Jackie Chan - Meister aller Klassen 3

The first of several movies directed by Lo Wei to feature up 'n' coming martial arts star Jackie Chan, New Fist of Fury was devised as a sequel to Bruce Lee's popular film Fist of Fury (which was also directed by Wei).

Chan plays Lung, a layabout thief in Japanese-occupied Taiwan who hates the Japs and enjoys a brawl, but has no interest in learning kung fu, meaning that he regularly gets his ass handed to him by his opponents.

After being discovered left for dead in a ditch after one particularly severe beating, Lung is nursed back to health by the students of a local kung fu school run by kindly Master Su and his pretty grand-daughter, Miss Lee (Nora Miao). Lung is invited to train at the school but refuses, unwilling to give up his freedom as a thief.

However, when Akumora (Chan Sing), the local Japanese official, takes his bully boy tactics too far, eventually causing the death of Master Su, Lung has a change of heart, becomes a highly skilled martial artist overnight (or so it seems) and kicks some major Japanese butt (before being shot to death in the film's closing frames!!!).

With the star spending most of this film as a punching bag for his enemies, and very little evidence of the innovative slapstick comedy/fight action that one generally associates with his later movies, New Fist of Fury is bound to disappoint many Chan fans. Unless you are a rabid fan of JC and wish to see all of his early work, you would probably be better off giving this one a miss (or watch either the Bruce Lee original, or the excellent Jet Li version of the story, Fist of Legend).

Somewhat a sequel (really in-name-only, although there are minor character references and the dangerous title name method gets used without the same affect) to Lo Wei's "Fist of Fury" that starred martial arts legend Bruce Lee, Wei would go on to direct having Jackie Chan on the main mantle, in what is a virtual remake in the political theme of China vs. Japan and certain story plots. Chinese academies fighting to stay alive against Japanese martial arts school. Spirited, but the impact and charisma of Chan just doesn't feel right. A young Chan is quite raw, in a more aggressive and vengeance-filled role. But it's far from a Jackie Chan vehicle, as he doesn't really come into play until midway through due to his character's reckless and carefree attitude that sees him constantly being beaten up. Still there are some outstanding martial art sequences, namely the final long-winded confrontation where it's brutal and bloody (and those nun-chucks get a work out) with an out-of-the-blue payoff that tries to be as iconic as the film it's wanting to be. Pacing can be a little uneven (excluding those kung-fu slow-motion shots), but director Wei keeps the story straight-forward adding enough interest and tension with Chan Sing making a terrific deadly opponent for Chan and Nora Miao is good too.

Ok, call me crazy but I think good Kung-Fu films should have a lot of fighting.....don't you? In the first hour of this film, there's about 30 seconds of fighting. Why? What's the point of this film? This film is said to be a sequel to the original. It is not. This movie is a waste of time if you're looking to watch some good Kung-Fu action films. This movie is a drag. There's no character development, no good action sequences, and no story line.

Leave this one on the shelf and rent the original Fists of Fury instead.

Fairly drawn-out and sometimes frustrating Kung Fu film about the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. This film is not too bad, you just have to make it to the final reel - something that I expect only enthusiasts of this genre will do. So why is it frustrating? Well, Jackie (or Jacky as credited here), does virtually nothing until fellow Chinese literally drag him into a Kung Fu school in the last quarter of the (2 hour) film.

Sure, he has one action scene early in the film, but he succeeds only in getting pounded nicely by two Japanese fighters. A nice motive for him to learn Kung Fu, I thought. But I was wrong. He does nothing about it...

Anyway, this is one of the more coherent Wei Lo films, and the tension builds fairly steadily. The main villain played by Sing Chen is a believable and decidedly confronting and dangerous man - he's great.

The references to Bruce Lee are tastelessly rammed down your throat, but the final fight is great and suitably brutal. It's a good revenge story, with an unusual ending.

First I will say that, yes I did enjoy Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury", but I also enjoyed this pseudo-sequel as well. There wasn't all that much reference back to the first movie if you look at it, sure Chen Zhen was mentioned, as was Jing Wu, but beyond that, then there wasn't all that much reference. And I found that "New Fist of Fury" was actually an adequate movie in itself. Watch it for what it is, a Kung Fu movie meant for entertaining.

The story is fairly simple, a young man living as a thief comes to be forced into learning Kung Fu at the Jing Wu academy during the time when Taiwan was occupied by Japanese troops. And this young man embodies the Taiwanese spirit and fights for an independent Taiwan, standing up to the Japenese occupational force.

Bear in mind that this is an early Jackie Chan movie, and it was before all the slapstick comedy became his trademark, so this is a more serious Kung Fu movie compared to most other of his movies. Being a movie from 1976, you of course have the odd sound effects during the Kung Fu scenes and fairly questionable acting compared to today's standards.

There was a good amount of nice fighting throughout the movie, however I think the last showdown, the climax of the movie, was actually a little bit too much drawn out, taking a bit too long to finish. And then the scene when the movie ends was rather anti-climatic.

The movie in itself is a well worthy addition to any Jackie Chan fan's DVD collection, especially because it is outside of the usual slapstick comedy genre of Kung Fu.