“We need emotional content.”

In what is a strange turn of events, the Wife is the one that ended up seeing a DVD at the store and insisting we buy it and watch it that night. What makes this stranger still is the fact that she wanted this particular DVD for reference purposes, and it ended up being Enter The Dragon starring Bruce Lee.

It’s actually been over 10 years since I’ve seen this movie, and what blew me away about it is despite the fact that it’s over 30 years old, the fighting in this film is actually superior to much of what is seen in cinema. I think the easiest way to account for this is that the fighting is more practical than cinematic (This being a major sticking point with Bruce Lee) and so while it’s glammed up somewhat to make it look a little bit more palatable for the screen, these are still genuine techniques that can be used to kill a guy, or, at the very least, make him unrecognizable to even his mother. I was also shocked by the fact that when the fights were filmed in this movie, I could actually see what was happening! It made me realize I’ve gotten used to a different standard of presentation in combat in film. I suspect it’s mostly just to cover the fact that most fights in cinema today are not done by masters at the top of their game in a chosen form of combat, so you get a lot of fast cuts, extreme close ups, slow motion up the wazoo, strobing and other effects to mask as much as possible what is actually happening.

On the other hand, when Bruce Lee smacks a guy in the face, the reason you may not see it is because Bruce Lee is just that damn fast. There were moments during the tournament fights where I had to rewind it and just watch a hit again, because it was blink-and-you-miss-it moment. The speed he had was phenomenal, and it’s made all the more impressive because the nature of the choreography in the fights makes it clear that these people actually did know what they were doing.

It may not be fashionable, but I find myself actually preferring this method of presentation for fighting in film. I like these long shots where they show kicks and long, sustained sequences of skill and power. And I like the fact that while it may not be flashy with wire work, all kinds of whirlwind kicks, and extended sessions of “block, block, block, block, duck, duck, kick, KICK!” the brevity of the fights, mixed with the strength and brutality of some of those hits makes these fights far more interesting than, say, the burly brawl of Matrix Reloaded fame.

Either that, or I’m just old.