DYING OR LIVE
- Year: 2003
- Starring: Kim Seung Hyeon, Gwak Jin Yeong, Park Nam Hyeon
- Directed by: Kim Du Yeong
It is pretty hard to tell what the point of the movie is. There is a good guy and a bad guy, and a bunch of stuff happens. Characters come and go, some just show up, and it's somewhat confusing. The main character is named Bruce Lee and his parents were killed when he was just a boy...and guess what?? He likes Bruce Lee! The main baddie is named Keith, I took serious offense to this as he was giving all Keiths everywhere a bad rep. William would've been a more suitable name. Keith's main occupation is tricking young girls into thinking they'll be actresses when really they'll be whores. He is also a lackey to a one eyed gangster who is responsible for the death of Bruce Lee's parents. Keith rapes and beats Nancy, a girl that Bruce likes. The movie ends with a big brawl. Blah blah blah...
I don't even know where to start, I have so many complaints with the movie. Keith picks up two girls off the street and gets them all done up and the two have a few scenes, then they disappear never to be seen again. Why even feature them in the first place? The blonde one was cute, so I would've liked to have seen her more. What was the point of the one eyed ganster? Yeah, he killed Bruce's parents, but at the end when he's strolling up to the fight with a bunch of goons, Bruce runs and does a kick in the air and it's a freeze frame ala FIST OF FURY. The End. What the hell? There was some text on the screen, but it's Korean and wasn't subtitled, so I was confused. You think Keith would've gotten some revenge or something. I guess that would've been too predictable, and so nothing in the movie has been predictable. There is also something that isn't explored about the rival pizza vs Chinese restuarant and the shanty town the one eyed gangster is trying to demolish in order to build something. The brawl and the end is a result of the gangsters demolishing homes at the shanty town.
The movie is supposed to be a comedy and it does have a couple funny moments mostly due to the subtitles. You can't go wrong with lines like "Get the ass out of here!" Unfortunately, a comedy shouldn't have rapes scenes, elderly people being beaten, and violence against women. Some of the comedy is pretty low brow too, like the "Masturbation Pizza". There is also a scene with Bruce and the cute blonde he's hiding in his room. She drank a bunch of Coke and has to go to the bathroom, but he has to keep her hidden, so he makes her piss in a glass. I wasn't laughing. They showed the urine going into the glass, then cut to a look of relief on her face. She seemed less cute after than scene. Keith also tries to make a girl's breasts bigger by sticking plungers on them. Keith also has a rape scene with Nancy and then later on beats on her a couple of times.
The movie opens on a TV set playing scenes from ENTER THE DRAGON and FIST OF FURY. Then Bruce Lee(the movie character, not the real Bruce) is shown practicing. He does a little nunchuk work and some sloppy kicks, his leg isn't even straight. Behind him is a poster of Bruce Lee. Bruce walks around wearing a Bruce Lee t-shirt with the sleeves cut off cuz it looks bad ass. Later in the movie he tells Nancy, he's always looked up to Bruce and practices kung fu. From someone who seems to practice kung fu a lot he seems to get beaten up a lot more. After one beating he has a vision/hallucination of the real Bruce Lee, this was due to the brain swelling he received from the beating. When he finally comes to his senses and starts to dish out some paypack he first shows up in the classic yellow GOD suit with a yellow mask on. The final fight he shows up in a black suit with a black mask on. In every scene where he actually fights back he is wearing a mask. I wonder why that is? In the end after defeating Keith it shows Bruce glowing with a second form "exiting" his body. I'll take a stab and say that he was possesed by the spirit of Bruce Lee? If he was, he should've been able to take care of Keith no problem. During the final fight after Bruce pulls out his yellow nunchuks a rival Brucey fighter shows up with red nunchuks. The two pose and posture slinging the nunchuks around and Bruce easily takes him out with a whack over the head. How anti-climatic!
Honestly, I was expecting much worse, but that's not saying it was good. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The story was confusing and didn't seem to go anywhere, and didn't even seem like anything was resolved at the end of 90 minutes. The comedy wasn't funny and the fights were sloppy. What is the Korean thing with Bruce Lee anyway? I haven't seen LOOKING FOR BRUCE LEE, but I'm sure DYING OR LIVE is slightly better.
Check out the offical website at http://www.brucelee2003.com and you can download a preview and making of videos and images. I watched the VCD from IFL and there are a couple problems with it. The case says it's letterboxed at 1:1.85, but it's full frame. Sometimes people talk and they aren't subtitled. At the end of the credits it goes to a main menu of a DVD! The VCD isn't bootleg, it's official, but that's pretty cheap of IFL to just copy their DVD to VCD. You'd think if that was the case it still would be widescreen.
"Reviewed" by Keith
Bruceploitation
