Legacy of Rage: The late Brandon Lee’s first starring role is a straight-up mid 1980’s Hong Kong action flick in the same vein as “The Killer”, the “Better Tomorrow” flicks, with many of the same devices - two-handed gun-fu, some minor martial artistry, unlikely friendships, triads in lousy suits, betrayal, vengeance, incompetent women characters. The difference being that this film is INCREDIBLY STUPID to boot. Master Lee is Brandon Ma, a regular schlub with a girlfriend named May and whose greatest ambition is to own a motorcycle. His best friend Michael happens to be a psychopathic drug dealer who frames Brandon for murder, sending him to prison. Meanwhile, May, pregnant with Brandon’s child, flees to Brazil after Michael tries to rape her. 8 years later, Brandon leaves prison and tries to pick up the pieces of his life and move on. Unfortunately, May reinserts herself back in his life with Brandon‘s child, as does Michael, and it all ends in a hail of bullets. Brandon is dubbed over for the length of the movie, though it is not uncommon for his mouth to move onscreen with no dubbing to be heard. At least we are spared the agony of listening to him speak. Every Asian action cliché is trooped out and crapped upon by a plot that doesn’t know when to quit and is almost criminally dumb (as are many of the characters). Woodchuck sez, “Skip it.”
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