Enter The Dragon: Special Edition
1973/102 mins.
Released by Warner Bros.
Rated R
Starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Shih Kien, Bob Wall,
Bolo Yeung, Sammo Hung, and Jackie Chan
Directed by Robert Clouse
Format: Dual Sided, Single Layered(Film is presented in
Widescreen format)
Reviewed by Robby Cox
E-mail: koi@magicnet.net
*****************************************************************************
Opening Remarks: This was one of the first Kung-Fu films that I
ever actually liked. I used to watch Kung-Fu Theatre on USA on
Saturday afternoons and I thought that those movies were pretty
cool, but they weren't very good. When I originally saw Enter The
Dragon I was wowed. I always wanted to purchase this DVD, but
didn't until recently.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Movie Quality: Enter The Dragon is one of the all time Kung-Fu
classics. Bruce Lee goes to an island paradise to enter a Kung-Fu
contest and to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings on
this island. The plot sounds a lot like Mortal Kombat and it
kinda is. The fights are pretty cool and Bruce is impressive as
an actor. The first fight scene of the movie is Bruce Vs. Sammo
Hung. While this is not a great fight, it's kinda cool to see a
young Sammo. Sammo is also in the Bruce Lee film Game of Death.
Anyways, later in the film Bruce kills Jackie Chan. You have to
look very closely to find Jackie, but he's there. Anyways, this
is a great action movie that is a blast to watch.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Video Quality: I am confused as to how I feel about this disc's
video quality. It looks good, but it's not perfect. I realize
that this film is 25 + years old, but I also have the DVD of It's
A Wonderful Life which is about twice as old and it looks
spotless. This disc has some specks of dust and scratches on the
negative, but it truthfully looks good. I would have expected
Warner Bros. to have made sure that the transfer was spotless,
but they didn't. It will impress you to a point, but you will
wish that they would have done more. Anyways, this is by far the
best looking version of this film.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Sound Quality: Warner Bros. did an amazing job here. Enter The
Dragon has been remixed in Dolby Digital Surround. The score is
crystal clear and sounds amazing. The sound fx are nice, as well.
Another added treat is that there is an isolated music track.
That's right. You can watch the film and only hear the score. I
normally wouldn't care very much about that, but Lalo Schifrin's
score is amazing and is a classic. It ranks right up there with
my favorite movie score of all times, which is Shaft. Nice job,
Warners.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Extras: This Special Edition is chocked full of extras. The only
problem with this is that the package doesn't even list all of
the extras. This disc has the remixed Surround soundtrack, the
isolated score track, a commentary track by the film's producer
Paul Heller and the writer Michael Allin, notes on the importance
of belts in the martial arts, a history of martial arts films, a
perspective on Jackie Chan, production notes, cast & crew
biographies and filmographies, an introduction and interview
gallery with Linda Lee Cadwell, wife of Bruce, mother of Brandon
and Shannon, 4 theatrical trailers, 7 TV spots, a documentary
entitled Location: Hong Kong with Enter The Dragon, and another
commentary entitled Bruce Lee: In His Own Words. I probably
forgot a few, but that's a lot and they're all excellent. There
are also Spanish, French, and English subtitles. Warner did an
excellent job here.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Improve: The video could have been a little better.
RIYL: Other Bruce Lee films, Jackie Chan films, Once Upon A Time
In China series.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Overall Opinion: This is a great disc that is definitely worth
your money. This disc contains a Kung Fu classic and a ton of
interesting extras. It only retails for $20 and is well worth it.
For some reason the one that I bought was only $15. So it was
totally worth my money. Don't be scared away by my diatribe on
the video quaality. Warners should have done a little better job
on that, but they succeeded in every other way. Overall, this is
a disc that everyone should own.
*****************************************************************************
Movie Quality: *****
Video Quality: ****
Sound Quality: *****
Extras: *****
Personal Opinion: *****
Total: 24 out of 25
Final Score: 96 %