Game of Death II is a really sad state of affairs, and I mean sad in that this is a brilliant kung-fu film but it's so easy to get put off due to the fact that it's such a blatant cash in on the Bruce Lee name.
The first half of the film is pretty disrespectful. Footage of Bruce Lee is clumsily shoehorned in simply to get his name in the credits but it's so badly done that it's cringeworthy. For a start the footage is clearly from Enter The Dragon and it looks like they didn't even bother to match the film type as you can tell it's from totally different stocks when it cuts between the archive footage and the real film. They didn't even bother to get the make up and the outfit colour to match for the scenes with the Abbot. Add to the fact that Kim Tai-chung doubles for Bruce Lee PLUS plays his brother is totally obvious. They shoot Kim from behind most of the time in a really obvious way but on a few occasions you see a full front shot of his face and can tell it's not Bruce so there was absolutely no point to it.
All this is doubly sad because this is actually a brilliant kung-fu film. The fight choreography is superb and if you disregard the Bruce Lee cash in it's actually a decent story as well (for this type of film) Having no less than three directors is a plus point and all are known names. Ng See Yuen and Corey Yuen later went on to make the martial arts triumph 'No Retreat No Surrender' and of course Sammo hung who is a legend in the kung fu world helped direct and stage the fights and boy does it show.
I'm actually surprised that Raymond Chow who was supposedly a family friend of the Lees allowed such a foul cash grab to be made. Fair enough, the first Game Of Death had an excuse as they were finishing his work (even though they changed everything) but this really was a cheap effort to make money off the dead.
Regardless, if you can stomach the first half of the film and it's really shameless flogging of Bruce Lee footage then you are in for a treat in the second half when the movie dumps the stock footage splicing and actually becomes it's own film, and it's a damn good one too. The end fight is one of the very best in kung-fu history and that's saying something.
If this film had been it's own thing then it would be almost at the top of the pile and it's a shame because most people won't watch past the first few minutes or so and they'd probably be quite right as morally this film is a disgrace, but underneath is a superb martial arts film that sadly not many with even bother with.
The first half of the film is pretty disrespectful. Footage of Bruce Lee is clumsily shoehorned in simply to get his name in the credits but it's so badly done that it's cringeworthy. For a start the footage is clearly from Enter The Dragon and it looks like they didn't even bother to match the film type as you can tell it's from totally different stocks when it cuts between the archive footage and the real film. They didn't even bother to get the make up and the outfit colour to match for the scenes with the Abbot. Add to the fact that Kim Tai-chung doubles for Bruce Lee PLUS plays his brother is totally obvious. They shoot Kim from behind most of the time in a really obvious way but on a few occasions you see a full front shot of his face and can tell it's not Bruce so there was absolutely no point to it.
All this is doubly sad because this is actually a brilliant kung-fu film. The fight choreography is superb and if you disregard the Bruce Lee cash in it's actually a decent story as well (for this type of film) Having no less than three directors is a plus point and all are known names. Ng See Yuen and Corey Yuen later went on to make the martial arts triumph 'No Retreat No Surrender' and of course Sammo hung who is a legend in the kung fu world helped direct and stage the fights and boy does it show.
I'm actually surprised that Raymond Chow who was supposedly a family friend of the Lees allowed such a foul cash grab to be made. Fair enough, the first Game Of Death had an excuse as they were finishing his work (even though they changed everything) but this really was a cheap effort to make money off the dead.
Regardless, if you can stomach the first half of the film and it's really shameless flogging of Bruce Lee footage then you are in for a treat in the second half when the movie dumps the stock footage splicing and actually becomes it's own film, and it's a damn good one too. The end fight is one of the very best in kung-fu history and that's saying something.
If this film had been it's own thing then it would be almost at the top of the pile and it's a shame because most people won't watch past the first few minutes or so and they'd probably be quite right as morally this film is a disgrace, but underneath is a superb martial arts film that sadly not many with even bother with.