Enter The Dragon/Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey - Uncut Special Edition Twin Pack DVD Review

Well, the wait for a fully uncut version of Enter the Dragon has definitely been worth it based on this DVD. The anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer is quite simply spectacular, betraying no sign of the film's age thanks to colour corrected imagery and a complete restoration job. There are a couple of obvious pieces of damage to the print, but that aside, this is as good an image as you get from any modern blockbuster. Scores 9.
If Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey is a tad less impressive in terms of image quality, it is due to the lack of restoration of the archive material used in the documentary. This is especially true of the Game of Death footage that makes up the entire of the last third of the feature. It's clearly of a less impressive quality than the version presented on HKL's Game of Death DVD. Scores 7.

Enter the Dragon's previous two channel audio track has been given a DD 5.1 make-over for this DVD release and the results are fairly pleasing. There's not that much separation or rear channel action on offer, but the audio is incredibly precise and the bass is outstanding. Scores 7.
As a documentary, Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey doesn't offer much to get excited about in its Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix. Many of the archive clips haven't been remixed for the format, instead all you're really left with is a music track playing through the rears while the narration comes out through the centre speaker. Scores 6.

There's plenty to sink your teeth into on the Enter the Dragon DVD including: an isolated music track; an introduction by Linda Lee Cadwell; a 17 minute gallery of interviews with Linda Lee Cadwell; four trailers and seven TV spots; a compilation of home movie footage entitled Backyard Workout with Bruce; a superb 19 minute Bruce Lee in His Own Words and the original 8 minute 1973 promo featurette. The only real disappointments are the fact that most of the extras are on the second side of the disc, when they could have been housed all on one side had a dual-layer DVD been used. There's an audio commentary by the producer Paul Heller but it is sadly stilted and painfully unengaging. Scores 7.
Surprisingly enough, even Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey has it share of additional features. You will find an audio commentary by director John Little, an 18 minute featurette, a music video and original trailer. Not bad for a documentary, the detail does justice to the subject matter. Scores 5.With this DVD package Warner has ensured the wait for an uncut Enter the Dragon has been worthwhile.