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Fist of Legend

Fist of Legend

List Price: $14.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: JET LI AT HIS BEST!!
Review: this movie is jamed packed with fighting action! for me this has been the best movie of jet li, the guy is just to fast. with the fights being cheorograph by yuen woo ping(croutching tiger..., the matrix 1,2&3, kill bill 1&2, iron monckey[director], twin warriors [director], etc.) every 15 minutes there is a fight scene. the story is preety good. but it's defenitly a duty of every martial arts fan to own a copy of this film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More than a martial arts flick
Review: As everyone says, this movie is one of the best of its genre. Unlike its original counter-part, Fist of fury (AKA The Chinese Connection), Fist of Legend has a more realistic story that does not portray all Japanese as cold-hearted imperialists. One of the best examples is the love between Jet's character and a Japanese woman. All of his other Chinese friends denounce her and say that she cannot be accepted. However, the master of Jet's school falls in love with a prostitute. She is later bought out from the brothel and begins to live at the school. A maid makes a comment that Mitsuko (the Japanese woman) should have been accepted as well. One of the older men of the school makes an excuse by saying that she is Japanese, and therefore, cannot be accepted. I believe that the writer and director wanted to make a political statement, as well as an entertaining film. Just because a country is at war with another, that does not mean that every single person is an enemy. There are some who cannot help the way their country operates. If you look past the fighting, there is more to this film, which makes it exceptional.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jet Li is the Greatest Martial Artist Since Bruce Lee
Review: This 1994 Hong-Kong martial arts production starring Jet Li is simply unbelievable. The fight sequences are fast, brutal and perfectly choreographed by the famous Yeun-Wo Ping. It has an emotional story, adrenaline-pumping action and outstanding music. I am a fairly new fan of Jet Li and just starting to collect some of his amazing films. Let me tell you, being a huge fan of the ultimate master of martial-arts, Bruce Lee, I can say with all honesty that Jet Li rivals the grace, power, finesse, speed and agility that Lee displayed in his movies. Anyway, back to the movie, I found this re-make of Bruce Lee's classic "Fist of Fury" both satisfying and breathtaking. This is definetely one of the greatest martial-arts movies I have ever seen. This is a must-see for any action fan or any fan of the cinema for that matter. Thanks for reading my review.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: CHANGED SOUNDTRACK & TERRIBLE DUBS
Review: No options to change to subtitiles? The dubbed english is terrible. It doesn't even follow some of the dialogue correctly. Fight scenes are intact but they changed the music! Why? The music is awesome in the original chinese version!!!! This is the best martial art movie ever, but see the original version and avoid this cut up piece of crap!!! The original is a 5 star movie!! Note The legend of drunken master aka drunken master ii, and twin warriors aka tai chi masters also has these problems!!!!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: ALWAYS stay with ORIGINAL!!!!
Review: Why American production make HK movies look so cheap? First of all, they cut off so much scene, second of all ruin it by making look acting so dumb by English Dubb. For ANY of HK movies, ALWAYS stick with ORIGINAL LICENSED HK RELEASE. Be careful with cheap imports, boots though.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best of Jet Li
Review: I have seen lots of Jet Li's movies. This is one of Jet Li's the best interms of the action scenes. The story is some what copy of the Fist of Fury, but hey if you are a martial arts lover and looking for one of the Jet Li's best fighting scenes, you got a see this one. What makes the fights more enjoyble is the vividness of the kicks and the punches and the no use of the damn wires. And if you are a martial atrs movie collector then this is a must for you to buy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: --------------------WHAT BONES?????-------------------------
Review: -----------------------CHEN ZHEN GOT IT.BREAKIN ARMS, LEGS, ANKLES, JAWS AND NAME IT. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY ABOUT --FIST OF LEGEND -KICKED MY ASS WATCHING IT THATS HOW GOOD THIS MOVIE WAS..
JET LI IS DEFINITELY THE BEST.-------------------------

WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!
WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!
WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!
WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!
WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fist of Legend
Review: I loved this movie and I believe that it is the best martial arts film ever made. The thing I liked most about this film is that it actually had a plot and a storyline, something most martial arts movies always seem to lack. Also, Woo ping's choreography is breathtaking-I ecspecially appreciated the fact that he chose to shirk his usual "wire-martial arts" style and instead captured realistic martial arts fight sequences, scenes that are perhaps the best ever captured on film. In my opinion, the lack of using wires and other special effects was what made this movie so great and it adequately showcased Jet Li's martial arts ability. The cinematography is also lush and beautiful. The dvd is definitely a must have for martial arts fans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you only buy one flick of this kind, this is the flick...
Review: Jet's best picture period. A true fan should look for an out of print Hong Kong uncut version. There is only over three minutes cut out, but it's an important scene that establishes character developement, and the english subtitles explain the dialogue in more detail and makes much more sense.

That's people for ya'! Givin' this sweet movie a disgusting four star rating! Thanks non-kung fu fans! These people must go on here and give "Abbey Road" a four and a half talkin' about: "It's good, but not THAT good".....Your tasteless like diet crackers. This movie is perfection: Action, direction, acting, cinematogrophy....Just perfection.... THIS is a correct review for beginner kung fu fans... Enjoy!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A wondeful tribute which Bruce would be proud of
Review: As you can tell by reading other reviews, this DVD has dubbing issues and deleted content. But aside from these (glaring) flaws, this remains a solid action film. Yuen Woo Ping choreographed the fight scenes without all the wirework which he is so renowned for and instead opted to showcase the actual martial artist that is Jet Li, here paying tribute to the inspiring Bruce Lee.

Anybody who has seen Chinese Connection (A.K.A. Fist of Fury) knows the main premise of this film. I for one am glad Jet didn't try and rip off Bruce's every mannerism and movement. There is only one Bruce Lee. Instead, Jet is honestly expressing himself while showing respect for a man that clearly inspires him to be his very best, and that's as good a tribute as one could ask for. Jet plays Chun Zhen, a Chinese student who returns home to Shanghai only to find that his master has been killed by a Japanese master, and the wheels of revenge have been set in motion.

While for his time Bruce portrayed a lonesome Chinese hero who wouldn't allow others to oppress him and his people, Jet focuses more on the philosophical aspects of the martial arts and in the process does something which I found to be a very kind jesture - he proves that love knows no boundaries as his object of affection in the movie happens to be a Japanese girl (played by Nakayama Shinobu). It is significant as it contrasts with the psychological division between the two neighboring Asian cultures in Bruce's day and now. Had Bruce's sweetheart been a Japanese girl in place of Nora Miao, the Chinese crowd he was trying to appeal to would've probably been alot less hospitable of their hometown hero.

Of course, what's a martial arts film without great fight scenes? Fist of Legend delivers some intriguing choreography and all the action is directed in a glossy, stylistic manner without being too fancy for its own good, unlike the over-the-top stunts of Iron Monkey and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which, in my opinion, suck. While Jet lacks the sheer intensity of Bruce's on-screen persona in CC, he makes up for it with his own formula of extremely agile techniques and tremendous physical abilities which truly showcase the lean, mean fighting machine that he is. Jet combines the rudiments of Western boxing with a solid foundation of extremely fluid Wu-Shu, a style which is a little too flowery to be taken seriously in my opinion, but it is art nevertheless. Jet synthesizes aspects of Bruce's Jeet Kune Do with his own abilities and it looks great on celluloid. I don't want to ruin anything, but i'll say that the fight for ownership of Ching Wu school is my favorite above the rest, surpassing even the end fight spectacle that is Jet Li vs Billy Chou which is a little too drawn out for my tastes.

I recommend this movie, as well as CC. Both are great works to own and it makes no sense to insult either man or film. Instead, play the part of the winner and own both man's films. Neither film has the sheer entertainment value of a film such as Young Master (starring Jackie Chan) but, hey, you can always own them all, right?

P.S. If you can, find the uncut original versions of both FoL and CC. You'll be glad you did.

-Also recommended-
Mr Vampire, Young Master, Fearless Hyena, Return of the Dragon, Prodigal Son (features a must-see Wing Chun battle between Lam Ching-Ying and Frankie Chan), and Once Upon a Time in China.


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