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

Donnie Yen stars as Chen Zhen, who kicked German arse during WWI, before faking his own death and assuming the identity of a fallen comrade (something to do with having killed a man who wronged him). Now in 1920s China, he’s a dashing, ivory-tinkling playboy and co-owner of the Casablanca nightclub with Anthony Wong’s Liu Yutian. Now called Qi, he learns that a nasty Japanese General (Ryu Kohata) plans on taking advantage of the fractured nature of 1920s China and turn Chinese Generals Zeng and Zhuo against each other. Inspired by the ‘Masked Avenger’ character on cinema screens (kinda a lot like The Green Hornet), Chen Zhen (who is already impersonating the dead Qi, mind you) dons the cinema icon’s disguise to stand up for China and defeat the enemy. However, it would appear that the Japanese have a mole inside Chinese ranks. Qi Shu plays a songstress at the club whom Chen Zhen takes a fancy to.

 

Although Donnie Yen doesn’t much seem like a gregarious playboy-type to me, this Wai-keung Lau (AKA Andrew Lau, director of the “Infernal Affairs” series, and the godawful Hollywood film “The Flock”) flick from 2010 isn’t bad. But you’ll end up wanting to like it more than you end up liking it. It’s really odd seeing the normally reserved and humble Yen playing a swinging 1920s Chinese bachelor (a bit reminiscent of the James Bond-esque adventurer/special agent from the classic HK film “The Seventh Curse”), and his Errol Flynn-esque moustache just doesn’t seem right, but there’s no doubt he’s having fun here. And at times I had fun too, especially the opening where Donnie Yen kicks arse in a WWI scenario unlike any other. I don’t care how realistic it is, Donnie Yen’s fights (he directed the action himself) and stunts are just plain cool, occasionally having a Jackie Chan vibe about them. You ain’t seen one-sided fights ‘til you’ve seen Donnie Yen beat the ever-lovin’ shit out of what appears to be an entire Japanese karate school towards the end. Wow. Yen’s certainly not the problem here.

 

It’s a film that definitely wears its cultural references on its sleeve, with not only the title character a reference to Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury”, but his superhero get-up can either be taken as a nod to Lee’s stint as Kato on “The Green Hornet” (a bit egotistical of Yen if you ask me) or Jet Li in “Black Mask” or “Fist of Legend”. Also, the use of the name Casablanca is clearly no coincidence, as the film’s period setting of 1920s China is in some ways, very much Golden Years of Hollywood. At times, you’d swear this was an Asian mix of “The Rocketeer” and “The Shadow”, just on the visuals and period setting alone.

 

Unfortunately, plot-wise it feels a bit déjà vu, with the whole China vs. Japan thing borrowed from Yen’s “Ip Man” films (and many others no doubt), so it’s kinda the same old song and dance. The Japanese seriously come out of this thing looking like the Viet Cong, thanks to screenwriter Gordon Chan (who co-wrote and directed the Jet Li film “Fist of Legend”, which explains a lot). There’s even a traitor in the midst, another element from the “Ip Man” films if I’m not mistaken. Hell, Yen himself had already played Chen Zhen in a 1990s TV series, so there’s that, too. Yes it all looks really cool, and yes the sometimes violent action is lots of fun, but on a story level, there’s too much going on (it’s a bit of a mess, really), too many characters, and most importantly, not nearly enough originality. It has also been very choppily done, and moving too fast to really get a grip on things, especially early on.

 

Still, there’s a lot to like here, including good work by Anthony Wong and the gorgeous Qi Shu, in addition to Yen’s strong work (if still miscast). There’s a bloody good movie in here somewhere, but it doesn’t quite show up on screen often enough. Such a shame.

 

Rating: C+