The plot here isn’t anything special, the dubbing for both the US and Cantonese versions are really poorly done, and the dialogue is not great — but none of that matters because the fight scenes here are out of this world. The way Lee whip punches and kicks his foes, is brutal — mostly due to the sound effects. This is some of the best one vs. all fighting I’ve seen and obviously influenced other great ones that would come after it like IP MAN, THE RAID 2: BERANDAL, THE MATRIX RELOADED, THE PROTECTOR, and KILL BILL. All of the action sequences are phenomenal and, frankly, I prefer them to ENTER THE DRAGON’s. It is so easy to see how Bruce Lee became a worldwide star after this. His fighting ability and personality is so electric — everything he does grips and excites you. The spying scenes are also AMAZING. Chen is frankly a better spy than James Bond in this. You can also see a little conversation happening with Bruce Lee and the James Bond films. You can really see in the influence of the ‘60s Bond films (specifically DR. NO, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, and GOLDFINGER) — especially with the music and the camera techniques. Petrov reminded me a lot of villains in Bond films like Red Grant and Oddjob. Something I did not expect is how brutal of a killer Chen is. He acts like Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH and goes after everyone without abandon — which makes the ending all the more resonate. Another thing that makes this film really work is the Japanese vs. Chinese race issues.
