Fist of Legend – Two Disc Ultimate Edition: DVD Review

Let me don my Captain Obvious Hat for a minute and tell you that Jet Li’s Fist of Legend is one of the greatest martial arts movies every made.  Beyond proving that remakes CAN work (in this case, Fist of Legend is a remake of Bruce Lee’s film Fist of Fury), Fist of Legend also proves that remakes can also improve.

Gordon Chan’s World War 2 period film about a Chinese kung fu student living in Japan who returns to Shanghai to investigate his master’s death and save his school has so much more to offer than the average kung fu fighter. For one thing, it helped to introduce Western audiences to both Jet Li and choreographer Yuen Wo-ping (who went on to choreograph Hollywood films like The Matrix films, Kill Bill & 2, etc.). Where Li’s earlier Once Upon a Time in China films helped share the responsibility for his skyrocketing popularity, the fights in that trilogy were based heavily on the creativity of the fighter’s use of the environment and makeshift weapons. In Fist of Legend, you’ll get minimal wire and variable speed work and an added emphasis on realism. The fights in Fist of Legend are brutal, heavy and more physically impressive. The final showdown lasts over ten minutes, busts through several environments and is maybe the best fight scene ever captured on film.

But that isn’t enough to warrant a great film. Like the original Fist of Fury, Fist of Legend’s backdrop of the Japanese occupation of China gives the story of a Chinese man returning home to his occupied home a lot of the drama that fuels the action. In love with a Japanese woman, there are elements of Romeo and Juliet to Jet Li’s struggle. There are also running themes of loyalty, equality and revenge that make the drama in between the action of Fist of Legend as memorable as the fights themselves. If there was one movie that would work best to convert your girlfriend over to the next level of kung fu cinema, I would suggest Fist of Legend over more recent Hong Kong films like Hero or The House of Flying Daggers.

The copy of Fist of Legend that I viewed for this review was provided by the nice folks over at Dragon Dynasty, who are doing a good job of re-releasing some of the best Hong Kong action films to DVD in the States. In the English subtitled version I saw, there was only one or two misspellings and the words were always paced well and not in opposition to the action on screen. They recently released an Ultimate Edition version of John Woo’s Hard Boiled that I would LOVE to get a hold of, especially seeing as the out of print Criterion Collection version of the film is usually going for around $60 on eBay. If you’re reading this, Dragon Dynasty, you know my address. I love every movie on your release schedule!

On top of the first disc, which includes the film, a commentary track from Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan, both Mandarin and Cantonese audio tracks and subtitles in English and Spanish, the Ultimate Edition also comes packed with a second disc of extras. The second disc has the regular items: deleted scenes, a trailer gallery and an interview with the film’s director (which is actually a pretty good piece on Gordon Chan’s approach to remaking such a beloved Bruce Lee classic).

In addition to this, you also get an interview with kung fu impresario Chin Siu-ho, an interview with Japanese action legend Kurata Yasuaki and a look at a screen-fighting seminar at the Kurata Action School. Kurata Yasuaki plays Uncle Fuimo Funakoshi in the film and his showdown with Jet Li’s Chen Zhen in front of his niece (and Zhen’s lover) is one of the best scenes in the film, especially once the two put on blindfolds and keep going at it. It’s cool to hear an expert in the Japanese world of action films talk about the process of being in such an incredible action film and then teach his students the methods in which they should undergo kung fu action staples like drawing your sword and tossing your opponent.

Finally, the Extras DVD features A Look at Fist of Legend with director Brett Ratner and critic Elvis Mitchell. I know that many of you have a serious hate-on for everything Ratner, but be assured. The short documentary is simply an opinion piece and in it, Ratner comes of no worse than you or I would. He’s simply a fan of the film and not a Know It All trying to one up the conversation. Mitchell is about on the same level with his love of the movie and if you can make it through your Ratner hatred, you might see the movie from a new level of appreciation.

The Fist of Legend Ultimate Edition DVD is currently in stores and online from Dragon Dynasty and I highly recommend it for those of you Geekscapists still trying to flesh out your kung fu film libraries. If you’ve missed this film (SOMEHOW!!!) up to this point, there’s no longer any excuse. My beaten and worn VHS copy of the film is already in the trash.