Brentwood issues a DVD set in "loving" tribute to the late Bruce Lee. The set contains four movies; IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE, BRUCE LEE THE MAN THE MYTH, BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE, and FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH. I'm not sure exactly how any of those movies pay tribute to Bruce Lee except for maybe THE MAN, THE MYTH. I imagine the makers of FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH dancing a jig on Bruce Lee's grave with fistfuls of money. I'd like to see some DVD company issue a Bruceploitation set that would basically be called something along the lines of "A Slap in the Face to Bruce Lee". If any DVD companies read this, please e-mail me, I got lots of great ideas. Anyway, back to the review...
The versions of IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE, BRUCE LEE THE MAN THE MYTH and BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE are the exact same as the Front Row version, in fact they are the same. Brentwood even uses the Front Row menus, they just swap out the Front Row logo for their own. I always wondered if these cheapie DVD companies used the same prints and now I guess they do. Hey, you can even read William's DVD review for IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE from Front Row, I could've just left IMAGE off this review altogether.
Picture quality
IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE, BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE, and BRUCE LEE THE MAN, THE MYTH are the usual full screen sourced from VHS prints. There is one surprise on here in that FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH is widescreen. After watching the other films, FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH looks really good. The picture is clear and the colors are nice. What a waste, that the worst film looks the best.
Sound quality
Not a whole lot to say, it's Dolby Mono 2.0 with no major audio glitches.
The Films
I could give brief descriptions of the films or you could just click on these links to the reviews; IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE, BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE, BRUCE LEE THE MAN, THE MYTH, and FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH.
Extras
FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH - A very plain uninspired main menu, 8 chapter stops, but has several features, although none of them special. The disc has a DVD dictionary, movie trivia, a Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon, and DVD-ROM content. The movie trivia is somewhat lame as some discs have trivia that's usually based on the movie on the disc. The trivia on the disc is about Hollywood movies from classic stuff to more recent films. The Casper cartoon is called "A Haunting We Will Go" and as everyone knows kung fu movies and Casper go hand-in-hand. The DVD-ROM part is pretty useless. Once you access it you can look at the DVD Dictionary (again) and play movie trivia (again). There are links to play even more trivia as well as a link to Brentwood's DVD Rewards Program. From the DVD-ROM menu you can click the "Play" icon to play the movie, but then you have to locate your DVD player software.
BRUCE LEE, THE MAN, THE MYTH - This disc features a static menu with a picture of Bruce Li, 12 chapters stops on the chapter selection menu, and the "About Kung Fu" feature. The "About Kung Fu" feature is about the start of kung fu in movies and on television. The text scrolls up with background music and and a clip of Bruce Li fighting Kong Do which is for some reason tinted yellow.
BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE - Static background picture on the main menu, 12 chapter selections, and the "About Kung Fu" feature.
IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE - The main menu has a looping clip from the movie of Bruce Li fighting some guys, 12 chapters selections, the "About Kung Fu" feature, and an "About Bruce Li" feature. I was rather excited to see they had done an "About Bruce Li" feature, but when I selected it the "About Kung Fu" played! Damn, don't tease me. The only missing thing from this disc is a basic feature all other DVDs have, the "Play" option! At the main menu the only way to get the movie to play is to go into the chapter selection menu and start it from there, although when I put the disc in my player the movie automatically started playing.
Packaging
Brentwood houses the DVDs in one of those nice dual DVD holders that opens on both ends. Yes, that does mean you only get two discs total (they are double sided discs). The front and back cover both feature picture of Bruce Lee because I'm sure a picture of Bruce Lee is going to sell a lot more discs than a picture of the guy from BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE. Dan Wheelan could've gotten more creative with the design. Dan Wheelan is the guy credited with the sleeve design, it's on the back of the case. It's all your fault Dan.
The End
If you already own the Front Row DVDs for IMAGE, THE MAN THE MYTH and BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE you might not want to waste money on this set, or you could then get rid of those three discs making more room in your collection. Just remember those three are the same as the Front Row versions, they aren't any better in quality.
I originally bought this set just to get THE MAN, THE MYTH on DVD. Also, I believe for some reason this makes the third copy of IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE I own on DVD. THE MAN, THE MYTH would be the only reason to get this set, if you don't have it already. You can think of the other films as the bonus features, then the disc would be really good! Yes, I'll admit FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH looks pretty good, so if for some reason you want to watch it (but why??), try and track down this version. I'm still trying to figure out how this DVD set is a tribute to Bruce Lee. Anybody?
Reviewed by Keith.