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I’ve finally seen a Bruce Lee movie, and admittedly, I am a bit less impressed with the film overall. However, I am excited to check out more of his films. Particularly the ones that come after this one. Since The Big Boss was his first significant film, I opted for that one. Although I call myself something of a completist, this movie was released in the United States after the next film, Fist of Fury, came out. I didn’t really think I was going to come back to review this one, because I know nothing about Hong Kong martial arts films, but since I had something to say about it, here I am.
Lee passionately played Cheng Chao-an, a Chinese immigrant who moves to Pak Chong, Thailand to stay with his adoptive family and work at an ice manufacturing factory that also serves as a front for drug smuggling. Cheng constantly suffered at the hands of criminals as well as gangs that tortured men and women alike; promising his mother that he wouldn’t engage in violence is as good as throwing salt onto a gaping wound. Sadly, Cheng keeps his vow at the start of the movie, which is unfortunate for the audience. For those of you who have not seen a Bruce Lee movie before or are watching one for the first time, getting to the second half is crucial. His presence on the screen can be described as ‘magical’ to say the least, with Cheng keeping all of us engaged all the way to the end.
The final battle is hands down the best part of the movie, although some may argue otherwise as they fail to see the vestiges of feeling contained in our character’s fury, which makes the point moot. Why it matters so little is the fact that there’s no subtlety that contains the missing irony or poetry. Not to forget, Cheng’s moral values are so complacently bendable that you can easily argue he does not have any values at all.
The basis is weak, with a very thinly-stretched plot. At some point, a character more or less has to urge his co-actor to hasten the copious amount of delayed action in the movie. We get only the bare minimum in how the conflict and the relationship develops. While the character goes through hollowness, there is an expectation for us to join the rage. Somehow there is never any suspicion on any of the characters, and it’s always the villains’ alibis that are accepted without scrutiny.
The amusing English voices dubbed over Chinese dialogue are surprisingly carried throughout the film, particularly in th eopening act, but this feature gets boring once we notice how nothing else is going to engage us in the rest of the film.
By the way, this is the movie where I first saw horrifyingly crimson fake blood, and it was so awful that it become funny.
This is possibly the Bruce Lee film I have seen the most; I used to put the VHS on auto rewind during my childhood while thinking how cool Cheng (Lee) is. It is no secret that he became such an iconic because even at a young age, he had a brilliance of screen presence and charisma.
Without a doubt, he displays raw power unimaginable during all fight scenes, but with a single glimpse, the eyes showcase a simmering rage behind. In terms of softer scenes, they are nothing short of peaceful possessing an underlying sense of humor. All these traits are exhibited in The Big Boss, where he shows great restraint until it is unbearable, and while the film is flawed, it still manages to be tolerable due to Lee.
The plot makes no sense, and has perhaps, the most moronic villain plot ever: we will just cover these frozen ice cubes with drugs and hide these corpses in plain sight, and it’ll remain unnoticed forever. However, the outline is insignificant, as it serves exclusively as a tunnel for Bruce Lee’s greatness.
Seeing his kung fu skills for the first time was indeed a tearjerker, he moved with such grace and elegance that it left viewers breathless and mesmerized, and all the punches and kicks felt incomprehensible.
From a perspective of charm, the dubbing is horrible, but in order to have some additional comic relief, there is no problem, so adding humor makes Lee’s character all the more enjoyable.
While growing up, I have always enjoyed the IO main theme that stays in my head for days after watching it. However, some parts of the score are an annoyance as it gets intrusive at times.
The majority of the cast makes the parts laughable by providing terrible acting while the film tries too hard to take itself seriously. This unintentional mirth adds to the appeal for younger audiences.
Spoiler Alert I have respect for more downbeat endings and in this case Lee gets the Big Boss but his major defeats means that there are cops that need to arrest Lee for killing people. While his actions do have rare consequences, it is not an ending that is seen often in the genre.
Even though the fight sequences are not as appealing as washing Ip Man or The Raid, watching Lee fights with impressive, suitably bloody techniques is a sight to behold. The direction to which the film flows is more important and the direction Big Boss chose is a great one.
In the end, Lee saves the film with his charisma and martial arts skills even if The Big Boss is not seen as a classic film.
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Also Watch for more movies like: Django (1966)
