The evil crime organization simply known as the Syndicate is pressing movie star Billy Lo and his girlfriend Anne to sign a mangagement deal with them. After being "encouraged" to join them, Billy still won't give in. They make an attempt on his life, but Billy survives and fakes his death in order to get even with them. Billy now takes the fight to Land and his men, in a game of death.
Any film that uses a cutout of Bruce Lee's face superimposed over a double's face doesn't have much credit in my opion. It warps Bruce Lee's original vision for GAME OF DEATH into a cheap money making gimmick. GAME OF DEATH starring BRUCE LEE, hey wait, that's not Bruce Lee! How comes he always wear sunglasses, even at night? Why are all the shots of Bruce from behind? GAME OF DEATH is a slap in the face to any Bruce Lee, but we all watch it anyway. The only reason to watch it is for the real Bruce Lee fight footage, but it's that's the case then just watch BRUCE LEE: A WARRIOR'S JOURNEY. WARRIOR'S JOURNEY does it better and it's all uncut, the way Bruce Lee had originally envisioned it.
I really enjoyed TOWER OF DEATH, yeah it had Bruce Lee footage and stuff, but it was still fun and had some great fights. Unfortunately, I can't find any redeeming points in GAME OF DEATH. It's just flat out blatant exploitation, or should I say BRUCEPLOITATION.
There are also numerous different edits of GOD, it seems every market had their own cut of the movie. There are other sites out there who compare the different versions and footage, so I won't bother. The biggest differences between the HK and US versions are some fight scenes and the HK version seems to have more Bruce Lee footage. The HK cut has the Casanova Wong fight which is pretty cool, so check that out, the US version is missing this fight. The US version has the Bruce Lee fight with Korean fighter, Ji Han Jae. I don't know why the HK cut is missing this scene, it would seem if your releasing a "new" Bruce Lee movie after his death, you wouldn't want to be cutting out any actual Bruce Lee footage. I don't get it.
I think this movie should've been the first movie reviewed here on the site considering it's nature. Although it's still a hell of a lot better than FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH. Go watch TOWER OF DEATH instead...
Reviewed by Keith.