OpinionEnter The Dragon remake? Bruce Lee must be spinning in his grave – leave the kung fu icon’s martial arts masterpiece alone
Plans to recreate 1973 martial arts classic are in the works, with Deadpool’s David Leitch behind the project, but fans of late superstar are not happy
Bruce Lee must be spinning in his grave. Within days of the 45th anniversary of his untimely death, Deadpool 2 director David Leitch said he was in early talks to remake the martial art superstar’s most famous film Enter The Dragon.
Leitch said he was also considering getting behind the camera himself to spin the 1973 tale again.
For those who are too young to remember or weren’t even born when Enter The Dragon entered the public consciousness, it was the movie that catapulted Lee to world fame after a string of record-breaking movies that captured the imagination of Hong Kong and most of Asia.
Originally directed by Robert Clouse, Enter The Dragon is considered the creme de la creme of all martial arts movies, boosted by a Hollywood budget, a worldwide distributor (Warner Brothers) and released within days of Lee’s unfortunate death.
Making remakes of classic movies is all very fine. Some turned out better than others. Tomb Raider (Alicia Vikander) was a sleeker version of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (sorry, Angelie Jolie fans). The new version of Total Recall (Colin Farrell) missed its mark and was nowhere near as fun as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1990 version. Have you seen the new Death Wish movie, starring Bruce Willis? Lousy, right? I much preferred Charles Bronson’s 1974 original.
Leitch has had considerable success with his John Wick and the cartoonish Deadpool 2 movies but many have questioned whether he should direct a movie classic such as Dragon.
And if the movie had to be recreated, there is also a feeling among many that an Asian moviemaker should be lined up for the project.