Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Randy Edelman inaugurated his long-running collaboration with director Rob Cohen via 1993's kung fu biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Eschewing the stereotypical Hong Kong-inspired elements one would anticipate from music inspired by the martial arts legend's life, Edelman instead delivers an oddly patriotic, even stereotypically Americanized score that radiates heroism yet feels far too generic for its subject matter -- per usual, Edelman operates in broad, simple strokes, crafting saccharine melodies that are pure function and no form. The problem is that even their functionality is suspect -- Dragon is simply too chipper to accompany a story as tragic as Lee's, and its relentlessly upbeat approach grates with prolonged exposure.by Jason Ankeny