Rating: - If you just want to have a decent set of the movies, get it
The set is called "The Ultimate Collection." I wouldn't call it that, but it plays it's purpose if you just want to be able to see all of his Hong Kong movies. Essentially, this set contains four actual films and one stinky pile of crap. I think it would be easier to explain what I mean if I review each movie individually. I will give each film a rating from 1 (*) to four (****) stars.

the Big Boss ***: This was Bruce's first film, and the overall quality shows it. The film looks very fake, very 70s. There is also an annoying excess of blood and nudity. However, the Bruce Lee fights are impressive and fun to watch. Unfortunately, Bruce's fighting simply doesn't get enough screen time. This is most likely due to the fact that he was relatively new on the scene at the time, and was just being introduced to audiences.

Fist of Fury ****: Now this is more like it! Bruce lee gets a ton of fighting time, and they cut out the crap (the tomato sauce blood and the nudity). Of the films in this set, this is probably my favorite (though I do believe that Enter the Dragon was best). The only thing that annoyed me (and this is relatively minor) was Bruce's love interest. She reminds me too much of the girl from speed racer.

Way of the Dragon ***1/2: I would have given this three stars were it not for the final fight scene. The movie seems much more exciting than the others (the scene with the sharpshooter was intense) and Bruce Lee has a chance to show off some nunchaku skills. To top it off, he fights Chuck Norris at the end.

Game of Death **1/2: This film can be split into two segments. The first is the 1 hour 20 minutes that uses a double instead of the real Bruce Lee. This segment really isn't very good, but it's better that you might have heard. The last 20 minutes are the main part of the film, and they are well worth holding out for.

Game of Death 2 *1/2: Wow. I was expecting a bad film, but I have to say, I wasn't expecting this. Any film that contains the lines,
"Who are you?" "Jack the ripper." has to be an awful film, but it doesn't stop there. The final few scenes take place in a 1960's looking sci-fi set. That's right. A sci-fi set. It looks horrible. When the hero meets the villain right before the final fight (which is an awful fight, involving more in the way of fancy flips than actual fighting, and stretches on for some 20 minutes), he says "You're not dead." Now, usually, if a character is presumed dead throughout the film, when he is found alive, there should be a lot of drama involved (The Two Towers had it right, for example), but in this sorry excuse for cinema, the guy just says "You're not dead" so casually. These are only the beggining of the problems that plague this movie, but I don't feel like listing the rest. This is considered a "Bruce Lee movie," but I don't think it is fair to hold Lee responsible for this crap. I gave the film an extra half star because they got rid of the insufferable sunglasses the Bruce Lee impersonator wore in the first Game of Death.

Overall, if you are looking for a good set that mostly gets it right, this is for you, but if you are looking for the true ultimate collection, hold out for another few years. I'm sure some time in the future they will release a better set that replaces GoD 2 with Enter the Dragon, though they can't do this at the moment because another company owns the rights to that film.

Television Show Collectibles

Movie Searches