Game Of Death could have been Lee's greatest moment. Really. Had he not died before it was finished, it's very possible that Game Of Death could have very well been his best film. The idea is great, the fight scenes are fantastic, it's just unfortunately marred by a ‘Bruce-Lee-A-Like' and some obviously botched up work to hide the fact that it isn't always Lee we're watching up there on screen.

The story follows Billy Lo (at any given time played by Bruce Lee or Yuen Biao or Tai Chung Kim), a movie star who fakes his own death in a manner all too similar to the way that Bruce Lee's son Brandon (star of The Crow would die years later on set. The reason he goes to all this trouble? So that he can fight a crime syndicate who want Billy and his lady-friend Ann (Colleen Camp from Cirio Santiago's Ebony, Ivory And Jade), a popular singer, to join their ranks.

Billy starts to track down the syndicate big wigs and eventually dons the now famous yellow jumpsuit (later rejuvenated by Uma Thurman's character in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill) to enter a pagoda where he fights his opponents one at a time, each on a different floor of the building. The most famous moment of the film, and rightfully so, is when Lee squares off against Kareem Abdul Jabar (it's wild to see the height differences between these two as they pummel one another in front of the camera). There's also a fantastic nunchuk sequence where Lee squares off against Danny Inasanto (who played Hatchetman in Big Trouble In Little China!).

The last fifteen to twenty minutes of Game Of Death are on par with any of the other fight scenes in any of Lee's other films. They're fantastic. They're vicious. They're brutal. They're elegant. In short, it's prime Lee material . Sadly, due to the circumstances under which the film was finished, getting there is an exercise in goofiness and a lot of the film consists of guys trying really hard to look like Lee by wearing big dark sunglasses and trying to sort of cover their faces.

Regardless, the film has undeniable historical significance and an amazing finale, which combined make Game Of Death very much worth watching for the martial arts film fan despite its very obvious shortcomings.

The film's plot is based on a character very similar to Bruce Lee called Billy Lo who survives an attempt on his life by an international crime syndicate. Faking his death Billy sets out for revenge against those that have sought to destroy him. The rumours of conspiracy that circulated at the time of Bruce Lee's death seem to have been a big influence on the script writers who really must have been struggling to put together a decent story. Sadly they failed.

Billy Lo is played, obviously, by a couple of Bruce look-a-likes who for the most part are filmed from angles that hide as much of their faces as possible or they wear dark glasses and even a false beard. The extents to which the film makers go to hide the fact that it is not actually Bruce Lee become laughable. Worse still is the use of old footage of Bruce that are slotted in whenever possible. Unfortunately the editing is so clumsy that they stick out like a sore thumb. At one scene early in the film a still photo of Bruce's face is actually superimposed over the top of the stand-in. The technology used is nowhere near enough advanced to make the scene look convincing.

Although we don't get to see any of the real 'Game of Death' footage shot by Bruce until the end there are numerous fights throughout the movie. The best of these were all directed by Samo Hung and are certainly entertaining. The famous glass house fight, omitted from the international version of the movie, is an excellent piece of fight choreography employing the talents of Casanova Wong and Yuen Biao. However good these scenes are though the film is still dragged down by its B-movie feel and bad plotting.

Despite all of its problems 'Game of Death' is still an essential part of Hong Kong cinema history due entirely to the last 15 minutes where the real Bruce Lee appears in some of his best fight scenes ever. In the movie's climax Bruce has to fight his way up several floors in a building, each with a different adversary. At no point in the film is there any explanation why this might be making it seem even more disjointed from the rest of the film but by this point it doesn't really matter.

First Bruce faces up to Danny Inasanto in a spectacular nunchuka fight which has never ever been included in the UK release. On the next floor he meets Ji Han Jie in a hand to hand fight which is strangely omitted from the Hong Kong version. Finally, on the third floor, is Kareen Abdul-Jabar who towers over Bruce quite considerably. Of all of Bruce Lee's fight scenes this one has always been my favourite. It's in this fight that Bruce is most seriously challenged and has to take his opponent down to the floor using grappling techniques. The choreography in all of these fights was years ahead of its time and one can only wonder what 'Game of Death' would have been like had Bruce lived to finish it.

Rating : 2 out of 5 for the first 70 minutes, 5 out 5 for the Bruce Lee scenes.

Bruce Lee plays Billy Lo, a famous movie star under pressure from a syndicate to let them manage his career. Lo ain't having any of that, and the syndicate starts stepping up the pressure. This includes threatening Lo's girlfriend Ann (Camp), a popular singer, and wreaking havoc on the set of his new movie. But when Lo continues to resist their efforts, the syndicate decides to make Billy pay. While filming a dangerous stunt (which actually consists of footage lifted from the end of "The Chinese Connection"), the syndicate injures Lo and leaves him for dead.

Faking his own death, Lo goes underground to take down the people who've ruined his life, one man at a time. Thankfully, Lo's injuries also meant he had to have facial surgery, and is now able to attack disguised. The syndicate soon finds themselves threatened by an unknown assailant, one whose quickly dispatching their best men. Unfortunately, Ann is unaware Lo's still alive, and sets out to avenge his death.

I'm not sure if I should consider the filmmakers clever or sacrilegious. They went to great lengths to complete "Game Of Death", recycling footage from Lee's previous films as well as using a copious amount of stand-ins. Of course, it's easy enough to tell when they're using a replacement. Just look for scenes when Lo is turned away from the camera, standing in shadows, donning a beard, or wearing big sunglasses or a motorcycle helmet. Granted, that's about 90% of the movie. Another dead giveaway is when Lo's voice changes about 5 times throughout the movie; my favorite being the scene where Lo suddenly sounds like Shaft.

After awhile, stuff like that just gets comical, especially when they superimpose Lee's face over a double. Apparently, they realized how horrible that looked, so they only did it once. But on the other hand, you treasure the authentic Lee footage all that more. And what little footage there is is pure gold, especially the final fight scenes.

If there's one thing that's truly notable about "Game Of Death", it's the final fight between Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (yes, that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Oh sure, Lee kicks Kareem's butt, but the sheer concept is pretty dang cool. And believe it or not, Kareem does look pretty menacing. But methinks that's probably due to the fact that his shorts are disturbingly short and you can see his jock strap, rather than any real skill in the martial arts.

There is a certain shameless morbidity to "Game Of Death", though. The filmmakers even go so far as to use footage of Lee's own funeral. If that's not slightly creepy, I don't know what is. One can't help but feel that "Game Of Death" is more concerned with cashing in on Lee's death and subsequent stardom than anything else. But maybe it did work out for the best... Lee's legendary status is basically without question nowadays. However, it's difficult to say how much this movie did to contribute to that status. If anything, it's probably best thought of as a footnote, a postscript if you will. Or if you're a devout fan, maybe it's just best forgotten.

Lee (and his lookalikes) play Billy Tang, an actor who the Mafia for some reason want to control. When Billy refuses, the mob puts the squeeze on his girlfriend (some okay-looking gweilo with a horrible singing voice). Of course, Billy won't take that kind of crap and sets out to dish out some street justice. Really, the first two-thirds of this movie is pretty bad -- all of the actors (mostly gweilos) are pretty sorry, and the lookalike scam never really works. It doesn't help that the doubles aren't nearly as talented fighters as Lee himself. However, the final bit in the movie, where Lee has to climb up a building, fighting a different type of enemy on each floor, is outstanding and a true classic, right down to Lee's swank yellow jumpsuit. While the rest of Game of Death might test your patience, the ending provides a satisfying payoff.