Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen Film Review

Review by Ryan Doom on http://www.joblo.com/arrow/dvd_reviews.php?id=2924



During the 1920s in China, the streets of Shanghai have been taken over by gangsters, spies, and politicians. Only a masked vigilante can save the day.



It’s hard not to dig a movie like Legend of the Fist: the Return of Chen Zhen. Not only does it have some damn good action and adventure, it has the small things that really make a movie…namely acting, settings, and story. Of course, it’s easy to point out that the story really isn’t anything new. We’ve seen the vigilante tale a few hundred times. We’ve seen the wealthy dude by day, bad-guy-ass-kicker by night enough that the story feels cliché. But the challenge of the genre movie is how the filmmaker can make it feel unique. And that’s what sets this one apart; its ability to combine genres. It takes film noir, spy stories, gangster tales, superhero epics, war stories, and kung fu and adds all those elements together to create something pretty unique: a wonderfully bad ass throwback movie with a character (named Chen Zhen) who isn’t exactly Batman-type recognizable, but still has a history (with Bruce Lee and Jet Li playing him in different films). Donnie Yen takes over the title role and makes it his own. He not only has the proper charisma to carry a flick, but the dude got the moves too. Ok, that sounds cheesy, but it’s true. You can’t just throw anyone who knows spin kicks and flying elbows. It takes that certain special thing. Yen has that thing.



Along with him, the rest of the cast makes everything feel not only authentic, but they help create a playful, yet deadly vibe that helps carry the movie. Anyway, what really made it work is the style. I love anything set in the early part of the 20th century, and the fact Legend of the Fist combined war, noir and superheroes made the movie something special. The movie opens with an awesome war sequence that feels wholly Chinese. As an American, I’ve really only seen battles from either an American pov or a war that involved Americans. So to see a Chinese battle and how they struggled against the Japanese was fascinating. On top of that, throw in a superhero to a war flick, and that’s not something you see every day (unless you see Captain America).



Video



A crisp and clear Widescreen presentation.



Audio



Presented with the power of 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround (pick subtitles or dubbed).



Behind the Scenes



Under 20 minutes of behind the scene looks at the bar and war scenes. Rather dull look if you ask me. Lots of basic shots of the stages and actors at work.