A better-than-average Bruce Lee imitator

GAME OF DEATH II aka TOWER OF DEATH (1981)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Game of Death II" is not all it is cracked up to be. Released in 1981 under the title "Tower of Death" and multiple alternate titles, it is an in-name only sequel to the despicable original film. It also does not star Bruce Lee, though we are led to believe he has top billing thanks to cribbed inserts from some of his early work. Still, this is a far more entertaining and cartoonish sequel with incredible fight choreography to compensate for scant plot and story.

Tai Chung Kim stands in, as he did in "Game of Death," as the actor Bruce Lee playing Billy Lo (the famed international martial-arts star from the original). Billy is saddened by the death of his good friend and proficient kung-fu expert, Chin-Ku (Hwang Jang Lee), who died under mysterious circumstances. Chin-Ku's illegitimate daughter has some reel of film in a box, a box too small to fit a reel of 16mm film (unless it is 8mm and only a couple of minutes long). This reel of film may point to the culprit of Chin-Ku's death. We get a few fight scenes on the streets of Japan and in some greenhouse (the latter is a deleted sequence from "Game of Death"). Then we shift to Lee/Lung perusing some book of artistic pornography, ostensibly belonging to Billy Lo's brother. Then there is Chin-Ku's funeral where his tomb is taken away by the steel claws of a helicopter. Billy Lo grabs onto the tomb and is killed by a poison dart. Shift to Bobby Lo (also played by Tai Chung Kim) who wants revenge for his brother's death. He is shown the film that Chin-Ku's daughter had, which contains footage of the Palace of Death where the dangerously brutal Lewis (Roy Horan) resides. Lewis is so brutal that he will scratch your chest and bite your finger, and his valet will break your neck! But somewhere in this Palace of Death resides the Tower of Death, a sort-of upside-down pagoda!

"Game of Death II" is mediocre kung-fu theatrics until Bobby Lo arrives at the ominous Palace of Death. We also have to sidestep a laughable-looking lion that attacks Bobby (simply a man dressed up in a lion outfit) and a blonde beauty sent by Lewis or someone else to kill Bobby. The movie is forty minutes of several fight scenes with hundreds of minions in the Tower of Death and the palace guards. There is also a booby trap worthy of Indiana Jones, and a final fight that has got to be one of the longest most imaginatively choreographed fight scenes I've ever seen. It goes on for so long that you'll wonder why neither opponent gets tired.

I first saw this film on TV and noticed that clips of Bruce Lee were used mostly from "Fists of Fury." However, the DVD version uses outtakes and deleted scenes from "Enter the Dragon," including a meeting with Roy Chiao as the abbott. The clips are not seamless, at least not enough to give the illusion that Bruce Lee is in the film. As for the rest of the picture, it is mostly a retread of "Enter the Dragon," including a moment where Bobby Lo is dressed in the same black suit Bruce Lee wore in "Enter the Dragon" while parading around the Palace of Death at night.

Certain questions pop in while watching this highly unbelievable, though fun-filled, action picture. Is Lewis evil or does someone else in that island want Bobby Lo dead? Why does Lewis's valet pretend to be handicapped? Why did Chin-Ku leave a roll of film with his estranged daughter?

Questions of logic abound, but who cares about logic in a kung-fu film? For true grindhouse picture fans, there is sex, Bruce Lee (sort of), interminable fight scenes, plenty of cartoonish violence, sword and staff fights, hungry lions, peacocks flying at a master's request, bad dubbing, and the power of drug trafficking. For myself, "Game of Death II" has so much humor, unintentional and otherwise, and such terrific pacing and excellent fight sequences that I can't imagine anyone passing it up. It's not one of the greats in a disreputable genre but it gets high marks as a superior improvement over the original "Game of Death."