I've tried to sit through a couple of Bruce Lee documentaries before. Usually they are more about using the name of Lee to attract viewers than trying to actually be informative. They tend to be boring, devoid of any real information even to the point of being completely inaccurate, and of unbearable quality. Moreover they tend to look at the legendary Lee rather than the real one (which is why the accuracy misses so often).

"Death by Misadventure" rises above most others. It still has a lack of quality mostly in the sound mix, but its information content is top notch which I base on comparison to other materials that dare to criticize Bruce (respectfully) instead of treating him like a Martial Arts god. You do have to have an interest in the subject matter to enjoy this, though. Some documentaries are slick enough that someone without much interest can sit through them and pick up some new information. I mean, how many people really have a vested interest in marine biology? Yet Shark Week is a hit every time.

The life of Lee as presented here will likely put the casual viewer to sleep. This isn't "Dragon" with a story-driven script and dramatic actors. On the other hand, if what you want is information about the man Bruce Lee - flaws and all, not just the icon - there are few sources that will be more useful, few that I know of at least. I should warn you, though, this could end up being like finding out King Arthur was just a man or that Jackie Chan does, in fact, use a stuntman on occasion. If you do not want to know that kind of information, steer clear.

This presentation begins with Lee's early life including clips from some of his childhood movies. It follows his progression to a struggling star to the mega-hit he became. It examines in great detail his trip to the ER and his death speculating on the true cause and the surrounding rumors. It also includes a lengthy interview with Brandon who talks about his father's death and his own career. It looks briefly at Brandon's death which is shrouded in much less mystery than his father's. A couple of other notable faces that appear are Bruce Li and George Lazenby.

Though it has a few brief, low-budget reenactments of some of the stories told, mostly this is an hour and a half of watching people talk. It does get boringly slow every now and again. To help break that up are some amusing stories from Lee's life told by people with first-hand knowledge, clips of demonstrations, and a story-like layout of the events. This is most definitely special interest only, but I think it will appease the majority of people with that kind of an interest.