Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2011)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Seven years after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after discovering who was responsible...You have to love Donnie Yen. The day of martial arts films may have passed decades ago, but with Yen, it should come back. The film things I have seen him in are among the best martial arts films I have ever experienced.What I liked about this film was that it had martial arts mixed with warfare, and also Chinese history. Martial arts alone would have sold this film, but mixing fists with guns is a nice touch... and putting it into the context of the Chinese resistance to Japan? Brilliant.Another thing about this film... the disparity between the English dub and the English subtitles is big enough that it not only rarely matches, it almost tells two completely different stories. I suggest that if you have the dub on, keep the subtitles on, too. It is pretty funny seeing how far off the two versions are -- and some of the jokes appear in one version but not the other, so to get the full effect both parts are needed.

LEGEND OF THE FIST boasts some topnotch production values: in the opening scenes, Donnie Yen as the superhuman Chen Zhen makes short work of the Germans in France during WWI- with the aid of wirework and cgi. When WWII rolls around, Yen, laying low as a piano player in a Shanghai nightclub, antagonizes the occupying Japanese- and then snatches a chauffeur's black leather outfit and mask from a storefront dummy (part of a display for a movie titled THE MASKED WARRIOR) and kicks some butt. The outfit is, of course, yet another copy of Bruce Lee's costume from THE GREEN HORNET. Jet Li donned same in THE BLACK MASK, another Bruceploitation flick from yesteryear. Going Li one better, LEGEND OF THE FIST also borrows liberally from Li's own FIST OF LEGEND. It's enough to make one's head spin. As is the wonky wirework we see here (again). Far too much time is spent on posturing and partying and talking before this latest Bruceploitation propaganda flick kicks into high gear- and, when it does, it's much too little and it comes much too late to save this one. When Yen does his impression of Bruce Lee during The Big Finale, it's unintentionally hilarious. And I thought these kind of movies had finally run their course. Guess not...

Although the narrative gets convoluted at times, the historical setting of the Chinese labor corps sent to aid the allied war effort during world war 1 is historically factual ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Labour_Corps ), though it has been largely forgotten.the Chinese intelligentsia also successfully mounted pressure to cause Japan to delay full scale aggression until the 30s ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-One_Demands )this movie is essentially a big budget hong kong action movie produced as a homage to Bruce Lee. At times it strives to be too many homages at once with Donnie Yen resurrecting both Kato AND Chen Zhen ( Fist of Fury).It shouldn't be conceived as Chinese propaganda (anymore than any of the Bruce Lee movies were) or anti-Japanese, as long as you understand that the Chinese truly were the underdogs back then.in fact, the young Japanese actor playing the colonel totally stole the show.

High-production values here. They spent some money on this one. The action starts in 1917 along the front-lines where Chen Zen(Donnie) makes a name for himself. The action sequences in the opening moments of the film are absolutely jaw-dropping. I really thought I was in for a treat.Then LOTF(heehee) dives into the plot which is overdrawn, dull, and boring. There is very little character development, very little in terms of subplots, and very little action for the middle hour of this film. It's a shame too, because from the choreography to the effects, the action sequences might be some of the best ever put to film.I could make a film about walking my dog around the block with more depth than this, and while that's not what I should expect from an action flick, I SHOULD expect a lot of action. If you take out the first and last ten minutes of the film there is 5 minutes of action(also incredible). Unfortunately, the wait is so long that it's not worth the wait.I would watch the opening and ending till the DVD stops working, but I won't ever sit through this whole movie again.54/100