Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee
In 1973, martial arts great Bruce Lee died, his final film, Game of Death, left unfinished. With the public hungry for more Lee, movie execs decide to find a replacement. This outrageous satire looks at the entire process, from the oddball candidates to the greed and racial motivations that drive the final decision. There's big business in the movies, and Finishing the Game skewers it with an eye for '70s detail.
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- Cast:
- Roger Fan , McCaleb Burnett , Sung Kang , Dustin Nguyen , Mousa Kraish , James Franco , Jake Sandvig
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Reviews
So much average
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Done in the style of a 1970s mockumentary, "Finishing the Game" is based on the premise that, when Bruce Lee died in 1973 at the age of 32, he left behind twelve minutes of footage for a movie entitled "The Game of Death." Determined to bring Lee's final dream to fruition, a group of dedicated filmmakers set out to find a replacement for the star in the hopes of finishing the project. "Finishing the Game" is a fictionalized account of that search (the actual movie was released in 1978).Unfortunately, beyond its spot-on '70s fashions and hairstyles, oh-so-groovy soundtrack and overall air of genial good-naturedness, "Finishing the Game" offers little of quality for anyone craving a good behind-the-scenes movie parody. Lacking both polish and finesse, the movie represents a major comedown for director Justin Lee after his stunning triumph with "Better Luck Tomorrow" a few years back. The half-hearted Josh Diamond screenplay scarcely makes an effort at being funny, and the concept itself is simply too thin to be successfully stretched out over even a relatively meager 84-minute-long running time.Barely flash-in-the-pan cameo appearances by the likes of James Franco, MC Hammer and Ron Jeremy do little to support an otherwise likable cast. And there isn't even any decent martial arts action to make the movie much fun for fans of the genre being satirized.
I had high hopes for this film (after reading some of the positive reviews). I was sadly disappointed. Most of the characters were supremely boring. There were some introductions to the main replacement Bruce Lee characters, but none of them seemed in the least bit interesting. I really, really tried to give this movie a chance, but it never really came through on any level. The action scenes were lame (I suppose they were supposed to be funny, but they weren't). The in depth character analysis just didn't work, other than to prove that this movie was shot on such a low budget. (Was it ever in theaters?) I think there was one funny scene, but I can't recall what it was (it was close to the end that's all I can remember). The one redeeming aspect was that most of the actors didn't completely blow it they seemed somewhat better than most porn stars. (I know that's not much, but it's better than nothing).
Just saw this movie at VC Filmfest 2007 on 05/03 Thursday night. It was a big surprise that how this movie came out.Justin Lin was born in 1973 --same year as Bruce Lee's death. When I saw this movie,it was so real that You can't believe it was made in 2007 by a director who was just born in that era.All the details were well arranged that you almost forgot it's a mocumentry instead of real footage.According to Justin Lin's answer on Q&A after the movie,this film was shot in 18 working days and under NO BUDGET....it's like WOW!--mission impossible.There were so many actors in this movie and some of them were merely recognizable,like James Franco and Brian Tee or Leonardo Nam. Other major characters shared the scenes evenly and most of them were really funny. I like Meredith Scott Lynn who play the casting director the most,she was the one audience will remember when people talked about this movie.Josh Diamond and Justin Lin wrote the script fill with funny lines and really works.it's a movie totally different from Back Luck Tomorrow or Tokyo Drift.And it proved again--Justin Lin is someone you can expect.
I just saw this up at Park City. i waited in line for two hours and i have to say it was worth it. The premise is incredibly strong and the film is filled with enough kooky characters to make Christopher Guest proud. It is a solid and smart film. I was laughing out loud consistently. the main thing i love about the film is that it deals with issues without hitting you in the face with it. ultimately it shows in an entertaining way that things haven't changed at all through time. the performances were all strong and the music rocked. the camera work was authentic and the colors just popped. overall, go see it when it comes out.