Bruce Lee, My Brother (2010)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

1:30 h without fights, he fought with a choy lee fut boy, no with a mafia of drugs.

Maybe there's renewed interest in the young life of Bruce Lee because of the recent hit movie about Bruce's Wing Chun teacher Yip Man. In any case, this movie has input of Bruce's young brother Robert Lee which sheds light to Bruce's formative years in Hong Kong. From this influence, much of the story revolves around Bruce's family life. Along with it we also get to see a glimpse of what life in Hong Kong might have looked like back in the mid '50s.It's a good movie about life of Bruce Lee. The only negative might be that the actor and the actress who played Bruce and his girlfriend lacked the flare that Bruce had and what was shown of the girl in the picture of Bruce at the Cha Cha competition. But this might be as close to possible of depicting Bruce by another person. Bruce Lee had very special star quality that made him stand out in every situation.I remember seeing Bruce Lee in TV commercial of the Green Hornet. His line was "Hi, this is Bruce Lee, please join me in the next episode of the Green Hornet.". He stood out despite the fact that he was little known, and he was an Asian showing up in American television. He was so good looking, and had a star quality like no other.I really liked this movie, as it shed lights on to the life of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong that we knew little about, and wished we knew more about. With the input of Robert Lee, this is as close to coming authentic as it can be, and is a good addition to the legend we know as Bruce Lee.

This is NOT a martial arts film so if that is what you expected steer clear. It is the story of Bruce Lee's early life as told through his younger brother. At times it is over sentimental and at other times just silly. Having read much about Bruce Lee I was disappointed that he was portrayed as an emotional wimp. Also in his early fights as a boy in Hong Kong he is shown he using the famous Bruce Lee scream yet from what I read he only used this for films. I had also previously read that he was regularly in street fights, some quite dangerous ones and it was for this reason that his Father sent him off to the U.S.A but in this film it was to do with him destroying some drugs when trying to rescue a friend from the pushers grasp. Is any of that true? There are some really good acting performances in this film, especially the actress playing Bruce's mother.

Loads of period detail, as the end credit side-by-side comparison between reference photos and their recreations attests. It feels somewhat similar in nostalgic tone to Echoes of the Rainbow, but with punch-ups. Unfortunately, these dominate much of the second act. And despite Chin Kar-Lok's excellent choreography, they seem edited down to make the most of what the young performers can do. In the case of the Western style boxing match it at least makes sense in context, and the endless flurries of wing chun forearm chain-punching will give Ip Man 2 fans a thrill. A later confined space fight references a less recent but more famous film - emulating the Lee/Norris bout, feline spectator included.Afterward, the film gets back to the subplot involving Opium War aftermath and heavy foreshadowing of Lee's patriotic hero status. Early on, this is charmingly played out through the opium addiction of Tony Leung Ka Fai as Lee Senior, and its exploitation by the Westernized villains. Then the period film references turn more studio-specific, with choreographer Chin Kar-Lok playing Shek Kin vs. Eddie Cheung as Cho Tat-wah - providing Bruce with the good/evil archetypes that would shape much of his cinematic philosophy.We also get to see Alex Man as Ng Chor-fan recruiting Bruce for "The Orphan" and drilling into him the importance of dramatic acting. There are enjoyable if sparse scenes regarding Lee Hoi-chuen's involvement in the seminal Wong Fei-Hung mega-franchise. And MC Jin turns in another promising performance after Gallants - this time as Unicorn Chan, foreshadowing his continued importance in Lee's life after the tragedy that impelled the Dragon across the water to 'Frisco.After a promising start packed with period detail and many exciting references, both to classic HK cinema and foreshadowing Lee's career, this turns into a fairly disappointing affair. One with a typically slapdash approach to history that eagerly chooses the least interesting avenues to explore. But one worth seeing for the many fun, semi-inside references and its general willingness to fail via overambitious pretense as well as genre cliché.