Universal director Rob Cohen gives Jason Scott Lee his shot at the big time in this epic life story of Martial Arts legend Bruce Lee. Loosely based on the book 'Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew' by his wife Linda, the film highlights his life from the age of 6 in Hong Kong to his untimely death in 1973, right after completing 'Enter the Dragon'. Ironically, years later his son Brandon was killed by a faulty blanks gun on the set of 'The Crow', 8 days before filming finished and shortly before 'Dragon' was released.

I am not going to go into great depth plot-wise, as I'm sure most of you already know the life of the legendary Bruce Lee. Basically though, the film kicks off with Bruce starting to learn Wing Chun at the age of 6, and then completely bypasses his involvement with the Cha Cha competition (presumably seen as more of a footnote than an important era). We now jump to 1959, which saw his immigration to America after he received police warnings over street gang fights. Working in San Francisco as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant, Bruce has relations with future wife Linda and 9 months later, they marry and so on...

Whilst it may be a decent attempt at an enjoyable action film, 'Dragon' does take a number of liberties in terms of historical accuracy. One assumes that either Cohen or studio executives felt that the real events weren't exciting enough, so several fabrications and exaggerations have been added to 'beef' things up. For example, the fictional challenger in the movie (played by John Cheung) attacks Bruce from behind to cause his spinal injury, whereas in real life this was just a case of excessive weightlifting. Similarly, the whole 'mystical demon' element stems from nothing more than a very standard Chinese custom and Lee was in fact an atheist.

Overall then, fans looking for a biography in film may well be disappointed by 'Dragon'. However, I do recommend it if you are a casual fan who is just seeking an entertaining movie.