A Kung-Fu Classic With A High Rotten Tomatoes Score Changed Jason Statham's Life

In "Snatch," things aren't looking good for bare-knuckle boxing promoter Turkish (Jason Statham) when he loses his fighter to an injury and wants to switch him out for "One Punch" Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt). The news doesn't go down well with violent pig-obsessed crime lord Brick Top (Alan Ford), who stands to lose a lot of money from the bets that've already been placed. "I don't care if he's Muhammad 'I'm hard' Bruce Lee. You can't change fighters!" he protests.

A British gangster movie might not seem the most obvious place for a reference to the martial arts movie legend that is Bruce Lee, but it just goes to show how the enduring legacy of the screen icon has infiltrated just about every corner of popular culture. He has also influenced a vast range of directors and actors like Statham, who has become a huge action star in his own right since his breakthrough in Guy Ritchie's Cockney capers.

Lee still casts a long shadow over action movies today, and the kung fu master's most famous film, "Enter the Dragon," remains very popular with modern viewers, holding an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Sadly, Lee passed away a month before his star-making movie debuted in Los Angeles in 1973. Showcasing Lee's incredible dexterity and screen presence, the film was a huge box office success, fully kicking off the kung fu craze of the '70s and inspiring future action stars like Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, and Statham. But why did "Enter the Dragon" have such a major effect on Statham's life and career?

Statham has become one of Hollywood's most successful action stars, appearing in films ranging from "Crank" to "The Meg" and "The Beekeeper" (itself Statham's version of "John Wick," essentially). Yet it was his gift of the gab rather than his talent for busting heads that led to his breakthrough into movies. Indeed, his background selling black market goods on street corners after leaving school made him the perfect fit for a low-level crook in Ritchie's "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels."

Statham actually referenced his slight dodgy past while listing "Enter the Dragon" among his favorite movies for Rotten Tomatoes in 2008:

"As soon as I was able to steal the VHS and stick it in, it was like, Gee, this guy is just ... so avant-garde, he's years above, so far ahead of his own time. So that made a massive impact in my life."

Statham started training in martial arts in his youth and is now proficient in several disciplines, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Wing Chun kung fu, kickboxing, and karate. Although his early roles in Ritchie's films relied more on his deadpan delivery, subsequent movies like "Transporter" and "Crank" gave him the chance to show off his action credentials. Since then, he has never looked back, headlining his own blockbusters and appearing in two major franchises: "The Expendables" and the "Fast & Furious" movies. His appreciation of Lee has been an inspiration for that success. As Statham put it:

"I've watched ['Enter the Dragon'] countless times. That is a standalone pioneer in action movies, and anyone that was inspired by Bruce Lee ... I'm sure everyone that has ever done an action movie has just drooled over how full of talent Bruce Lee was, and how unique he was."

"Enter the Dragon" celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023 and it is still revered as one of the greatest and most influential action movies ever made. Some of its iconography (in particular, the shot of Lee in the hall of mirrors) is no doubt familiar to people who haven't even seen the film. But what makes it so enduringly popular?

Plot-wise, the movie is no great shakes. (It's basically "Dr. No" by the way of Hong Kong and Blaxploitation movies.) Lee stars as a Shaolin monk enrolled by British Intelligence to compete in a martial arts tournament and use it to infiltrate the island lair of Han (Shih Kien), a metal-handed crime kingpin. He also has an added incentive since Han's henchmen were responsible for the death of his sister.

The movie still looks a treat despite its tight budget, and Lee gets great support from John Saxon and Jim Kelly as two friendly competitors with motives of their own. Compared to modern action flicks, "Enter the Dragon" is rather serenely paced and the fights scenes are short and brisk until the big finale. Even in the quiet moments, however, Lee dominates all his scenes with sheer screen presence. When he springs into action, we see why he is idolized; his fluid movements are graceful and measured rather than flashy, apart from one show-boating moment with some nunchucks.

We cannot, of course, ignore Lee's death and its role in his legacy as an action movie star. His premature demise left him forever frozen in his prime, his image refracted manyfold by a hall of mirrors. That's a pretty neat metaphor because you can see his image reflected in countless films since, not to mention all those references you get in movies outside the genre.