The film is a remake of the Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury and is one of those remakes that equals, if not betters, the original. It is for me, Jet Li's best. He is perhaps best known in the West for his appearance in Lethal Weapon 4 and his starring role in Romeo Must Die. These are not however, ... Read review
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Advantages: Great kung fu, good story, best Jet Li film Disadvantages: English dubbing on the DVD
...of the Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury and is one of those remakes that equals, if not betters, the original. It is for me, Jet Li's best. He is perhaps best known in the West for his appearance in Lethal Weapon 4 and his starring role in Romeo Must Die. These are not however, his only blockbusters. He is VERY well known and held in equally high regard in Hong Kong and Asian cinema.
Fist of Legend (FoL) is set in Japan and China, during ... ...a disciple of a great martial arts master, the Chinese 'Fist of Legend' from Shanghai, but is studying in Japan at his master's request, so that he might learn about the Japanese as they really are, and not from the rumours and hearsay of the oppressed Chinese citizens.
From practically the very beginning, there is fantastic martial arts action. Jet Li's martial arts are the genuine article. He has won many national tournaments in ... more
The film is a remake of the Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury and is one of those remakes that equals, if not betters, the original. It is for me, Jet Li's best. He is perhaps best known in the West for his appearance in Lethal Weapon 4 and his starring role in Romeo Must Die. These are not however, his only blockbusters. He is VERY well known and held in equally high regard in Hong Kong and Asian cinema.
Fist of Legend (FoL) is set in Japan and China, during Japanese occupation of China. Jet Li's charcter, Chen Zen, is a disciple of a great martial arts master, the Chinese 'Fist of Legend' from Shanghai, but is studying in Japan at his master's request, so that he might learn about the Japanese as they really are, and not from the rumours and hearsay of the oppressed Chinese citizens.
From practically the very beginning, there is fantastic martial arts action. Jet Li's martial arts are the genuine article. He has won many national tournaments in China for his skills and fighting ability. The opening fight sequence is not fancy and staged. Rather, you can see some proper martial arts - something that Wing Chun and Wushu would actually teach.
The fights are choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping, who was responsible for the cheoreography in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' among many others. This for many, is endorsement enough of the fighting, but wait until you see it! One of the best fight scenes in the whole film is the showdown between Chen Zen and an old Japanese master - I don't want to give anything away, so go watch it!
Wire work, such as seen in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is rare in this film - the martial arts, as I have stressed, are the real thing. Any wire work is subtle and well integrated, and the final fight of the film was the inspiration behind the dojo fighting scene in 'The Matrix'.
The storyline, often very weak in kung fu movies, is actually quite good. There are individual character storylines and subplots which are commonly absent in this type of film. It is not simply a 'China, good; Japan, bad' film. You see different sides to it all and much the better for it! There is even love intreset in the film - uncommon to many films in the genre.
Image quality on the Hollywood Pictures DVD is good. However, some scenes have been cut and the film runs a few minutes shorter than the original. The major problem though, is the dubbing. I am Chinese and like to hear the film in its original language (which in this case is supposed to be Mandarin Chinese). However, the current release only has English dubbing. Not only is this annoying from my viewpoint, the translation is appalling! The rest of the DVD has little on it and is quite disappointing.
If you want to get the original language DVD, Ritek, a Taiwanese company, sells it. You can find the Ritek version on Ebay and I recommend it despite its reduced image quality. There are English and Chinese subtitles on the Ritek DVD and it seems so much more 'realistic' if you get what I mean, in the original languge. There are no extra features on the Ritek DVD either, but it is cheaper than the Hollywood Pictures version (only £12 compared to £19 when I got my copy). The Ritek version has the whole film on it, uncut and is overall, so much better!
If you like this film, Jet Li's other films, notably the 'Once Upon a Time in China' series is worth watching. Jackie Chan is good too, but if you're looking for more serious films, rather than slapstick, stick to Jet Li.
In conclusion, buy this film. I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you see only one martial arts film, this is the one to buy. Get a copy, even if it is the dubbed version - it's worth it. As a kung fu practitioner, I was very happy to see real kung fu throughout the film. It is amazing to watch Jet Li - he is FAST. Find this film, buy it, watch it, love it. An absolute gem of a film that will be watched over and over again BUY, BUY, BUY!
Advantages: Amazing fight scenes and choreography, superb martial arts and story Disadvantages: English Subtitles
Fist of Legend is a 90's remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury. Jet Li plays the main role, and displays his world beating Wing Chun style in a succession of excellently choreographed fight scenes.
The film starts out as it means to go on, with Jet Li taking on a group of racist Japanese martial artists who believe the Chinese should not be taught in their schools. A fight scene results, with Jet Li defeating the group of Japanese in a stunning manor.
... ...the Matrix was inspired by Fist of Legend. The fight scenes are in a similar style to the MAtrix, but instead of using Hollywood actors and special effects, Jet Li demonstrates his incredible Kung Fu skills.
Aswell as the action, the story is also very good. Set in Shanghai at the turn of the century, Jet Li's character is out to avenge the death of his master, who was defeated unfairly in a contest after being poisoned.
I would severely recommend ...
Lidless_Eye 03.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fist Of Legend (DVD)
Advantages: Very fast Kung Fu, interesting plot, Jet Li Disadvantages: Laughable dubbing
Set in the year 1937 in Japan/China this modern remake of Bruce Lee's 'Fist Of Fury', starts out as it means to go on.
It begins with Chen Zen (Jet Li) attending school in Japan, where he is attacked in class by the Japanese for being Chinese. This is one of the main plot lines in the film, the presence of Japanese troops in China, and the rivalry between the two. The first fight scene alone is enough to convince anyone who is interested in Kung ... ...amazing speed, and fighting not to hurt the opponants, but to stop them, dislocating joints for example so they can't fight.
Throughout the film, there are different fight scenes, some 1-on-1, some 1 on many, some many on many, and each one is brilliantly choreographed. The fights with Li in especially, as he is so quick and as the film shows, unbeatable, each scene makes you smile and gasp in wonder, sometimes even laughing at the subtle jokes ...
Murray123 16.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Fist Of Legend (DVD)
Advantages: A staggering performance and innate story! Disadvantages: fight scenes slightly unrealistic but not over the top
Fist of legend is a remake of Bruce Lee's 'Fist of fury'. However this movie not only changes my perception on remakes it makes me want to watch remakes as opposed to originals. At first I was rather skeptical about this Jet Li movie...nevertheless,from the words lights camera action: there was alot of action.
The genres swerve between historical aspects with reference to Japan and China during the 1930s (although historical inaccuracies occur as ... ...and Juliet' and the movie even reflected the genre of revenge analogous to that in William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.
The fight scenes are brilliant and so fast you might even have to play a scene again to see what actually happened. Jet Li shows why he is amongst the likes of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.
However Jet Li not only demonstrates his boxing (fist) skills : he shows us trademark innovative Kung Fu mixed with Karate and the 'way of the samurai'. ...
cobainkurdt 27.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Fist Of Legend (DVD)
Advantages: Fantastic Kung Fu action Disadvantages: None!
Director Gordon Chan's 'Fist Of Legend' like all good remakes doesn't just do a rehash of the original - The storyline is expanded - Adding more ideas which weren't fully explored in Bruce Lee's 'Fist of Fury'. For a start this isn't you're typical China v Japan storyline - There are good and bad characters from both sides. The movie starts in Japan where Chen Zen (Jet Li) a China Man hears news of his master's death in Shanghai, Chen is a student ... ...in Shanghai - Chen immedietly leaves his Japanese sweetheart and heads for Shanghai. Leading to action and even mystery when we dicover that Chen's master was poisoned before his fight with a Japanese master. Chin Siu Ho co-stars as the the dead master's son who becomes the new master of his father's martial arts school - But friction develops when the students are amazed by Chen Zen and learn new fighting methods from him. These are just a few elements ...
Suchet 24.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Fist Of Legend (DVD)
HOLLYWOOD PICTURES HOME VIDEO; WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINM
Release date
01/04/2004
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
BED 888481
Barcode
5017188884815
Languages
Main Language
Cantonese\Chinese
Professional reviews
Review
"...[Viewers] finally get a chance to see this martial artist show his chops..." -- Rating: A- (Entertainment Weekly, p.79, 11/02/2000)
DVD Description
A loving homage to the 1973 Bruce Lee kung fu classic CHINESE CONNECTION, updated with increased production values, a ROMEO AND JULIET-style romantic subplot, and a more temperate view of the Japanese enemy. A martial arts protege (Li) leads his classmates in revolt after their teacher is poisoned by the invading Japanese. The final fight scene is arguably one of the best of all time. Fights choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping, action director of THE MATRIX.
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