Initially I had dreaded sitting down to watch the 1981 movie "Game of Death 2" after having sat through the abysmal 1978 "Game of Death". But still, I hadn't seen this sequel before, and I had the chance now in 2020, so of course I did so. Although it was with some reluctancy.
Turns out, however, that "Game of Death 2" (aka "Sei mong tap") turned out to be a great improvement in terms of entertainment and storywise. And also, this was done in a lot more tactful manner than the 1978 movie.
Sure, this could hardly be called a Bruce Lee movie, as he wasn't in the movie all that much. And what scenes he was there, was from stock footage from previous movies. So slapping his name on the movie to sell it was just a bit distateful.
And again, we have a stand-in for Bruce Lee, for obvious reasons. But at least this time he wasn't wearing shades wherever he went, but the shots where 90% from the back, so you just saw the back of his head and hair, and other shots were from a great distance, so his face wasn't all that clear. A good way of doing it? Well, that of course, is individual taste and preference. I felt it was just sort of silly.
The majority of the storyline revolved around Bruce Lee's character's brother - good way of giving the stand-in a double role, huh? So again, calling this a Bruce Lee movie was just pushing it.
But taking these things out of the equation, then the movie was adequately entertaining. Campy, for sure, but an entertaining enough martial arts movie that necessarily didn't take itself overly serious. I mean, suddenly it took place inside a very futuristic sci-fi-looking environment with high technology death traps and such. Sure, why not...
I am rating "Game of Death 2" a mediocre five out of ten stars. At least it was better than the 1978 movie, and that counts for something, even though it took very little to surpass that train wreck.
Turns out, however, that "Game of Death 2" (aka "Sei mong tap") turned out to be a great improvement in terms of entertainment and storywise. And also, this was done in a lot more tactful manner than the 1978 movie.
Sure, this could hardly be called a Bruce Lee movie, as he wasn't in the movie all that much. And what scenes he was there, was from stock footage from previous movies. So slapping his name on the movie to sell it was just a bit distateful.
And again, we have a stand-in for Bruce Lee, for obvious reasons. But at least this time he wasn't wearing shades wherever he went, but the shots where 90% from the back, so you just saw the back of his head and hair, and other shots were from a great distance, so his face wasn't all that clear. A good way of doing it? Well, that of course, is individual taste and preference. I felt it was just sort of silly.
The majority of the storyline revolved around Bruce Lee's character's brother - good way of giving the stand-in a double role, huh? So again, calling this a Bruce Lee movie was just pushing it.
But taking these things out of the equation, then the movie was adequately entertaining. Campy, for sure, but an entertaining enough martial arts movie that necessarily didn't take itself overly serious. I mean, suddenly it took place inside a very futuristic sci-fi-looking environment with high technology death traps and such. Sure, why not...
I am rating "Game of Death 2" a mediocre five out of ten stars. At least it was better than the 1978 movie, and that counts for something, even though it took very little to surpass that train wreck.