Legend of the Fist

The best thing about "Legend of the Fist" is that it features some of the most spectacular acrobatic prowess to come from the great Donnie Yen. Unfortunately, these moments of awe inspiring nirvana appear in fits and starts after long, long moments of exposition.

If this movie had a strong story, like Donnie Yen's "Kill Zone" with it's engaging plot about police corruption and the consequences of pursuing vengeance, all this exposition could be forgiven. However, the story is about Yen playing a Zorro-like folk hero, who dresses like Bruce Lee in 'The Green Hornet'. What should be a rollicking adventure instead becomes a violent drama about China's occupation by the Japanese. Granted, Donnie Yen's best film, "Ip Man" was also about the Chinese occupation; but that film managed a perfect balance between drama and spectacular action.

I would almost dismiss "Legend of the Fist" altogether; but then Yen does a flip, a jump, a punch, a kick and my jaw hits the floor.

Although the narrative gets convoluted at times, the historical setting of the Chinese labor corps sent to aid the allied war effort during world war 1 is historically factual ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Labour_Corps ), though it has been largely forgotten.

the Chinese intelligentsia also successfully mounted pressure to cause Japan to delay full scale aggression until the 30s ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-One_Demands )

this movie is essentially a big budget hong kong action movie produced as a homage to Bruce Lee. At times it strives to be too many homages at once with Donnie Yen resurrecting both Kato AND Chen Zhen ( Fist of Fury).

It shouldn't be conceived as Chinese propaganda (anymore than any of the Bruce Lee movies were) or anti-Japanese, as long as you understand that the Chinese truly were the underdogs back then.

in fact, the young Japanese actor playing the colonel totally stole the show.

Previously this year, there were "True Legend", "14 Blades", "The Legend is Born: Ip Man" and the breathtaking "Ip Man 2". They have been well- made and enjoyable. September brings up another Donnie Yen flick: "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen".

The movie was actually not bad at all. The acting was not really bad at all and everything was fine. But, why a 6?

First, unlike "Ip Man 2", the movie didn't get to roam many places as the setting like previous martial art flicks. Instead, most of the movie or at least 85% of the movie took place in a club. That made the movie look pretty dull and boring. I just wanted more locations and explore more of Chen Zhen's world rather than staying in a club doing nothing; in the club, there were only some non-action stuff and they were boring.

Secondly, the climactic moment. What the hell happened to Chen Zhen. It's just so strange if you watch the climactic scene. In other words, you're facing a tough enemy and you didn't even get to hit him once in the first round. Suddenly, you rose and the enemy didn't get to hit you once. So "what the hell happened". It's just perfectly shot in the first part and it just suddenly drops in the second round.

Thirdly, why did Donnie Yen do the signature "haya" noises of Bruce Lee. I didn't hear any of those noises in the first movie. What happened to Chen Zhen? It's just so bizarre and unnecessary.

For the others, they were fine. The music was satisfying enough to raise suspense for the movie and the action scenes were perfectly directed. Nothing wrong with the others.

However, the movie does show quite some semi-nude scenes which were pretty disturbing. Compared to "Ip Man 2", "Chen Zhen" has bloodier action scenes.

Overall, the martial action movie was enjoyable and worth to be watched. Only those three things spoil the enjoyment of the film.

Prince AJB's rating: 6/10 or 60%

Thanks for reading my review and hope it is useful.

This year marks the 70th year of Bruce Lee's birth, arguably the best martial artist the cinematic world has ever seen, with his short filmography still continuing to wow audiences young and old. With tribute screenings at the Hong Kong International Film Festival earlier this year, and at the Tokyo International Film Festival later this month, director Andrew Lau, writer Gordan Chan and leading kung-fu icon of the moment Donnie Yen pay their collective tribute with Legend of the Fist, taking one of the most memorable of Bruce Lee's characters Chen Zhen and imagining a follow up story.

But wait, wasn't the final shot in Fist of Fury quite definitive? But as movie rules are concerned, nothing's canon if you don't see it, so a slew of gunshots count for nothing, passing it off as one of many rumours to discount his death, when in actual fact Chen Zhen (now with Yen picking up the mantle) is still alive and kicking, and sent packing to the WWI front in France to fight alongside his Chinese labourer compatriots against the Axis forces. It's an unsatisfactory explanation I know, but one of the rare blips in what I thought was a riveting story concocted that alas was let down by a clichéd ending that was too abrupt to be satisfying, leaving doors open for another film if it does happen.

Other than that, Legend of the Fist continues how Bruce Lee films were steeped in Chinese nationalism, only here it went with trumpets blaring with any given opportunity. Chen Zhen assumes a dead comrade's identity to return to Shanghai keeping jolly well under the Japanese's radar, where now the city in the early 20s gets carved up into settlements, with a microscopic representation of the internal chaos existing within the nightclub of influential Shanghainese businessman Liu Yiutian (Anthony Wong), with whom Chen Zhen befriends, for an ulterior motive of course, since he's now with the resistance, and the Casablanca club providing a hotbed of information as they plot and counterplot moves against the Japanese's brewing aggression.

Of late there's been a wave of such nationalistic movies that Donnie Yen tend to get involved in, such as Bodyguards and Assassins, and his more recent and successful Ip Man films, where Chinese people gather around a representative hero of their time to defeat foreign aggressors, where even in Ip Man 1, we see and expect the same mano-a-mano against a Japanese general who shows off his fair share of kung-fu knowhow. Like how many caricatures would be crafted in many more films that deal with that difficult period in Chinese history. While Yen had portrayed historical characters in those films, this one he continues with a fictional one made famous by a historical martial artist in Lee.

As a film steeped in paying homage to Lee, there are times where you feel the characters and action get shackled from freedom of expression, but this is not always a bad thing. I had followed Donnie Yen's career pretty early when he was still doing television serials for Hong Kong's ATV, where he played Chen Zhen in a storyline that had to mimic Fist of Fury, but expanded to include a romance with a Japanese woman. Like some television dramas that gets new lease of life on the big screen, it helped that Yen has experience in portraying the role other than a few others like Jet Li in another feature film that was a remake, but this one had the guts to continue where the film / series left off with a new spin.

While aspects of the Chen Zhen character were toned down probably because the character has to continue staying under the radar, gone are the high shrieks when he fights in the beginning (purists, please don't worry, you'll hear that toward the end), and got replaced by plenty of what I thought was MMA executed in brilliantly brutal fashion, starting with the prologue action sequence which had Chen Zhen being that one man soldier, followed by yet another nod in Bruce Lee's direction when dressed in a deliberate Kato costume. I'd say if not for his age, I'd give my vote to Yen if he were to be casted as Kato in the upcoming Green Hornet film in lieu of Jay Chou.

More Lee homages were to come, with the necessity to go shirtless in highlighting the chiseled physique that has its fair share of punishment, and what would be defining of Lee in Fist of Fury with the use of the nunchaks, although with all due respect to Yen, Lee is quite indomitable in this area, and the filmmakers here can only up the ante by throwing in a lot more goons to dispatch of in the same dojo from the earlier film. Yen took the action choreographer reins, and skillfully designed some spectacular fight sequences for action junkies to go wow over, balancing the homage aspects as well as coming up with some really violent, finishing moves to rid opponents. Watch this in a cinema with a proper sound system decked out will heighten that sense surround of being within the all round action.

The story's pretty much plain sailing with little surprises thrown in other than to present shifting loyalties in a tumultuous time, where Anthony Wong lends gravitas, Chinese actor Huang Bo providing comic relief as a corrupt policeman, and Shu Qi lending her vocals yet again as a club hostess already seen in films like Blood Brothers. While the story wouldn't be as iconic as Fist of Fury's, the fight action sequences lived up to its billing, and celebrated manifold the legend of Bruce Lee's instead.

Saw this at London preview.

This is a loose sequel to Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury. Its not important to know that but if you are a fan of Bruce Lee, you will enjoy Donny Yen's sometimes blatant impression of Bruce Lee's nuances and war cries. If you aren't familiar with Bruce Lee, than a certain fight sequence may look a bit bewildering! There is a fascinating story to be told here with some interesting sub plots and bizarrely evolving into a comic book superhero flick. Unfortunately, it makes for a complete mess. I wont totally blame the director for that, that's an editor's job to maintain a narrative flow. The potential is there for this to work but unfortunately it just seems to me that couldn't bind it all together, or they were in a hurry to complete the film because it all seemed rushed.

However, the film is sumptuous to watch in its period settings, and the 2 leads are charismatic enough to carry the film. There is a sprinkle of humour that gave me chuckles though some were unintentional.

But the real star of the film is Donny Yen. As he gets older, he has even more star presence than ever before and when he fights, you can always feel his punches and awesome kicks. The action scenes are adrenaline pumping, visceral, with a stylish visual flair. These alone are worth the price of admission.

I would watch this again, and maybe next time I can piece a few more pieces of the story together.

Overall, see it for the brilliance of Donny Yen action and if you actually followed the story and enjoyed it, then good for you!