Fist of Legend: La Nouvelle Fureur de Vaincre

Well, what can I say but this is an AWESOME movie. Jet Li and Yuen Woo Ping team up once more to bring us some of the best fight scenes ever. The movie is more-or-less a remake of Bruce Lee's "The Chinese Connection." Jet Li's master is killed in a match and Jet returns to Shanghai to investigate. He learns that his master was poisoned and finds himself going up against the Japanese. The music was good. The theme of racial tolerance was present. The performances were also good.

Now, let's talk about what really matters: the fights. Jet Li fights like he's never fought before. The wires are minimal. Many of fights are instant classics, such as him demolishing the Japanese school and his match with Yusuaki Kurata. The final duel with Billy Chow is one of the greatest single fights ever put on film. Li, Chow, Kurata, and Chin Siu Ho all put in excellent fighting performances. Basically, a must see for all fans of martial arts and action.

Simply put, Fist of Legend is one of the very best martial arts films ever made. It stands in a group with Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, Jackie Chan's Drunken Master II, and...as soon as I think of anything as good as those three, I'll let you know.

Choreographed by the legendary Yuen Wo-Ping, this is Jet Li at his best (and that's saying a lot, folks). Eschewing the aerial wire stunts, Li relies on skill, speed and agility, and is more than up to the task. These fights - and there are a lot of them - are stunning. But the real wonder is that there's a real movie here underneath all the stuntwork. Interesting characters, an intriguing plot, and conflict that goes deeper than "you killed my master"; there's even some political comment. This is a thinly-veiled remake of Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury" (or "The Chinese Connection" in the US, for some bizarre reason), but the story's been widened and given more depth. There's less Japanese-bashing, with more of an attempt to pin blame on individuals instead of nationalities.

If Jet Li is ever going to have a formidable American presence, it's films like this one that should be making the conversion, instead of merely above-average fare like "Black Mask".

"Fist of Legend" is a great movie. Really great. Jet Li plays Chen Zhen, a character played by Bruce Lee in "Chinese Connection", and he does it perfect. Bruce Lee's Chen is a character filled with anger, hate and wish for revenge. Jet Li's Chen is much different. He is cold blooded, there is no anger in him. The difference between Jet Li and Bruce Lee is the same as the difference between "Fist of Legend" and "Chinese Connection". Bruce Lee's character hates Japan and everything Japanese. Jet Li's Chen wishes his revenge but he respects Japanese culture and there isn't hate. If "Chinese Connection" is a movie of the hate and the anger, "Fist of Legend" is a movie of the peace and the respect.

A remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury, this movie gives us amazing martial arts sequences, with good plot and acting in between.

The fights are spectacular. A lot of martial arts movies incorporate wonderful movements and acrobatics, designed to show off the skill and grace of the fighter. However in a life or death struggle, these sometimes seem out of place. This is a "realistic" martial arts movie. You almost feel yourself cringing with each hit. As the man said: "These lads are out to hurt each other." This is fighting in its purest, taking cue from Bruce Lee's personal style, where the aim is to defeat your opponent in the most efficient manner possible. The opening fight of the movie sets its style right away and continues to its climax.

But what made this movie go above and beyond a martial arts flick is the storyline and plot. This movie deals with themes of racism, tolerance and acceptance not only between the Chinese and Japanese, but within each group as well. Here Jet Li shines in his performance. While events cause him to lose his composure and give in to his feelings, at the core you see that he is a righteous person. When he realizes the correct course of action, either by himself, or when it is pointed out by others, he does what is right. And we see the people around him learn from his behavior and they seek to emulate it.

The movie also tries to present a rather fair view of both the Chinese and Japanese. Neither side is portrayed as good or evil, rather as normal human beings, running the whole spectrum from selfish to noble, from hateful to kind.

As a martial arts movie, this is one of the best ever made, but it stands on its own as a good film, one dealing with a historical subject that has a very strong resonance even today.

Up until this movie I had always been let down by Jet Li's flicks except for the "Once Upon a Time in China" series. I bought "Fist of Legend" because it was one of Jet Li's highest rated movies on the IMDb (but it was behind "Hero", which I didn't like so much). I would say I had high but not unrealistic hopes for it. But this movie *needed* to be good or I would have started to consider Jet Li over-rated.

All I can say is that "Fist of Legend" delivers! The opening fight scene was surprisingly brutal and I was instantly hooked. The action doesn't take too long a break in this movie but also found the story compelling and interesting -- something unusual in a martial arts flick. Most of the protagonists are fully developed and the viewer likes and feels for them. The villains aren't nearly so fleshed out and come off as one-dimensional but oh well. Everything else from the costumes to the acting and the settings were decent. The sum package is one of the best martial arts movies I've ever seen and I've seen more than my share. "Fist of Legend" is to Jet Li as "Drunken Master" is to Jackie Chan.

I saw the dubbed Dimension US release. Although I hate dubbing and any editing of a foreign release (are you listening Dimension?), I found the dubbing here mostly okay except for the General's insanely over-the-top "evil" voice. I also felt that some of the dialog seemed to have lost meaning in the translation but it's forgivable.