Fist of Fury 2 Disc Set

Rating:
Summary: Dull Movies, Shoddy DVD
Review: "Fist of Fury Legacy Pack" from VideoAsia assembles four movies ripped-off from...erm, excuse me, inspired by Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury" (aka "The Chinese Connection") featuring several Bruce Lee clones, including Bruce Li, Bruce Le, and Bruce Pak. The movies are very boring, and even worse than usual for Bruceploitation.
"Fist of Fury III" is my favourite of the four films. Picking up where Bruce Li's "Fist of Fury Part II" left off, it has Bruce Lee's BROTHER going back to his hometown after a long day of arse-whuppin'. When there, he gets in trouble with some local gangs. This movie is certainly not without its slow stretches, although some hilariously goofy characters (like the mother who cried so much she went blind) and a reasonably entertaining final bout with 'the big boss' (so to speak) make it worthwhile.
"Ching Wu and Shaolin Kung Fu" (aka "Bruce and Shaolin Kung Fu") is basically the story of Bruce Le as he goes on various Japanese-baiting antics. The plot is absolutely incoherant. Of note are the fact that much of it seems to have been filmed in winter, and kung fu favourite Bolo Yeung has a supporting role. "Ching Wu and Shaolin Kung Fu Part II" is even worse, although it does have a pretty good final fight. Oddly, some of the music was stolen from American soap operas!
"Return of Fist of Fury" continues the "Ching Wu" storyline, but it was so dull I only watched a bit of it. Sue me.
The double-disc DVD looks nothing short of awful. The films are faded and scratchy to the max. All are in pan-and-scan, although the "Ching Wu" movies actually begin in widescreen...reverting back to full frame after the opening credits. Why, VideoAsia, why!? The audio is dubbed, although that actually contributes to what little charm these films have. "InstaAction" ("Go right to the action at the push of a button!" brags the box) is included as a special feature, and is perfect for those who get sick of all that pesky plot that keeps popping up in movies like this.

Rating:
Summary: BRUCEploitation, but a Keeper
Review: Honestly...I'd originally purchased this collection because it featured another one of my childhood fav's(Fist of Fury 3 aka Chinese Connection 3 with Bruce Li), but I was impressed to find other sequels/tie-ins to the Chinese Connection featured(all except for Return of Fist of Fury...but I'll address that later).
The collection starts off with Ching-Wu & Shaolin pt. 1 & 2 in which Chen Ling journeys to Shanghai to avenge Chen Sen(Bruce Lee's character from Chinese Connection), gets shot up, survives, retaliates, etc(lots of action), then business picked up with Fist of Fury 3(Chinese Connection 3) in which Chen Shan(from Chinese Connection 2) returns Chen Sen's remains to his hometown, catches beef from the Japanese, his mom & bro get killed, he abenges them in the rain(cool sequences...lots of action). The only thing that threw me off was the fact that in Chinese Connection 2, Chen Shan visited his brother's grave in Shanghai before avenging his brother's death, and this film starts off with Chen Shan delivering Chen Sen's CREMATED remains to his family...which had me curious as to whether they were supposed to have been Chen Sen's or Chen Ling's(from Ching Wu 1 & 2...who visited Chen's grave). And the plot wasn't the best...but the fight scenes in the rain were to die for. However, the collections went dim with Return of Fist of Fury which was an attempt to pickup where Ching Wu 2 left off. BOO!

Rating:
Summary: Utter indolence!
Review: How hard is it to release Bruce Lee movies in 5.1 (both English and Cantonese) and with a cleaned up, anamorphic picture? Every other region has 5.1 and anamorphic widescreen why is Region 1 the ONLY one without this? Bruce Lee was the best there is and ever will be and I don't see how DVD producers can make such a mockery and be so disrespectful by making this garbage they call a DVD. GIVE US WHAT WE WANT!