Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2

This violent docudrama recounts the life and career of Bruce Lee, famous Chinese martial arts fighter and movie star. Bruce is played very competently by Jason Scott Lee who is not related to Bruce. In 1949, Bruce leaves Hong Kong for San Francisco where he finds life is difficult. Sometimes bullies batter him because he is Chinese, but he takes revenge on them with his powerful martial arts skills. Eventually, he opens his own karate/Kung Fu studio and soon has many students. Along the way, he marries a blonde American girl, Linda (Lauren Holly), who stands by him faithfully. Life becomes even more difficult when he violates the rules of an underground Chinese ruling council and must defend himself in a bloody karate battle. And he's plagued with a recurring nightmare in which an armored warrior tries to destroy him. His fortunes change when he's hired to perform in a TV adventure series. He later returns to Hong Kong to become a famous karate movie actor and filmmaker. The film is well done and has plenty of action and drama, along with numerous brutal karate battles. It will appeal primarily to Bruce Lee fans and karate enthusiasts.

The karate battles are carried to the extreme with savage scowls, choking, bloody beatings and cuttings, including heads bashed against walls, bars and stones. The graphic battles are no less than blatant exploitation of violence to entertain. Sexual intercourse is implied in one bedroom scene with sensual body caressing, and also passionately implied between Bruce and a waitress in the back room of a restaurant. Offensive language is confined to four obscenities and some moderate crudities. Some eastern religious practices are portrayed, but are incidental to the story. Bruce wisely comments that fists can't change people's minds, but makes frequent use of his own. The demon which plagues Bruce is described as his fear, anger and hatred and he is admonished to conquer them all. When Bruce neglects his wife, he repents and says he doesn't want to break her heart. Dragon portrays some family values and espouses racial tolerance, but its obsession with gratuitous violence overwhelms its desirable content.

Preview Reviewer: John Evans
Distributor: Universal Pictures, 100 Universal Blvd., Universal City, CA 91608