Enter the Dragon (2-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Well Bruce Lee fans I don't know if you are quite ready for this but the Special Edition of Enter the Dragon is directed right at you and not being a huge martial art movie fan Enter the Dragon is pretty damn good! Lee has a look that would be masterful for the theater today and would most likely rid us of the horrible movies Jackie Chan like to churn out, not only was a he a master of what he does best he liked to show it off.

Enter the Dragon was first released in 1973 and follows Lee (Bruce Lee) as he is recruited to participate in a karate tournament on a secret island hideway to obtain proof of the evil master Han's white slavery and drug trafficking ring. The storyline is cheesy, but no more cheesy than any Bond film you have ever seen.

The picture looks great and if you have been watching this on VHS or catching the rebroadcasts of it on television you will be quite thankful. Along with the video improvement you also get a Dolby 5.1 audio track to allow you to hear all the old style cracks of a punch and Lee's "Heeyaw!"

The movie aside, this DVD is a celebration of Lee's life with several features (some of them quite long) to keep you busy.

First off you have an audio commentary by producer Paul Hellar who gradually goes over the film keeping you interested somewhat, but overall this is a feature I didn't necessarily care for despite the fact he gets Michael Allen (screenplay) on the phone to talk about the original titlefor the film, Blood and Steel, and they talk about the title change and the reason for Enter the Dragon. So, if you don't know where the title came from you are just going to have to give it a listen, but don't worry it comes up in the first five minutes.

Next you have a group of interviews with Linda Lee Cadwell, the writer of the film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, which was released in 1993 telling the story of Bruce Lee's life. She goes over all her thoughts on Lee and, just like the audio commentary, I wasn't particularly interested, but that primarily has to do with the fact that the rest of the features are so much more interesting.

The rest of the features are all much more personal as they deal with the life of Bruce Lee in detail with a 30th anniversary documentary "Blood and Steel", "Bruce Lee: In His Own Words" documentary, "Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey" documentary, which includes a reconstruction of Lee's intended cut of The Game of Death, which was ultimately released after Lee passed away and really upset several Lee fans and by watching this you will see why, "Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon" documentary, the original 1973 making-of featurette and "Backyard Workout with Bruce Lee" home movie footage.

Several of these show footage of Lee you may have never seen, especially the home video feature "Backyard Workout with Bruce Lee", which you will also get a little more from in the other featurettes.

Two of those previously mentioned featurettes, "Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey" and "Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon", reside on the second disc and each are feature length and extremely well done. Going into all aspects of Lee's life they can become a bit too much for someone who isn't exactly a huge Bruce Lee fan, but for those of you that adore the man (I know you're out there) you are going to eat these up!

Overall, this special edition proves once again that DVDs are well worth the investment and as these special editions become more and more popular I can only hope they keep stepping up their game. This one is well worth the buy for action film fans and certainly Bruce Lee fans.