Disc Reviews

Game of Death Blu-ray Review

• 5th Dec 2023

Game of Death suffered from the untimely death of its star, Bruce Lee. The film was unfinished and it took 5 years for the studio to figure out what to do with what they had. What they did was alter the story into a revenge drama, filmed a ton of new footage (including the use of body doubles) and tried to shoehorn in Bruce Lee where they could utilising the footage he had shot, but also footage from previous ventures including egregious use of The Way of the Dragon’s finale at the start of this film. The shoehorning of shots of Bruce Lee are sometimes so horrendously done that they can’t help but take you out of the film.

Game of Death then is a bit of a botched job. The film is not good; but it does feature some very promising footage from Lee – notable the fight footage – and in this “version” of Game of Death, that footage that Lee shot for this film is very unique.

Despite the flaws, the film has somehow still managed to remain in the conversation and features many iconic facets – like Lee’s black and yellow jump suit, the afore mentioned pagoda fight scene footage and a fairly decent John Barry music score.

It’s down to how much you want it, or how much you are put off by the film’s history. There is still a wealth of fans that rate the film despite the behind the scenes drama and controversy, and keeping anything that Lee touched in the conversation can’t be all that bad a thing ultimately.

BONUS MATERIAL

Well known action film commentator Mike Leeder teams up with Brandon Bentley to deliver their commentary.  Whilst there are no complaints about this match up, it seems odd that they didn’t just do separate tracks as they are both good for it. Arrow have delivered double commentaries on the Lee work thus far that they have released – Seems a bit stingy to cut back on extras now. Game of Death needs all the help it can get!

Added to the more recent new material is an interview with actress Colleen Camp who was brought in years after Lee’s death to film her scenes as part of the narrative welded into the structure. It’s interesting to hear from her point of view what it was like to come in and star opposite a man who wasn’t there.

There is an alternative Japanese version of the film, some deleted material. Anyone looking for the 45 minute pagoda fight will come up short sadly.

Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the films by Walter Chaw

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella.

The 2K master is fine, but the film betrays itself because of the older footage they spliced into the new footage at the time. This is unavoidable, so restoration has nothing to do with these glaring issues. The mastering here is as good as.

Other extras include:

• interviews with co-stars Dan Inosanto and Bob Wall
• Behind-the-scenes footage as featured in Bruce Lee: The Legend
• Rare pre-production sales featurette from 1976 with new commentary by Michael Worth and producer Andre Morgan
• Fight scene dailies directed by Sammo Hung

Locations featurette from 2013

Trailer gallery, including Bruceploitation and ‘Robert Clouse at Golden Harvest’ trailer reels

The second disc was not available for review but includes the following:

DISC 2: GAME OF DEATH II

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of Game of Death II as well as the Hong Kong Theatrical Cut titled Tower of Death (contains some standard-definition material)
• Original lossless English mono audio on Game of Death II
• Original lossless Cantonese, Mandarin and English mono audio on Tower of Death
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing on Game of Death, and optional English subtitles on Tower of Death
• Feature commentary by Frank Djeng & Michael Worth, co-producers of Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee
• Archive interview with co-star Roy Horan
• Alternate Korean version with unique footage, presented in High Definition with original lossless mono audio and English subtitles
• Alternate US video version in High Definition with lossless English mono audio, via seamless branching
• Alternate end credits sequence for Game of Death II
• Trailer gallery
• Image gallery

Steven Hurst