- Year: 1978
- Co-Starring: Bruce Li, James Griffiths, Mary Ha, Ku Feng, Lee Hoi San, Steve Sanders, Joseph Soto, George Yirikian, Danny Lee
- Directed by: Wa Yat-Wang
- Running time: 88 minutes
A thrilling movie about two rival managment firms! It's Hong Kong shortly after the death of Bruce Lee and Missy Mary sees Bruce Li beating up some thugs in the street and decides that Bruce will be her next big star. Miss Mary signs Bruce to her firm and hires him a hard drinkin' teacher and builds up his social standing as well. Mr. George of the Cosmo Agency has seen a decline in clients and now it's time to fight dirty. Old Bruce is constantly under attack by fighters sent by the Cosmo Agency. In the end Bruce is tired of the whole thing as he has no life and everything is staged and set up, even his romantic meeting of some French chick. In the end Bruce's girlfriend is kidnapped and Bruce is supposed to throw a fight if she wants to see her again. Miss Mary sends men to rescue Bruce's girlfriend, but then they tell Bruce she was killed. Bruce wins the fight and later sees his girlfriend alive. Sick of the whole situation, Bruce quits his lavish lifestyle to go back to driving a cab.
Actually this is the second time I've written this review. The first I was almost finished when my computer froze up and I had to restart it losing everything I wrote. I wasn't very enthusiastic about writing this review the first time, so the second time around I'm literally forcing myself to do this. So the following review is pretty weak and something I just typed up quickly just so I could get it done and have an update for the site. For a much better review of Dynamo read William's review. He really puts me to shame with his ability to spell and articulate himself so well.
Don't think my reluctance to write a review for Dynamo is a reflection of how good the film is, I enjoyed the film. Although it did start off a bit slow, the second half is pretty much non-stop kung fu action. Bruce Li goes fighting all over the globe including New York and a ski hill in South Korea. I bet a kick from someone wearing ski boots would really hurt. Even though they were on skis, I wouldn't really call it skiing. Going in straight line and pushing isn't skiing, they couldn't even manage a single turn. I guess the ski season is pretty short in Hong Kong, so Bruce Li doesn't get much practice. The back and forth fights between Bruce Li and boozy Ku Feng are great as they constantly attack each other out of nowhere. Which is great as it lends more action to the movie instead of wasting film with "acting".
If you've never seen the Shaw Brothers bruceploitation flick Bruce Lee His Final Days, His Final Nights, then check out Dynamo for some scenes from the movie. There is a montage of Bruce Li filming movies, then it cuts to a scene of Danny Lee fighting some Japanese fighters in a dojo which also turns out to be a movie within the movie. Later on Bruce Li is sitting in bed and he dozes off only to dream of Danny Lee fighthing some guy. This whole scene makes absolutely no sense at all.
The movie is supposed to be about Bruce Li's dillusionment with his fame and what little life he has is manufactured, but it takes a back seat to the fights. The fights are okay, but lacked excitement and after a while they all seem repetititve. Anyway, you won't know it, but it's taken me like a week and a half to write this lame "review". I'd say Dynamo is mediocre, with average quality fights, but there are lots of them, so if you like that then you'll enjoy it. So so.
"Reviewed" by Keith.
