《龍之誕生》，李小龍初出茅廬時(shí)

The milieu from which Bruce Lee emerged to become the world’s first martial-arts superstar — both as a film performer and a proponent-teacher — was probably as fascinating as the man himself. The screenwriters Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson and the director George Nolfi only intermittently manage to breathe credible cinematic life into that milieu in “Birth of the Dragon,” which is set in late ’60s San Francisco, where, the movie tells us, Lee taught kung fu. (It was actually Oakland.)

不管是作為電影演員，還是武術(shù)倡導(dǎo)者和宗師，李小龍都是一名巨星，不過(guò)，他成為世界上第一位超級(jí)武打巨星時(shí)的社會(huì)背景，可能和他本人一樣引人注目。在《龍之誕生》(Birth of the Dragon)中，編劇斯蒂芬·J·里維爾(Stephen J. Rivele)和克里斯托弗·威爾金森(Christopher Wilkinson)以及導(dǎo)演喬治·諾爾菲(George Nolfi)只是斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地將有據(jù)可查的銀幕生活融入這一背景。故事設(shè)定在60年代末的舊金山，影片稱李小龍就是在那里傳授功夫的(實(shí)際上是在奧克蘭)。

The movie’s linchpin is a real-life battle between Lee (Philip Ng) and a Shaolin monk, Wong Jack Man (Yu Xia), which an opening title says was reputed to have been spurred by Wong’s objection to Lee’s “kung fu for all” ethos. In the movie’s view, Lee’s real problem is his bluff arrogance. Wong’s approach is more spiritual, less egocentric. This attracts one of Lee’s white students, the overly aggressive Steve (Billy Magnussen), who happens to be in love with a young Asian immigrant who’s being groomed for a concubine’s life by a female boss. Steve can’t fight for her, but the boss is interested in staging an event that can generate some gambling profits. You see where this is going. For the sake of their pal, Wong and Lee agree to test each other in battle. It’s clear that Wong is right about Lee’s egotism being a limitation, but the question is whether Lee will get it.

該片的主線是李小龍(伍允龍[Philip Ng]飾)和少林和尚黃澤民(夏雨飾)在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中的真實(shí)決斗，在片頭的敘述稱，決斗的起因是黃質(zhì)疑李小龍“全民功夫”理念。按照該片的觀點(diǎn)，李小龍真正的問(wèn)題在于他虛張聲勢(shì)的傲慢。黃澤民更注重精神，不那么以自我為中心。這吸引了李小龍的白人學(xué)生、過(guò)于好斗的史蒂夫(比利·馬格努森[Billy Magnussen]飾)，此人碰巧愛(ài)上了一名年輕亞裔移民女子，而一名女老板正在引誘這名女子走上做姨太太的道路。史蒂夫不能為她抗?fàn)帲莻€(gè)老板想策劃一個(gè)活動(dòng)，從中謀取賭博利潤(rùn)。你能猜到故事的走向。為了他們的朋友，黃澤民和李小龍同意比試一場(chǎng)。黃澤民認(rèn)為李小龍以自我為中心是他的一個(gè)局限這個(gè)看法，顯然是正確的，問(wèn)題是李小龍能否明白這一點(diǎn)。

The “West Side Story” romance angle is the least interesting part of the movie, so it’s frustrating that so much time is spent on it. “Birth of the Dragon” is ambitious: It wants to be a character study, an explication of martial arts philosophy and an action picture. (The battle scenes are presented in a mix of slow motion with super-clear fast-shutter shots and they’re not always enhanced by this approach.) But the film never really gets fully juiced until the climax, when rivalries are put aside and the two very charismatic leads get on the same side to kick some righteous butt.

《西區(qū)故事》(West Side Story)式的浪漫橋段是該片最無(wú)趣的部分，所以影片在這上面花費(fèi)那么多時(shí)間令人沮喪?！洱堉Q生》是有野心的：它想集人物研究、武術(shù)哲學(xué)闡釋和武打于一身(武打場(chǎng)面通過(guò)慢動(dòng)作和超清晰的高速快門拍攝呈現(xiàn)，但這種方式并不總能提升效果)。不過(guò)，該片在高潮之前一直都不是很有趣，在高潮部分，這兩位極具魅力的領(lǐng)袖不再對(duì)抗，而是同仇敵愾，伸張正義。