Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Enter the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Don't think... buy.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III August 4, 2023

Robert Clouse's Enter the Dragon turns 50 this year, which also marks the same amount of time we've been without star Bruce Lee who tragically died a month before its theatrical debut. One of the most influential action films of its day and a watershed moment for martial arts' kung-fu grip on pop culture during the next few decades, it's still a blast to watch. Combining hard-hitting combat with colorful characters and just the right level of camp, Enter the Dragon is a true "total package" film that's finally made is 4K UHD debut from Warner Bros. Though it's missing a Blu-ray copy (remastered or not) and the extras that come with it, this A/V restoration is worth the price of admission.

For a synopsis and appreciation of Enter the Dragon, travel back in time to Kenneth Brown's review of Warner Bros.' 2007 Blu-ray, a write-up he also used for his coverage of their 40th Anniversary Edition. Criterion later released Enter the Dragon on Blu-ray in 2020 as part of their Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits collection which included both the Special Edition and the less common theatrical version that excised 4 minutes of "philosophical" footage, including an early conversation between the Shaolin Abbott and Lee as well as a flashback during his last fight. WB's new 4K release offers both restored versions on the same disc and two vintage supplements for the Special Edition.

Enter the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: The screenshots in this review are sourced from an earlier Blu-ray edition of the film.

UPDATE 8/6: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has issued a statement regarding their new A/V restoration, including the confirmation that it was sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative as well as details about the original mono and new Dolby Atmos mixes. Rather than repurpose the information via text, it has been uploaded as Screenshot #8. Thanks to the Hong Kong Cinema Appreciation Society for sharing this info!

Taken on its own merits, this looks to be a very pleasing presentation of Enter the Dragon, one that respects its analog origins while polishing it to a shine likely not seen since original theatrical showings. Fine detail is impressive, from crisp aerial photography to tight close-ups and wide shots showcasing an army of tournament fighters and other participants. Textures are similarly on point, in regards to both tangible on-screen elements like costumes, skin, and hair to the film grain itself, which varies in density depending on the scene (or frame rate) while typically retaining the ever-present but unobtrusive appearance of first-generation source material. Colors likewise seem true to their roots; they're largely specific to this era of filmmaking with lots of warmer earth tones, but intermittently laced with brightly-colored primaries such as the extremely vivid uniforms seen in Lee's opening exhibition match, neon and other urban signage, and the ridiculously fluorescent-red blood left by Han's razor-sharp hand attachments.

It's tied together capably by a tasteful HDR application that subtly bolsters its color palette while offering tighter contrast values at both ends of the light spectrum; the white uniform's of Han's army stands out with no apparent blooming, while Lee's navy-blue jumpsuit is easily visible against even the deepest shadows.

My only area of slight concern, hence the lack of a perfect score, is encoding. Both versions of Enter the Dragon are included separately rather than via seamless branching, and they're authored on a triple-layer (100GB) disc. While just over three hours of UHD material should fit nicely onto most discs with this kind of storage capacity, stray compression artifacts nonetheless popped up here and there; nothing major, but mostly trace amounts of chunky noise and macro blocking that lightly sparred with film grain during Enter the Dragon's most dimly-lit moments. Even so, this is far and away they healthiest I've seen the film look on home video, so consider it one for the win column.

Enter the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps the bigger surprise here is Enter the Dragon's audio presentation, at least taking into account Warner Bros.' less-than-stellar track record in that department. The default option is a new Dolby Atmos mix that's likely repurposed from previous 5.1 surround tracks, which in turn may be sourced from theatrical re-releases that utilized multi-channel audio. Regardless of its origins, this is a wonderfully immersive and impactful remix that gives high priority to both on-screen action and Lalo Schifrin's percussive original score, which sounds incredibly full and dynamic at opportune times. Dialogue is occasionally mixed a touch low but not unnaturally or distractingly so, with the overall experience feeling rich and robust in a way than most films from this era aren't. Atmos' object-based format yields fairly striking results in the area of heavy hits and background effects (shattering glass, crowd response) and, though height channels aren't extensively active from start to finish, they check in at specific moments to add an extra layer of effective immersion. All told, this rock-solid effort might be a new go-to option for all but the most stubborn purists.

Those folks will appreciate Warner Bros.' inclusion of Enter the Dragon's original mono mix in DTS-HD 2.0 (a home video first for the studio!); to my ears, this track sounds identical to the lossless LPCM 1.0 mix included on Criterion's Blu-ray, albeit split over two channels. It's a capable presentation of the original big-screen experience, warts and all, with a much less robust but nonetheless solid overall balance between dialogue and background effects with plenty of room left over for the original score. It's comparatively mixed quite a bit lower than the Atmos track (5-10dB), so anyone interested in doing a spot-check comparison will want to keep that volume button handy.

The Atmos, mono, and all listed dub and subtitle options are available during both Enter the Dragon's Special Edition as well as the theatrical cut, with the exception of Chinese -- that's included on the Special Edition only.

Enter the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with new collage artwork that's actually not terrible; a matching slipcover and Digital Copy are also included. Unfortunately, the lack of a remastered Blu-ray means that this 4K release is missing hours of exclusive extras... not to mention the ones that Criterion pulled together for the Special Edition and theatrical version discs as part of their exhaustive Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits Blu-ray collection.

We still get a few scraps related to the Special Edition, though.

• Introduction by Linda Lee Cadwell (2:11) - This DVD-era video introduction, playable either on its own or optionally before the Special Edition, features Bruce Lee's widow who goes into light detail about the reinstated "philosophical" footage and why it was important to her late husband's vision for the film.

• Audio Commentary - Another DVD-era supplement also included on both WB Blu-rays, this feature-length track pairs up the film's producer Paul Heller and writer Michael Allin. It's dryly technical-minded rather than warm and retrospective, with portions of the conversation feeling more than a little disjointed since Allin is participating via phone instead of in-person (a criticism any post-2020 person understands all too well). Certainly not the finest audio commentary in existence, but decent enough and at least peppered with first-hand info.

Enter the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Enter the Dragon is a 1970s action classic and a fantastic gateway drug for those new to martial arts films, and WB's 4K presentation makes it shine like new. But much like their recent UHD releases of films like Rio Bravo and National Lampoon's Vacation, the studio has not included a remastered Blu-ray which makes it far from a definitive package... so you'll need to either retain your old discs or Frankenstein them together to have everything. For die-hard fans just looking for a great-looking (and sounding) version of both versions on 4K, however, this will fit the bill.