Bruce Lee, the Legend Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Bruce Lee, the Legend Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 12, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest and Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest 4K sets.

In the vein of Everything Everywhere All At Once, could it be that Arrow Video and Shout! Factory are actually "each other" in alternate universes? Of course that's said in jest, but considering the following facts. Arrow has given martial arts fans holiday presents of a kind for two years running with Shawscope Volume One and Shawscope Volume Two, and Shout! is now starting to trot out their own collections with Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume One, Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Two, and Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Three. There's also a corollary if reversed situation in that Shout! released Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection years ago and now Arrow is following suit with its own collection, all of which may give credence to my obviously whimsical proposition. (For purposes of this obviously joking comparison, we're just going to flat out ignore Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits from Criterion, as well as any number of other releases in various regions that have come out through the years.) As Bruce Lee fans in particular will probably know, the Shout! release of Lee films was afflicted with so many problems that it was actually recalled (more than once, kind of humorously), resulting in me having to revisit some of the films several times as Shout! attempted to remedy various problems (I got a downright hilarious private message from our site administrator at one point with this hilarious photo of a train wreck when the second or third recall was announced). One can only hope that the Arrow release doesn't encounter that series of unfortunate events (I'm hoping against hope we would know by now if it had any major issues), but it's another really stunning collection from the label, with generally secure technical merits and some outstanding supplements, along with some handsome deluxe packaging.

Eleven years after Golden Harvest put out Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend, they revisited their (arguably) most iconic star with another, probably more thoughtful, documentary which unavoidably covers a lot of the same material as The Man and the Legend, but which incorporates a lot of archival and interview aspects that the first documentary did not. This comes off has somewhat more of a hagiography than The Man and the Legend, which struck me personally as almost willfully exploitative, but that may make this documentary's more measured approach less appealing for some. That said, there is a glut of great information here, and some really fun archival stills and video.

Bruce Lee, the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bruce Lee: The Legend is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow's beautiful hardback book included with this release contains the following information on the transfer of this film and its disc mate:

High definition masters of the two documentaries, Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend and Bruce Lee: The Legend, were supplied to Arrow Films by Fortune Star Media Limited. Additional optimisation and audio conforming on both films was undertaken on behalf of Arrow Films by Brandon Bentley.

There's a bit of a tradeoff in terms of video quality when comparing this documentary to The Man and The Legend, in that this documentary's use of ubiquitous film clips offers them in 1.78:1 rather than their original aspect ratio, but otherwise, I'd rate the overall general quality of this transfer to be superior to the earlier documentary, especially with regard to some of the newly shot material. That new material offers a natural looking palette and typically quite excellent detail levels. As with the earlier documentary, though, there's an unavoidably heterogenous look to things simply because so many different sources were utilized.

Bruce Lee, the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bruce Lee: The Legend features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono and provides a secure listening experience throughout. As with the first documentary, there's quite a bit of narration, which sounds considerably more full bodied here than the narration on the earlier documentary. Talking head material also sounds fine. Optional English subtitles are available.

Bruce Lee, the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Bruce Lee: The Man & The Legend and Bruce Lee: Legend on one disc, with the following supplementary material:

• The Legend: Alternate Video Version (HD; 1:23:56)


• A Tour of Golden Harvest Studios (HD; 7:13) features Russell Cawthorne.


• Enter the Dragon: Alternate HK Credits (HD; 2:17)


• Theatrical Trailers

  The Man & The Legend (HD; 2:24)

  
  

  The Legend (HD; 2:06)

• Image Gallery (HD)

Bruce Lee, the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Of the two documentaries on this disc, I personally found The Legend to be the more enjoyable enterprise, even if it may be a bit too formulaic and reverent with regard to its subject. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements enjoyable. Recommended.