Andrew Lau, the man behind the great HK film Infernal Affairs, is back! This time it’s a martial arts sequel to the very popular Chen Zhen series starring the monster of a man, Donnie Yen, in the titular role. In case you didn’t know, Chen Zhen was first played by the great Bruce Lee, then Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and now Mr. Yen continues to fulfill the legacy
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen picks up with Chen Zhen and other Chinese laborers fighting alongside Allied forces in Europe during WWI. Immediately following a astounding opening fight scene, we see Chen Zhen return to Shanghai, a city that has been divided due to infighting and the increasing power of Japanese forces.
It’s 1925 and Chen takes cover as a playboy named Qi in a popular nightclub called ‘Casablanca’ where he works alongside the owner, Anthony Wong. The club is a place where the city’s wealthy meet and party. It includes everyone from spies and mobsters to Japanese soldiers and English government officials. Since Chen is part of an underground movement to rid his nation of the Japanese, he goes out at night dressed as a Kato style masked warrior in hopes of saving a few people, and he gets a little help from a funny cop along the way (Huang Bo). I should mention Qi has a loved interest named Kiki (Shu Qi) who has her own little secret as well.
Overall I thought the movie was just ok. The opening scene got my adrenaline pumping because it infused parkour with martial arts, always a good combination-especially when the weapons are two daggers (see picture below). After that, the film slowed down a bit to establish the story and its main characters. Lau did a good job of using flashbacks to make sure there was continuity between this one and the last Chen Zhen film. He also trusted Donnie Yen as the action director and that’s where we see everything pay off. The rest of the movie might not be something special but the action sequences were unbelievable. I think if they added one more fight scene I would be completely content with the the result.
The movie comes off as a mix between Ip Man and Bodyguards and Assassins and I say this not because they both star Donnie Yen but because the plots and fights are so intertwined that the combination of the two would result in this movie. In Ip Man, Donnie Yen’s final battle is against a Japanese soldier as is the predictable case in this film. In Bodyguards and Assassins we see a group of people trying to win Hong Kong s freedom and protect Sun Yat-sen, in this film, it’s Shanghai and anti-Japanese officials. I also think they used some of the same set pieces in Legend of the Fist as they did in B & A, it just looked very familiar despite it being roughly the same time period.
A few things I didn’t like was the excessive use of slow motion, the predictability of the film, and the bad CGI. I realize that a film like this would be predictable by the end but I’d really like some original surprises along the way. There were a few minor surprises in the middle but if I really cared about the end I would have picked up on what was happening. The CG and slow motion is self explanatory. I wish I could compare the film to the prior Chen Zhen films but I have yet to see them all although I may have seen the Jet Li one but can’t be sure. Sorry about that. I can tell you that from what I’ve heard, this one pales in comparison to the others.
Besides the fight scenes, the one thing that stood out to me was the use of old school martial arts yelling. In the dojo battle, when Donnie Yen takes on like 50 Japanese soldiers, he starts yelling really high pitched when he hits people, Bruce Lee style. That, in and of itself, made me really happy but also freaked me out. I didn’t know he could yell like that. (see trailer for an example)
The Return of Chen Zhen is just another average addition to a crowded genre with one or two memorable fight scenes. As much as I pulled for it, it didn’t live up to my expectations. It had its fill of comedy, action and love, but there was something missing that prevented it from being the truly awesome movie that I wanted it to be.
Rating: A lackluster effort with a few fantastic fight scenes (5.8/10)
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