Chen Zhen, a Chinese engineering student in Kyoto, who braves the insults and abuse of his Japanse fellow students for his local love Mitsuko Yamada, daughter of the director, returns in 1937 to his native Shangai, under Japanse protectorate -in fact military occupation- after reading about the death of his kung-fu master Hou Ting-An in a fight against the Japanese champion Ryuichi Akutagawa.
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In 1937, a Chinese martial artist (Jet Li) returns to Shanghai to find his teacher dead and his school harassed by the Japanese. (The film is a remake of the 1972 "Fist of Fury", which starred Bruce Lee as the lead character.) This film is hailed as influential; for example, "Fist of Legend" inspired the Wachowskis to hire choreographer Yuen Woo-ping for the fight scenes in "The Matrix" (1999). The style of fighting in the two films therefore bears some resemblance. Apparently, it was also a model for other American films from the late 1990s onward.Being no expert on martial arts films, I couldn't say why this one had an impact when so many others did not. Maybe it was just brought to the United Sates by Miramax at the right time? If nothing else, the production value is worlds ahead of the classic Shaw Brothers films.
Dodgy dubbing aside, Jet Li's FIST OF LEGEND is movie making par excellence. Essentially a remake of the 1972 Bruce Lee film FIST OF FURY, this updated version sees a more complex struggle between the Chinese and Japanese authorities (both sides are shown to be racist and unreasonable at times instead of the Japanese-hating 1972 film) and far more in-depth characters than the straightforward parts that Bruce and his buddies played twenty years previously. Not that the plot is very important; being a martial arts film the emphasis is on the action, as always, and I'm happy to say that FIST OF LEGEND offers some of the most intense battles out there.Jet Li himself is at the unstoppable peak of his powers, delivering some incredible kicks and punches, and twisting his body into various impossible positions to help him take down his multiple opponents more easily. The more I see of Li (this being the fourth film, for those who care), the more impressed I am, and his strength, agility, flexibility, and skill make him one of the finest screen martial artists in the world. Watching him fight is compulsive stuff.Amid the various plot twists and turns, the action sequences flow smoothly along, helped greatly by the fight choreography of the famous Yuen Woo Ping who thankfully keeps his wirework to a minimum here so that the fights are kept hard and realistic. FIST OF LEGEND is a jaw-droppingly violent movie that begins with a bone-breaking bout in a classroom and culminates in a magnificent ten minute fight between Li and the chief villain, a sadistic and cruel Japanese General as played by the impassive Billy Chau.This final fight is one of the best I've seen and has some great moments, like when Li gets his shoulder dislocated and when he uses his own belt as a makeshift weapon against a sword! The rest of the action is also exciting, suspenseful, and most importantly makes for great entertainment. Production values are top-notch and the acting - behind the dubbing - to a very good standard. Another Li classic and another superior Hong Kong fight flick; it makes competition like Van Damme's TIMECOP from the same year seem like child's play.
Nowadays, we are missing good actions movies, this one is one my favorite, since I was kid, the fights are pretty awesome, and most of the moves are very real ( most of them ), I know they are some moves made with cables and all of that but the throws, boxing techniques, and drills are very good executed. Also the editing it helps at lot to watch the fights in a good perspective.Jet Lee plays his role very good, the plot is also well developed, the acting is not too bad, but also adding to the scenarios are designed, as the clothing of the movie.Watch it you are gonna like, it does not matter if you are martial artist, and if you are, you are gonna like even more.
One of the most applauded martial arts movies to date, this piece of art offers much more than flawless, thrilling action: plausible characters having real dilemmas and making actual decisions, based on their own moral codex. Each and every of the five-or-so protagonists is a human being with a set of values that he or she tries to follow, each and every fight is meaningful and serves to advance both the plot and character evolution. In this, Fist of Legend has achieved more than everything else that has been done in its genre and in fact transcended it, and should surely rank amongst the greatest movies of all time - much like Casablanca did for the classical melodramatic flick.Set in the time of the Japanese occupation of China and revolving around Sino-Japanese lovers, Fist of Legend presents numerous conflicts of morally right and wrong action, such as national pride versus racial prejudice, misuse of power versus right for self-defense, limits of loyalty to an authority, limits of self-sacrifice for the sake of love. It is amazing how so much of it could be crammed amongst the grand amount of action, but the result is unparalleled, creating the single movie where every fight has deeper meaning than just the hero thrashing another bad guy. When everything is poised for the grand finale, Fist of Legend delivers a truly epic battle between a hero standing for humanity with all its faults and a being that has lost all human traits save for the physical shell. Never before or after can I remember having such a strong feeling that humans could, and should, actually punch through concrete when the time is right.Unless you really, really can't stand Asian action cinematography or just hate movies that are not in English, there is no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this movie. Oh, and if you ever decide to watch only one, only ONE kung-fu pic, in your whole life, EVER... this has to be it.
