The upcoming action movie Bullet Train can put Bruce Lee’s concept for his unfinished movie Game of Death to use in its speeding train setting. Directed by David Leitch, Bullet Train stars Brad Pitt as an assassin codenamed Ladybug, sent on a mission to retrieve a briefcase on a Japanese bullet train. He faces some big competition in doing so with numerous other assassins on board with the same goal, and this gives Bullet Train what could be a Game of Death-type feel.
Game of Death was intended by Bruce Lee to involve his character Hai Tien climbing a pagoda to retrieve a mysterious item on the top floor. Hai Tien encounters an opponent skilled in a specific martial arts discipline on each floor, with Hai Tien adapting his skills in combat to counter theirs. Lee’s passing in 1973 left Game of Death unfinished, though a body double-heavy version of Game of Death was released in 1978 with portions of Lee’s footage and renaming his character Billy Lo. Bullet Train could actually deliver on the promise of Bruce Lee's Game of Death plans in a more comprehensive form.
In Bullet Train, Pitt’s Ladybug will be similarly opposed by an assortment of enemies, each extolling a different skill set and set of weaponry from crowbars to swords to guns, as seen in the trailer. All of them being in pursuit of the same hidden treasure of sorts shifts the template of Game of Death from a vertical battle to the top to a horizontal high-speed war zone. With this as its foundation, Bullet Train could give audiences the full, albeit adjusted, Game of Death experience that Lee envisioned.
In his conception of Game of Death, Lee intended it as a metaphor for his belief in the importance of adaptation and fluidity in martial arts, which was the basis for Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do. Bullet Train seemingly has a more light-hearted tone, but the idea isn’t that far off with Ladybug facing enemies who all bring something different to the fight. The varied type of weaponry wielded by the other assassins involved in particular also expands on Lee’s idea, with Ladybug having to counter bladed and bullet attacks alike.
Bullet Train also builds upon Game of Death with Ladybug’s rival assassins being more fleshed-out characters. Due to the nature of Game of Death’s premise, Lee’s opponents were to be introduced more on the fly and largely defined in opposition to his quest, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s final boss at the top being the only one to get the chance for much characterization. While that’s not a failing on Lee’s plan for Game of Death but simply a byproduct of its set-up, Bullet Train is equipped to humanize Ladybug’s fellow assassins.
Game of Death itself, in its crudely assembled form, sadly does little to capture Bruce Lee’s vision for what it was to be, though the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey, with all of Lee’s completed footage assembled, gives a great look at what he was going for. Bullet Train as a highly anticipated summer action movie with an ensemble cast and a style of action comparable to John Wick, seems to have similar ideas in its head. Hopefully, Bullet Train can give a modernized taste of the energy and finesse Bruce Lee dreamt of for Game of Death.
