The title of this post is a bit misleading for two reasons:
- I loved this movie
- There is only one thing I hated about the movie
This is a great movie. And Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are outstanding in the two main roles.
It didn’t score very well in IMDB: 7.7. This is less than most of the other movies which Quentin Tarantino directed.
And it didn’t score all that well on Rotten Tomatoes: 85% for critics and 70% for audience.
But I really enjoyed it. One of the high points for me was when Brad’s character was insisting that he wanted to see George Spahn at the Spahn Ranch. Fantasic tension.
On the other end of the scale … the thing I hated was the portrayal of Bruce Lee. I don’t think there was any need to portray him as an arrogant idiot. And, in spite of Tarantino’s defence of the portrayal, I don’t think there is any real basis for it.
I’m not the only one who had a problem with this. IMDB (in the trivia section) reports the following people as taking issue with it:
- Shannon Lee, Lee’s daughter
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lee’s student and friend
- British Chinese martial arts actor and choreographer J. Cheung who apparently turned down the role of Lee, citing its lack of respect to Bruce Lee and his spirit
- The Chinese Government who apparently refused the film a certificate for release in the country
Dan Inosanto, Lee’s number one student, has also come out against the portrayal.
I think the movie would have been better without that piece, but apart from that it is excellent.
Here are Leo and Brad doing their stuff:
