By Curt Schleier

In July 1973, martial arts action star Bruce Lee died unexpectedly at age 32.  Not long after, his last finished film, ENTER THE DRAGON, was released.  It became an international success and that along with his untimely passing made him more than just a star; he became a legend.

Lee left behind a dozen minutes of an action sequence of GAME OF DEATH, a film he thought of as a passion project.  So we have a studio with 12 minutes of film featuring one of the biggest stars of the time in its vault.  What a shame.  What a waste.  If only they could salvage it, they’d make a fortune.   But how to do that?  Why not use the footage and awkward camera angles of someone else made up to look like Lee? 

This sounds like a stupid idea that couldn’t possibly take hold, even in Hollywood – except that’s what really happened.  GAME OF DEATH “starring Bruce Lee was actually released six years after his death.

Filmmaker Justin Lin uses that as a starting point for FINISHING THE GAME, a mockumentry about the process of casting a Bruce Lee replacement.  Presumably, Lin wants to make some statement about the role of Asian-Americans in the film industry, but what that statement is isn’t clear. 

Lin’s first theatrical movie was the highly regarded indie project BETTER LUCK TOMORROW.  He followed that with studio films, ANNAPOLIS and THE FAST AND FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT, both only so-so, though the latter did well at the box office.

In the filmmakers notes distributed to the press, Lin says the idea for FINISHING THE GAME came to him before BETTER LUCK (2002), but he was glad that he waited until he had film industry experience.  I suggest that was a mistake.  Had he made the movie when he was more of an outsider, he might have been less self-referential to the business, making it more accessible.  And in any event, it is so long after the actual events occurred and they are so obscure to most movie-goers, I don’t see how the average fan will relate.


He also says the movie is about denial.  Not the denial people make to further their careers, but the denial of reality.  And yet he does the same, believing the caricatures he offers instead of characters will suffice.  There’s the Indian man who became an M.D. only to please his mother.  Now that he has a degree he will pursue his true love – martial arts acting.

There’s the Asian action star who refuses to do action sequences – claiming that’s for stuntmen. And there is the Caucasian who auditions for the role.  And leave us not forget the casting director who selects actors based on their “fuckability” rather than something like, say, their acting ability and the director who is the son of the studio president.

It sounds funny and on the surface has potential.  But the potential is never realized as Lin seems content to just skim character and plot rather than dig in.  The film opened in New York and will platform across the country – that is, if someone doesn’t give it a karate kick to the balls before then.