Birth of the Dragon

Name: Birth of the Dragon
Genre: Action, Biography, Drama
Released: August 25, 2017
Duration: 95 min
Rating: 35
Cast: Billy Magnussen, Christina July Kim, Darren E. Scott, Hai Yu, Jingjing Qu

2017

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 13 Critics

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Ratings

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4.9

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4.9	Your Score
4.9	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Ratings

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Birth Of The Dragon

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Movie Details & Credits

BH Tilt | Release Date: August 25, 2017

Starring: Billy Magnussen, Christina July Kim, Darren E. Scott, Hai Yu, Jingjing Qu, King Lau, Natalie Stephany Aguilar, Philip Ng, Riley Wood, Ron Yuan, Simon Yin, Steven Roberts, Teresa Navarro, Terry Chen, Vanessa Ross, Wang Xi'An, Yu Xia, Yue Wu

Summary: Young, up-and-coming martial artist, Bruce Lee, challenges legendary kung fu master Wong Jack Man to a no-holds-barred fight in Northern California.

Director: George Nolfi

Genre(s): Action, Biography, Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 95 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Critic Reviews

TheWrap - Robert Abele

Aug 25, 2017

As alternatingly silly and serious as its mix of wisdom and wallops, and even with that blond bro gumming up the works, “Birth” is nevertheless zippy, B-movie entertainment. Read full review

IGN - Blair Marnell

Aug 25, 2017

Birth of the Dragon is not the Bruce Lee biopic you’ve been waiting for, as strong performances and martial arts action by Philip Ng and Xia Yu are wasted on a movie that had too little faith in the real story. Read full review

The New York Times - Glenn Kenny

Aug 25, 2017

Birth of the Dragon is ambitious: it wants to be a character study, an explication of martial arts philosophy and an action picture.... But the film never really gets fully juiced until the climax. Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Noel Murray

Aug 24, 2017

It’s unusual to see a film like this make its nominal hero into a jerk, who learns something essential from his nemesis. True or not, the complex characterization does make for a better story. Read full review

The Hollywood Reporter - Frank Scheck

Aug 24, 2017

The fight scenes are indeed the film’s strongest element, even if at times they seem overly choreographed and slightly cheesy. Read full review

Movie Nation - Roger Moore

Aug 24, 2017

The whole enterprise plays like a throwback, summoning up memories of Lee’s cut-rate/no-script “chop sockey” pictures where the charisma was obvious, the fights epic, the stories an afterthought and the effects wincingly obvious. Read full review

RogerEbert.com - Scout Tafoya

Aug 25, 2017

A preposterous screenwriting-for-dummies exercise directed with all the flare of a mid-‘90s tourism video. Read full review

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User Reviews

DotTheEyes

Aug 25, 2017

This is a fun and interesting film. It deserves more positive reviews than it will inevitably receive. It utilizes Bruce Lee the way A Hard Day's Night and Help! utilized the Beatles; "Bruce Lee" is a character here in a martial-arts action film, not a definitive and reverent biopic. Set inThis is a fun and interesting film. It deserves more positive reviews than it will inevitably receive. It utilizes Bruce Lee the way A Hard Day's Night and Help! utilized the Beatles; "Bruce Lee" is a character here in a martial-arts action film, not a definitive and reverent biopic. Set in San Francisco in the mid-1960s, it lifts elements from Lee's biography—his controversial teaching of kung fu to Caucasians, his mysterious and contested private fight with Shaolin master Wong Jack Man—but it also includes entirely fictional characters and passages, including a scene in which Lee and Wong elaborately fight their way through a Triad-owned restaurant. (The choreography here and elsewhere is excellent.) The end result, I believe, nicely plays as an extension of Lee's pop mystique and brand, and I half suspect the man himself, no stranger to self-mythologizing, would smile and nod in approval. He is played by a convincing Philip Ng, a Hong Kong-born actor who achieves an appropriate combination of arrogance and charisma. Even better is Xia Yu as Wong; his is an absolutely magnetic variation on the he-doesn't-want-any-trouble warrior-pacifist archetype, and it is a pleasure to lean into his every delectably inscrutable line of kung-fu philosophizing.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

sbolon

Aug 27, 2017

This is an enjoyable movie that brings Bruce Lee back into the spotlight for a new generation. This movie is more like the Ip Man movies, in that they were highly dramatized re-imaginings of actual events in Ip Man's life. The first and third acts are pretty good, while the second is aThis is an enjoyable movie that brings Bruce Lee back into the spotlight for a new generation. This movie is more like the Ip Man movies, in that they were highly dramatized re-imaginings of actual events in Ip Man's life. The first and third acts are pretty good, while the second is a little clunky. For a more in-depth breakdown you can see my full review here:

https://www.martialjournal.com/birth-dragon-martial-arts-breakdown-review/

Thanks!… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

sandborn

Aug 30, 2017

A bait and switch, the story is still solid. There's the main plot of Bruce Lee vs Wong Jack Man, but there's also the sub-plot with Lee's white student falling for a Chinese girl and wanting to rescue her from thugs. The sub-plot actually becomes the main plot which has understandablyA bait and switch, the story is still solid. There's the main plot of Bruce Lee vs Wong Jack Man, but there's also the sub-plot with Lee's white student falling for a Chinese girl and wanting to rescue her from thugs. The sub-plot actually becomes the main plot which has understandably angered viewers, and why I call it "bait and switch". The movie is nothing special but it has some good fight scenes, and the story grows on you. I thought I was going to hate it, but didn't. It's OK but it's not worth a $15 ticket.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

EpicLadySponge

Aug 25, 2017

Birth of the Dragon introduces Bruce Lee as a character to the modern industry and the results are very terrible. Feels exactly nothing like those Bruce Lee movies that inspired this film. If it was more built under the pressure, maybe this film could have been better than what it is today.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

JLuis_001

Nov 9, 2017

A tremendous lack of respect for the name and legacy of Bruce Lee, and it's not because it harms his work, but because it's going to be associated with him.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Sep 1, 2017

This is not another Bruce Lee biopic, but a narrative that focuses on one seminal event. When he was just starting to get noticed, Lee was frowned upon by traditional martial arts artists because he taught non-Chinese. As a result, a great kung fu master traveled from China to California toThis is not another Bruce Lee biopic, but a narrative that focuses on one seminal event. When he was just starting to get noticed, Lee was frowned upon by traditional martial arts artists because he taught non-Chinese. As a result, a great kung fu master traveled from China to California to challenge him. The fight scenes are skillfully choreographed, but there's nothing skillful about the plodding plot between them. The dialogue is written on a level below the prosaic style of a Lifetime movie. Adding a major Caucasian character to the mix is a ridiculous attempt at widening the film's audience. If you're just interested in hand-to-hand (and legs) combat, you won't be disappointed. But if you're looking for insight into Lee, this embarrassingly-written movie won't provide much.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

YorkMan

Nov 16, 2017

Bruce Lee is one of the most written about film stars of all time. His actual filmography includes only four completed pictures, but his influence on the Industry was beyond immense.
As such the life of this myopic Chinaman has been documented from his birth in California in 1940, to hisBruce Lee is one of the most written about film stars of all time. His actual filmography includes only four completed pictures, but his influence on the Industry was beyond immense.
As such the life of this myopic Chinaman has been documented from his birth in California in 1940, to his untimely death aged 33 just a few short weeks before the film that would etch him into cinema folklore, Enter The Dragon, was released.

Now, I'm not the most cynical of people, but this film (Birth of the Dragon) is exploitative in the most heinous of ways. The film opens with some text explaining that Bruce fought against a "Shaolin Master" named Wong Jack Man. In actuality, the two men engaged in a very short bout, Wong wasn't a Shaolin Master, and the fight wasn't really anything but a test of comparitive styles.

So, what we have is a fictitious story, inspired by a fictitious event, populated by fictitious characters, in a fictitious, seemingly parallel, timeline.

Birth of the Dragon, as a work of fiction, could have been good.. But it isn't. There clearly wouldn't be enough of a narrative if the film was solely about the build up, and aftermath, of the inevitable 'big' fight. So, rather than delve into anything related to the two 'fighters'.. Their motivations, their lives, their actual ideologies.. We instead get some meaningless interactions between the two and a completely made up Caucasian character (Steve) who serves as the go-between, as well devoting a lot of run-time to his infatuation with a Chinese serving girl at the de rigeur lady gangster's restaurant.

Ultimately the big fight falls into the now usual trope of the older (wiser) combatant purposely pulling punches in order for the other younger (naive) fighter to understand the Sesame Street level philosophical stance he's been attempting to preach.
The martial arts action is par for the course, decent enough choreography and long takes to show the actors have had to spend a bit of time rehearsing the scenes. What is annoying about the fight scenes is that, as usual, the 'styles' on show by each character aren't anything like what they are supposedly masters of. Lee doesn't apply much Wing Chun, and relies quite a lot on high kicks which the style doesn't really use. And Man, who is meant to be using Tai-Chi and North Shaolin kicks, instead applies more reverse holds and sweeps...

So, in conclusion...

Film is bad. Action is average. Storyline is completely made up. Acting is wooden.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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