Capitalizing on the death of Bruce Lee has never been so damn out of control as the Special Branch of Investigations takes brain tissue samples from Bruce Lee, immediately after his death, and hires a mad scientist (Jon T. Benn from Way Of The Dragon and Jet Li’s Fearless) to create three clones of the deceased actor . . . in order to fight crime in Southeast Asia.
Yes, you read that correctly. A resurrected Bruce Lee as a crime fighter. I mean, why not?! The Clones Of Bruce Lee, directed by Joseph Velasco, is bad filmmaking at its finest. It has been labeled the Plan 9 From Outer Space of Bruceploitation flicks for good reason as this loopy flick is all sorts of wrong from the get-go. It’s also a whole lot of phasor-ready fun. Nothing here makes sense as naked girls hop around on the beach rubbing lotion on their breasts while three clones of Bruce Lee bounce from film sets to warehouses fighting bronze robots while wearing big sunglasses.
With Lee fandom at an all time high, thanks to the many, many Bruceploitation flicks coming out of Hong Kong, it seems 1980 - perhaps due to the arrival of Christopher Lee as Superman - was the perfect time to introduce audiences to the crime fighting team of Bruce Lee 1 (Dragon Lee), Bruce Lee 2 (Bruce Le), and Bruce Lee 3 (Bruce Lai), all trained by Bolo Yeung and Chiang Tao for their undercover action!
And, now, thanks to Severin Films, The Clones Of Bruce Lee rises from the dead! This Bruceploitation flick is all kinds of gonzo as Benn - who seems to be having fun with his senseless role as the mad scientist responsible for these creations - has a laboratory full of half-dead henchmen and pretty nurses, all ready for Professor Lucas’ next command.
With the success of the clones upon their awakening, Professor Lucas oversees their training - complete with a montage while Bill Conti’s “borrowed” Rocky theme plays - and then sends them out on their assignments: Bruce Lee 1 heads to a film location in order to deal with a gold smuggling producer who, while his director films action scenes in the hills, mines for gold on the other side.
It’s the perfect cover, until Bruce Lee 1 arrives and must be dealt with . . . on camera! With clumsy fight sequences and sparse dialogue, Dragon Lee does his expected Lee impressions while tossing all sorts of villains off of his back and it’s easy to see why he was popular in the Bruceploitation sub-genre. The other two clones - Bruce Le and Bruce Lai - are sent to stop another mad scientist who plans to repopulate the earth (or something like that) with his gold-skinned automatons.
With 80% of the movie being fight sequences, The Clones of Bruce Lee is surprisingly anemic in its bloodletting. Perhaps there was no money for gore or maybe that was an afterthought as the filmmakers just wanted to get the movie completed. Regardless, this chop socky entry suffers as a result as it gives audiences way too much time to think about the redundancy of the choreography as the film wraps up.
Now featured in Severin Films’ expansive The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection, Volume 1, The Clones of Bruce Lee proves that old dragons never die . . . they just get cloned.
Home Video Distributor: Severin
Available on Blu-ray - June 2024
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles: English Subtitles, Chinese Subtitles, French Subtitles
Audio: Stereo
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; 8-disc collection
Region Encoding: Region-free playback
Hours after Bruce Lee’s death, Bruceploitation was born. And for the next 10 years, talented martial artists were enlisted to mimic iconic aspects of Lee’s life, style and mannerisms. Fueled by equal parts deception and demand, these films instead created one of the most wildly entertaining sub-genres in movie history. THE GAME OF CLONES: BRUCEPLOITATION COLLECTION, VOLUME 1 now presents 14 of the very best – and frequently very bizarre – films starring Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, Bruce Liang and more, all restored for the first time ever from original film elements.
Video
Presented in a 2.35.1 widescreen format, The Clones of Bruce Lee has been cleaned up thanks to the 2K handling from Severin. Colors are never bold mind you, but this is probably the best this film is ever going to look with today’s technology. Shadows run the gamut from weak to strong and the crisp textures in the walls and in the backgrounds are smoothed out a bit. There are some moments where the black levels absolutely crush all the definitions and bleed, but given the budget of the shoot, it isn't surprising. There are also some artifacts - white specks and such - as this print is from two different sources: one from Germany and one from Italy.
Audio
Offered on a 24-bit DTS-HD Mono track with optional subtitles in English, The Clones of Bruce Lee is presented in its English dubbed versions (which, let’s face it, just adds to their wonky charms), sound decent enough.
Supplements:
Commentary:
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See Special Features for the breakdown.
Special Features:
Found on Disc 2 of this set, get yourself ready to duel to the death with these supplemental items!
Disc 2: THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE (1980)
- Audio Commentary With Michael Worth And Frank Djeng, Co-Producers Of ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE; Bruce Lee Historian Brandon Bentley; Chris Poggiali, Co-Author Of These Fists Break Bricks; Matthew Whitaker, Co-Host Of The Clones Cast; Action Film Historian Mike Leader; Stunt Coordinator/Author John Kreng; And Rick Benn, Brother Of Actor Jon T. Benn
- The Big Boss Remembered – Interview With Actor Jon T. Benn
- Severin's Kung Fu Theater With Actor/Director/Bruceploitation Expert Michael Worth
- Trailer
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Composite Blu-ray Grade
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MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 91 mins
Director: Joseph Velasco
Writer: Kuang-Hsin Wu
Cast: Ryong Keo; Irina Shevchenko; Bruce Le
Genre: Action | Drama
Tagline: Not One. Not Two... But Three Bruce Lees
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Severin Films
Official Site: https://severinfilms.com/blogs/catalog/the-game-of-clones-brucesploitation-collection-vol-1
Release Date:
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: June, 2024
Synopsis: A brilliant professor gathers cells from the late Bruce Lee and creates three clones, who are trained in martial arts and sent out to fight crime.
