Birth of the Dragon (2016) – Philip Ng and Xia Yu

6/10 – While it is watchable when you’ve not seen it before or perhaps when you’ve not seen it in many years, I would not rate this as a particularly good movie, although it’s not terrible either. The two lead performances were not bad in terms of actor charisma – they were actually pretty good although they had very little plot to work with. And the movie also saw some fair martial arts moves, which vaguely reflected the styles they were meant to represent. But anyone who’s very familiar with Bruce Lee’s life and levels, including his progression through Wing Chun into Jeet Kune Do, and his rivalry with Wong Jack Man will know that this movie not only butchered his history in unforgivable ways but it totally turned it on its head in a borderline parodic manner. Anyone who feels an affinity to Bruce and knows his true story in depth will most likely feel this movie is utterly disrespectful to him, the way it makes him out to be so arrogant and one-dimensional in his early years. Still, as a martial arts flick unrelated to the real life of Bruce Lee except in the way it borrows a few names and a few moves, it’s mildly entertaining thus deserving of a 6/10.