March 31st 2018 marks a quarter of a century since Brandon's fatal accident on the set of The Crow.
I can hardly believe it's been 25 years; that sounds like a long, long time, yet it feels recent to me. Maybe I'm just old and time feels compressed. But I still remember as vividly as if it was yesterday. Seeing his face on magazines in the checkout stand, and the headlines.
I just checked your posting history to confirm that you are still with us, my old friend, so I am going to chime in 2 years too late, to support your post. I will never forget how I got the news. I was at the gym and 1 of the gym’s personal trainers, a friend who knew I trained and taught martial art, told me. Brandon would have been massive, a true movie star. Had he lived, he’d have been ready for a very comfortable retirement by now, with no heir, because who the hell would be replacing him? Statham? I like the guy. He’s brawn aplenty, and has form, but he’s not a movie star, and insufficiently vulnerable to be loved. (Like his father, Brandon was small enough to be physically vulnerable, which made us root for his skill, guts and strength.) Johnson? Massive muscle. Dime-store charm. Proletariat panache. Cheap. Popular, but no class at all. Michael Jai White? Now we’re talking. Maybe. The guy is FAST for such a large man. A face off between Brandon and Michael (with Mike as the antagonist, because China is a MUCH bigger market than fucking Africa) could have been titanic; but, given market realities, Brandon would always have been the protagonist. Who else? Who else in the past 27 years could have stood up against Brandon Lee as an action, and at times other, hero? JCVD? No. Jet Li? No. Jackie Chan? No. Rick Yune? No. Ernie Ryes, Sr or Jr? No. With all due respect to Dolph Lundgren and Matthias Hues, no. Tom Cruise? Snort-laugh. Brandon Lee would have been huge.
But the reality is that, although his career was cut short, he IS huge. What did R’s al Ghul say to Bruce Wayne? “You can become more than a man. You can become Legend.”