Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

alexanderdavies-99382 "Fist of Legend" is a remake of the Bruce Lee masterpiece, "Fist of Fury." The time, the setting and the story are quite similar but there are a couple of noticeable differences. Jet Li as a representative of the Chinese people, is having a secret relationship with a Japanese local girl. In addition, he receives instruction in the martial arts from a Japanese teacher. All of this tells me that the hatred between the two peoples isn't so black and white as in the Bruce Lee version. The plot needed improving though. It is quite a hard film to follow at times as there is a lack of continuity from one scene to the next. Having said that, this is still a good martial arts movie. Jet Li has the necessary hard-edged charisma as the avenging student. The fight scenes are ridiculously speeded up and end up looking unrealistic.

ivo-cobra8 Fist of Legend (1994) is one of the best Jet Li's martial arts ever made! I think this film is a classic martial arts film, it is filled with excitement and action. I love this film to death it is my third favorite Jet Li film ever! Widely regarded as the greatest film of two legendary careers, Fist of Legend teams superstar Jet Li with martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping (The Matrix) for "some" of the best fight sequences that you see. In this tribute to Bruce Lee's classic The Chinese Connection (Fists of Fury). Jet Li radiates sheer power and coolness as a Kung Fu phenom living abroad who returns home to avenge the death of his master and save his martial arts school. Shifting effortlessly among diverse fighting styles. Li even fights blindfolded and wields his belt as a deadly weapon. Fist of Legend is essential viewing for any Jet Li fan and "the promised land for Kung Fu cinema.""The object of matching is to beat down the opponent."Plot: 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 Huo Yuan Jia in a fight against the Japanese champion Ryuichi Akutagawa. While overcoming suspicion and ambition within the Kung Fu school, Chen exhumes his master to prove Hou's defeat was the result of poisoning. Both nationalities make the case a test of honor, so Chinese and Japanese pride are at stake when it culminates in Chen's final epic duel against the ruthless, undefeated Japanese general Fujita.So the basic plot is more about the First World War as the Japanese forces are on their way to besiege the German port of Tsingtao in China and it is set in the Shanghai International Settlement in 1914. A lot of Jet Li fan's are choosing Once Upon A Time In China I and II as their favorite Jet Li film, I choose Fist of Legend as my favorite Hong Kong movie and I absolutely love. Watching the first time this film, I thought it was way better than Bruce Lee film because, Jet Li's character Chen Zhen was well decent written and he wasn't violent person like was Bruce Lee (I am sorry I am not disrespecting Bruce Lee but his portrait of Chen Zhen was too violent and racist for me.) I love Bruce Lee and Fists of Fury is not my favorite Bruce Lee film and I think Jet Li was way better as Chen Zhen than Bruce Lee that is just my opinion.Director Gordon Chan write and directed this martial arts flick perfectly and made more a human portraying drama in this film which I love it to death. A sequel was made in 2010 Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen in which Gordon Chan was a writer and started Donnie Yen. Fist of Legend inspired the Wachowskis to hire choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping for the fight scenes in The Matrix. The style of fighting in the two films bears some resemblance. This film has also Yuen Woo-Ping who also directed my favorite action martial arts flick In the Line of Duty IV (1989) with Cynthia Khan and Donnie Yen in the lead role and of course Tiger Cage II (1990) with Donnie Yen in the lead role again which both of the films are my favorite Chinese action martial arts films and stunts are performed realistic. Here we have Yasuaki Kurata from Bloodfight (1989) as one of the bad guys who fights against Jet Li. Considered one of Jet Li's finest movie, what sets this version apart from Bruce Lee's original one is the depiction of the Sino-Japanese relationship: while fist of fury's (Chinese connection) Japanese characters were caricaturing villains partaking in numerous immoral activities, the Fist of legend portrays the Japanese in a more humane way. Although the setting lends itself for a revenge plot, Fist of legend is more about justice and honor than killing and revenge. Training scenes: Unlike other martial arts movie, the protagonist here trains to maintain and improve himself, as opposed to acquiring new skills. The training methods brought forward by Chen Zhen are unorthodox by traditional Kung Fu standards. His method of body conditioning include casual western exercise such as jogging, rope jumping, one arm chin-ups and push ups. Despite embracing new methods, it is shown that Chen Zhen still values more traditional training methods such as form practice, target striking and sparring exercises.Fighting scenes: The fights in Fist of legend are realistic enough that wire enhanced movements easily go by unnoticed. As usual, Jet Li's movements quick and are sharp, making the fight scenes a pleasure to watch. The fight choreography, imagined by Yuen Woo-Ping became an inspiration for many subsequent Hollywood productions, including the Matrix and Kiss of the Dragon.Overral: Fist of Legend is my favorite Hong Kong Jet Li Kung Fu film that I love to death. The rating I am giving is 10/10 for a perfect entertaining martial arts flick! Fist of Legend is a 1994 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Gordon Chan, featuring action choreography by Yuen Woo-ping, and produced by Jet Li, who also starred in the lead role. The film was released on 22 December 1994. It is a remake of the 1972 Fist of Fury, which starred Bruce Lee as the lead character.10/10 Grade: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: Golden Harvest Starring: Jet Li, Chin Siu-ho, Shinobu Nakayama, Billy Chau, Yasuaki Kurata, Paul Chun, Yuen Cheung-Yan Director: Gordon Chan Producers: Jet Li Screenplay: Gordon Chan, Lam Kee-to, Kim Yip Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 43 Mins. Box Office: HK$30,724,330

steben 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.

ebiros2 You get to see what happens if Fist of Fury (A.K.A Chinese Connection) was made with bigger budget and modern film technologies, in this remake of Bruce Lee's classic. Some of the differences are: Japanese are portrayed as more honorable bunch in this picture, dialogs are in Japanese where Japanese characters speaks which adds to the realism, and as a secondary effect, although the movie is not intended to be a comedy, some of the scenes are unintentionally funny because posing on both sides are so over the top, and because they intentionally mimic the original film's way of framing the shots, and acting which looks strange by today's standards. Jet Li is at his element in this movie, and it's one of the best movie he's ever made. Not too much acting, and lot of kung-fu action brings the best of him. He moves so fast that sometimes you'd be suspicious if they employed CG Jet Li to do some of the moves.This Fist of Fury is not just a mindless grudge match between the Chinese and the Japanese, but there're actually some story plot to it. Jet is supposed to be sent to Japan to study Japanese technology by his master, and has a Japanese girlfriend portrayed by Shinobu Nakayama which adds an interesting twist to the story.This is one case where the remake is far superior to the original. What I would have loved to see would be a fight sequence between Bruce Lee and Jet Li. Too bad that Bruce is no longer with us.One of the best kung-fu action movie I've seen especially because I've seen the original before I saw this. I recommend seeing the original Fist of Fury before seeing this to appreciate the full effect of this movie.