son Brandon in which he pays homage to the Father that he barely knew as he was so young when his Father passed away. Coincidentally, Brandon Lee also died young, he passed away on the 31st March 1993 as a result of a tragic accident on a film set where he was shot in the abdomen.
The DVD also includes an interview with martial arts film star Jackie Chan who had an early appearance in the Bruce Lee films Fist Of Fury (1972) and Enter The Dragon (1973).
The DVD is very informative throughout and informs the viewer about Bruce Lee's early film and television appearances as well as going through his training regime with the man who was responsible for training him. The DVD talks us through some of legendary traits such as the one inch punch which you may have seen in Kill Bill Vol 2 where Uma Thurman is trying to break her way out of a coffin after being buried alive. This goes to show just how much of an impact he had on the film industry if people are still using his ideas and techniques over 30 years after his death.
Bruce Lee definitely had a big impact into the lives of myself and my family, after watching Bruce Lee's films at a young age this pushed my Dad into taking up martial arts himself, he became a Black Belt in two different styles of Karate (Shotokan and Kenpo) and later passed on his interest to me, I took up Kempo Ryu Kickboxing at a young age and have since achieved my second Dan and am now an instructor which I love doing. Therefore without Bruce Lee's impact on society I highly doubt that I would be in the career that I am today.
I think that if Bruce Lee was still alive today he wouldn't been the huge legend that he is today, he died during the prime of his career therefore didn't get the chance to go downhill with age. The good die young as they say and with the likes of Elvis Presley, John Lennon and more recently Michael Jackson this definitely seems to be true.
My Dad thoroughly enjoyed the DVD and to an extent I did too but I think this is specifically aimed at fans of his and for people who weren't huge fans of his you may find this a bit dull. Another thing that I think would have been nice would be for the DVD to run for a little bit longer, bearing in mind that this is a documentary and not a film therefore 67 minutes would usually be ample for a documentary however there's just so much that they could have gone into on the DVD in order to extend the running time. I think just going into a couple of aspects in his life just wasn't enough and if your knowledge of Bruce Lee is limited then this DVD isn't going to be enough for you to really get an insight who the man in question was which leaves you on tenterhooks wanting to know more about him.
I'd recommend this DVD to big fans of Bruce Lee however if you're not a fan then it may be best to find a more rounded portrait of his life which charts all the different aspects. This will only be interesting to people with a previous knowledge of Bruce Lee. Also if you do decide to purchase this, make sure you buy it from play.com instead of Amazon in order to save yourself around £11.
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