The Way of the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

The Way of the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 12, 2023

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

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.

For my thoughts on the film, please see my The Way of the Dragon Blu-ray review of the Shout! release. That review also provides an opportunity to compare screenshots and see how supplements stack up between the releases.

The Way of the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's 1080 presentation of the film.

The Way of the Dragon is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. I've excerpted both some general and specific comments about the transfer included in Arrow's beautiful hardback book included with this release:

The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Game of Death and Game of Death II have been exclusively restored for this collection by Arrow Films. The original feature film elements have been used as the primary source materials for this work, but extensive searches and investigations were also undertaken to locate and identify additional film and audio material sin order to restore original logos, credits, cut scenes and reconstruct alternate release versions.

The Way of the Dragon has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Mandarin, Cantonese and English mono audio. The best existing feature film element, an original 35mm internegative, was scanned and restored in 4K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The film underwent additional picture restoration and was graded in SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision at Silver Salt Restoration, London. The original opening logos, alternate opening credits and other material relating to the Japanese theatrical cut were upscaled from a high definition scan of a Japanese 35mm exhibition print supplied by Twin Co., Ltd., with further restoration and grading by Silver Salt. All audio mixes were remastered from the best quality materials available by Bad Princess Productions, London.

As I mentioned in my review of Arrow's 1080 presentation of this film, the fact that this was sourced from an internegative may make this suffer when compared to other transfers in this set culled from original negatives. That's probably even more the case with this 4K UHD version, where the increased resolution can't help but point out some of the outright fuzzy qualities of the source, but also a somewhat wan palette, something that even HDR10 and/or Dolby Vision can't do much to ameliorate. I'd still rate this version as more appealing generally than Shout!'s 1080 presentation, but this is one case in the set where some may actually prefer Arrow's 1080 presentation to this one, since the 1080 version may actually "paper over" some of the deficits of the source. There are still some very appealing moments of well rendered fine detail here, and a decent if not gorgeous palette. As befits the source, grain can be pretty chunky looking at times.

The Way of the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Way of the Dragon features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono options in Mandarin, English or Cantonese. The English track is somewhat more vibrant than the Chinese language options, with a more energetic midrange and to my ears a somewhat louder overall mix. All three tracks deliver dialogue, effects and score without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Way of the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries

  Commentary by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth

  
  

  Commentary by Brandon Bentley

• Alternate Japanese Version (HD; 1:40:17)


• The Way of the Camera (HD; 51:32) is a newly produced featurette looking at Lee's filmmaking and fighting techniques.


• Meet the Italian Beauty (HD; 26:18) is a newly produced interview with Melisa Longo. Subtitled in English.


• The Scottish Soldier Meets the Dragon (HD; 18:30) offers some reminiscences from John Young, who spent a day on the set of the film during shooting.


• Scene Commentary with Piet Schweer (HD; 18:28) is actually more of an audio interview featuring Schweer and Michael Worth which plays out to scenes from the film.


• Archive Interviews are in English:

  Introduction by Robert Lee (HD; 1:01) is in English.

  
  

  Jon Benn (HD; 21:42)

  
  

  Hwang In-sik (HD; 15:23)

  
  

  Bob Wall (HD; 33:35)

  
  

  Chaplin Chang (HD; 25:26)

  
  

  Louis Sit (HD; 11:08)

• Alternate Credits Sequences

  Textless Opening Credits (HD; 1:55)

  
  

  English Export Credits (1972) (HD; 1:58)

  
  

  US Theatrical Re-release (1980) (HD; 2:18)

• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) (HD; 4:09)

  
  

  HK Re-release Trailer (English) (HD; 4:26)

  
  

  US Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:12)

  
  

  US TV Spots (HD; 1:37)

  
  

  UK Theatrical Teaser (HD; 00:41)

  
  

  UK Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:41)

  
  

  UK TV Spot (HD: 00:09)

  
  

  UK Radio Spot (HD; 00:32) plays to key art.

  
  

  Brucesploitation Trailers (HD; 11:46)

• Image Galleries

  Publicity Stills and Lobby Cards (HD)

  
  

  Behind the Scenes (HD)

  
  

  Posters and Video Art (HD)

The Way of the Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Way of the Dragon is a ton of fun and offers bittersweet proof of what a nascent auteur Bruce Lee was becoming. This 4K UHD presentation is probably the least overall pleasing of the 4K presentations in the set, but is still appealing on its own merits given the source element. Supplements are outstanding. Recommended.