MovieChat Forums > Jing wu men (1972) Discussion > How about remakes?

How about remakes?

posted 21 years ago by SPaS
34 replies | jump to latest

The thing I keep wondering is why doesn't Hollywood remake all 4½ Bruce Lee movies? I'd love to see "updated" versions of all of them! Modernize the originals as little as possible (set them all in the US... just don't tamper with the gross-out scenes!)
Now, we ALL agree that CGI should NOT be used to 'aid' the fights, but the actor TRYING to fill Bruce's shoes should be a regular martial arts guru himself.

Now who'd be the one... the most obvious answer is Jet Li, but I'd prefer someone fresh. However Jet Li would make a perfect nemesis for some movie (and Steven Seagal would make another), considerable right-arm henchmen would be Mark Dacascos and Jean-Claude Van Damme... and Dolph Lundgren would be the Russian opponent :D
Jackie Chan, Bolo Yeung, Sammo Hung & Chuck Norris would just HAVE to appear in cameos in the movies they originally were in!

Warner brothers, you hear?

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] illeatyourdog 21 years ago

Actually, Chinese Connection, or Fist of Fury, was remade in China with Jet Li. It has far more action scenes then Bruce Lee's but Bruse Lee's had Bruce lee and Jet Li just does not have the Charisma that Bruce did.

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] pmiano100 10 years ago

In the remake they gave him a Japanese girlfriend, they made the Japanese consul and all the Japanese civilians good guys, and they let him live at the end. All lies! It was a lousy picture, motivated by current political-economic relations. The Japanese treated the Chinese miserably back then. Most Japanese then as now, were decent people, but it it wasn't only the military that was imperialistic and fascist. In those days, Shanghai was an international city but to all intents and purposes, the Japanese ruled it, and not very kindly.

Note: In some versions of the story, Chen did escape. The most popular version, which Lee insisted on, says he was killed.

[–] Djas_Phur 21 years ago

I would like to know what these so-called 4½ Bruce Lee movies are. Especially that half one.
I am just starting to getting interested in Bruce Lee and martial art movies in general so I would be glad if you could name a couple.

Im am not into that whole remake thing hollywood has been going right now so I have to disagre with you on that one.

see ya....

-I need Japanese steel!

[–] aaronstc 21 years ago

Jet Li was in a Hong Kong remake of Fist of Fury called Fist of Legend. Donnie Yen starred in a Fist of Fury TV series in Hong Kong.

4 Films would be:
Big Boss AKA Fists of Fury
Fist of Fury AKA Chinese Connection
Way of the Dragon AKA Return of the Dragon
Enter the Dragon

The half would be Game of Death. He died before filming was finished and the producers took it upon themselves to completely ruin what was to be Bruce Lee's masterpiece.

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] WiseJoeyD 21 years ago

I'm not sure if a remake would do the originals justice. When i saw Fist of Legend I thought that whilst it was a good movie in itself it is too modernised. The style of fighting used just doesn't have the same feel to it as Bruce Lee's. One thing i've always noticed with martial arts movies (Matrix can be included too) is that whilst the choreography is often very good, you never get a feeling of how good the actual actor or actress is. Whenever i watch a Bruce Lee film it's always very clear to me just how far he was beyond the skill of anyone else i've ever seen. This is probably just me talking though. (i'm getting off subject SLIGHTLY)I just feel that remakes wouldn't capture the feel and charisma of the originals. Hard to put my finger on why though.

[–] Vandalx21 21 years ago

I AGREE TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY (Bruce Lee pun for those who can spot it) though a remake was done on "The Chinese Connection", any more remakes would be IMPOSSIBLE because Bruce Lee would be gone. The Reason all of these films did so well was because of Bruce Lee. His energy, intensity, and his "you'll be dead if you keep coming at me" style of fighting is unmatched by any actor/actress in the history of cinema. I would be so bold as to compare Bruce with all the great martial Artists of the Past such as Yip Man (Bruce's Teacher), Wong Fei Hung (Kung Fu Master and Chinese Revolutionary), Miyamoto Musashi (Considered the greatest swordsman of the Samurai age) as well as others, that is how powerful Lee was in the Martial Arts, he lived, breathed, and Spoke nothing but Martial arts. He would be the missing element to the equation of a Bruce Lee remake because basically, NO ONE CAN MATCH HIS SKILLS.

Dream as if you'll Live forever,
Live as if you'll Die tomorrow.

Enter the VANDAL!!!!

[–] NickSamaras 20 years ago

I have to agree with you on that one.

The Chinese Connection remake(that is the Fist Of Legend) was quite good, the action scenes were very well choreographed but a legend like Bruce Lee cannot be captured on film and we are not likely to see another Bruce ever again.

Quite an example was Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story with Jason Scott Lee as Bruce(gimme a break...) a part that Brandon Lee refused to take. The story was completely Hollywood-ian,with that ridiculous fight with the chinese guy which lasted 10mins(Bruce kicked his ass in the real deal,it only took him a couple of punches ,a lot of running around, chasing him and finnaly submiting the guy..he was never proud of that fight though because it took too long!)

Finally u can see another influence of The Chinese Connection in another Jet Li movie..Kiss of the dragon..
Where Jet storms in the police station,kicking his way in and walks through a door and it was the training hall for 30 policemen..Jet Li takes em all on and after a bit of kicking ,he grabs 2 rubber sticks and starts hittin em on their feet.Just like Bruce when he was on the floor hittin the Japs legs the nunchaku.

As far as good influences in movies are concerned im 100% behind em but if u ask me about remakes or movies involving Bruce Lee i would certainly say NO

So hands off and show some respect for the master!
He earned it the hard way.
" i am not who you think i am... i am better.. "

[–] ba63652 20 years ago

Screw remakes... I want to see redubs of the originals. All of the dialog, music, and background sound could stand to be done over. I wouldn't make it sound modern... I would just have it done with the quality it should have been done with in the first place. Bruce Lee's voice dub in Chinese Connection sounds like John Wayne. And the translations could use some work too. "Go and see if you can locate him." Yeah that sounds like something someone would actually say. How great would it be if Jet Li or Jackie Chan did the voice of Bruce's characters. Apart from actually being able to sound Chinese, they're decent actors that would sound much more believable than the low budget voice actors originally used. I would think a lot of big time actors and actresses would be honored to take part in making Bruce's movies sound better. And wouldn't be nice to hear realistic fight sounds that actually matched up with the action? I think if the best posible redubs were done with big budget actors... they would sell like crazy in English speaking countries throughout the world!

[–] SPaS 20 years ago

FINE! No remakes then.
Excuse me for all the hell and after this post I'll go commit a ritual suicide!

BUT

If not remakes, then I'd at least like to see a new bruce.

A real mofo, too fast for the cameras. Someone with a big mouth but who can put his money where his mouth is.
He doesn't want a massage and a bottle of freakin' evian after filming a 3 min battle-scene (which has to be digitally enhanced), but who's the first one on the set and the last to leave it at night, and after that he's going to the gym "to do a few push-ups" (upside down and on his knuckles). Someone who can, and is willing, to kick ass also off-camera.

[–] unreal_uk 20 years ago

It's *beep* to say noone can match his skills, its a pretty naive really, I absolutely agree he was completely amazing, but theres always someone better. There always was and always will be people stronger, faster and more skilled.

The only thing is they don't look as good in movies as Bruce did ;)

[–] BrahmaBull1022 20 years ago

...and Bruce Lee is that guy who is stronger, faster, and more skilled. I'm not one of those Bruce Lee ass kissers, but I have trained in many fighting styles for a long time (Kung-fu[Wing Chun then progressed to Jeet Kune Do], Karate, Muay Thai, Kickboxing) and I highly doubt we'll ever see someone like him. I've read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do obviously, and his ideas are genius. He draws a lot from Wing Chun, but the ONE thing he wants to get across to people is that you have to be free of any specific movements and be able to improvise. He basically challenged the teachings of many generations, and although that gained him many enemies, he also opened the door to a new era. He basically showed people what the old Kung-fu masters didn't want them to see, which is why no one will ever surpass him in fighting.

[–] Tsukasa 20 years ago

I feel that complete remake wouldn't do the film justice (the Jet Li ver. was good, but I mean a direct remake.) Instead, and anime remake would be awesome, it would be done by Shinchiro Watanabe (I might have mis-spelled it) the writter and director of Cowboy Bebop (the main Character in CB even uses Jeet Kune Do). CB has a lot of street fights, and gun fights mafia style. Don't worry he doesn't do big eyed kids anime. I feel he could do the movie justice. Also, he could use Bruce's notes and original script on Game of Death, and make it the way Bruce wanted it (accept animated)

[–] jonothemono 20 years ago

Remakes in my opinion needd to offer something new otherwise they're is no point in remaking them. and if

[–] Monk-ish 20 years ago

Sorry guys but Fist of Legend with Jet Li is 10 times better than any Bruce Lee movie. A lot of this has to do with time period and such, but buy Fist of Legend and be satisfied with that.

[–] WhatsInAUserID 20 years ago

To be honest, the only thing that really sets the Bruce Lee films apart from other Kung-Fu films, is Bruce himself. Take away the unbelieveable grace and stage presence of Bruce and you just have a typical Hong Kong movie.

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] chris-murray3 19 years ago

Look without Bruce Lee, there would be no Fist Of Legend.

[–] tranquilchaos101 19 years ago

Hey, I like the idea of remakes. Most people can't get over the fact that Jet Li et al are acutally way more entertaining than Bruce will ever be. Cmon, knocking a guy out with one punch gets old after awhile.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] stoned_soldier 19 years ago

I have all Bruce Lee movies and also Fist of Legend. Fist of Legend was pretty good but it lacked the intensity that Lee had in The Chinese Connection. Don't get me wrong, I gasped at the first fight scene (pummel scene, rather) in Fist of Legend and I thought that the rest of the movie would have that fighting style. Instead, I saw wires, sped-up tapes, and many "whoosh" sounds. The fighting was cool though in some parts. (Except for the crappy defense of the General, looked kinda wussy).

As for Game of Death, you can watch the original version (although it's still unfinished) that featured James Tien and much longer fight sequences. Example, the 2nd fighter (4th in the real version) was beat up in a couple of minutes while the real version lasted much much longer. The movie I refer to is a documentary with the lost footage at the end. "A Warrior's Journey". Also, there actually is a real remake of Game of Death with a Bruce Lee look-alike where they follow the original story line of the 5-level pagoda. I believe it has the same name. I didn't care to buy it at the video store because it was over-priced and I didn't want to waste money on what could be a horrible remake.

As for the other Bruce Lee movies (Way of the Dragon, Fists of Fury, and Enter the Dragon) I believe there should not be any remakes. It was bad enough that Bruce Li (look-alike) made those horrible movies using Bruce Lee's name as a way to sell movies. But I'm still not 100% against the remakes. If they were done correctly (NO WIRES or CGI) I could maybe accept them. Still undecided.

[–] Robert_90 18 years ago

Well, my idea is that this is remade but not as a martial-arts movie. Take Yojimbo - a samurai movie - remade as A Fistful of Dollars - a gunslinger movie.

The plot remains the same, but the rest could be altered.

"You Warriors are good. Real good."
"The best."