Product Details

• Actors: Jet Li, Chin Siu Ho, Paul Chiang, Yasuaki Kurata, Shinobu Nakayama
• Directors: Gordon Chan, Yuen Woo Ping
• Format: Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Cantonese
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Dragon Dynasty
• DVD Release Date: September 2, 2008
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (370 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001AR0D1S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,944 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Like compatriot Jackie Chan, martial arts champion Jet Li has long been revered in his native country and enjoys a cult following in the States among aficionados of Hong Kong cinema. After two decades, it took his villainous turn in Lethal Weapon 4 to put him on the Hollywood map, paving the way for the release of his earlier films. Fist of Legend is a 1994 production and a remake of The Chinese Connection (also known as Fists of Fury, which starred the greatest martial arts legend of them all, Bruce Lee). This film is set in 1937, when Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese and racial tensions were high. Li stars as Chen Zhen, who returns to Shanghai to avenge the death of his master, whom he learns was poisoned. His popular freestyle fighting technique and Japanese girlfriend do not endear him to his former friend, now his master's successor at the martial arts school. If Jackie Chan is inspired by Buster Keaton, Li seems to be channeling Steve McQueen. He speaks softly and carries a big kick. And like Steven Seagal, even when he is under siege by a horde of attackers, no one can lay a finger on this guy. The dialogue and dubbing are atrocious, but the fight sequences are incredible (they were choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping, who lent his expertise to The Matrix). Perhaps most memorable is a bout between Chen and his girlfriend's uncle during which the combatants wear blindfolds. This is essential viewing for martial arts buffs and Li's growing legion of fans. --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

A Chinese martial artist returns to Shanghai to find his teacher dead and his school harassed by occupying Japanese forces. He has but one choice - to avenge his master's murder and restore his school's honor.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Movie's still great, but translation isn't April 20, 2010

By J. Wong

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've loved this movie since I was a kid and so I was stoked when I saw it was coming to BD. I just got it today and put it into the PS3. The movie's still as great as ever, both picture and audio. However the subtitles for the movie are horribly inaccurate. As a Cantonese speaker it feels as if the people the wrote the subtitles watched the movie on mute and were just guessing at what the actors were saying. So while I could get along fine with Chinese audio alone, I depend on the subtitles for the Japanese parts. Since the Chinese parts were so off I can only assume that the Japanese parts may well be too. I'm sure the subs would probably convey a cogent story, but just know that it may not be exactly the one the director intended it to. If it weren't for this I'd probably give it a 5 but since the subtitles are probably needed for the viewers who don't understand both Chinese and Japanese, 3 stars.

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY!! September 10, 2008

By morgoth

Format:DVD

When I heard about this release about a year ago, I was so excited. Probably more excited than I have ever been for any DVD release. I think it was supposed to come out in January, but then it got pushed back indefinitely. But now it is finally here. Most people have probably seen the movie, but if you haven't, prepare to be blown away. It is easily Jet Li's best fighting performance of his career in my opinion. And the co-stars Chin Siu Ho, Billy Chow and Yasuaki Kurata are also on the top of their games, in both fighting and acting. It is a remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury, but not a scene by scene remake by any means. It really is a different movie. Not a great overall movie, but the fight scenes easily elevate it to greatness. It is a fight fan's dream movie.

Rating- 4.5/5

Most people have probably only seen the old Dimension English dubbed version. A lot of people may not realize how important the original language is for this movie. There are not just Chinese people talking, there is also a lot of Japanese dialogue. I never really liked this movie, I just liked the fights, but it is a much better movie watching it in the original language. And the picture quality is so beautiful. This DVD is my prized possession right now.

One more note on the audio. The audio options are English, Cantonese and Mandarin. The odd thing is that the sound is a lot different on all 3 audio tracks. The Mandarin sounds better in some places, but unfortunately the Japanese dialogue is spoken in Mandarin on the Mandarin track. And while the music is better at times on the English track, I prefer the Canttonese soundtrack overall. I just got very annoyed very quickly by the English version playing the same song over and over again. And the dubbing completely ruins the movie. I love English dubs, but not this one. This is one I will be glad to forget. Not only are the voices bad, but the dialogue really dumbs down the movie. So do yourself a favor, and read the subtitles.

Now to the special features. I watch the special features for movies every once in awhile, but when it's one of my favorite movies, I always watch the special features. Dragon Dynasty has had some amazing special features on many of their martial arts movies, and their release of Fist of Legend is no different.

Great lengthy interviews from director Gordon Chan, Chin Siu Ho and Yasuaki Kurata. All the interviews are great, but the Kurata interview definitely stands out. Such an informative interview. It's easy to see that Kurata has aged (he's 62 years old!), but he doesn't seem to want to acknowledge it. he still looks like he's ready to take on any project that comes his way. And there is a special feature that shows Kurata at his action school. He is so focused on teaching and watching his students. This school is intense. I can't even imagine how intense it would be if the Dragon Dynasty camera people weren't there.

There are also some deleted scenes included. I wish they could have put the Chin Siu Ho opium scene in this version of Fist of Legend. It really helps to explain why Chin Siu Ho is a little off and seems to be running on 7 cylinders instead of a full 8.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good news/Bad news (specific to DVD) February 14, 2000

By I Hate Amazon

Format:DVD

Well, this review is mainly written for those who are already familiar with the movie and have yet to see this DVD version of it. First the good news. The picture quality is better than I have ever seen it on video, which is to be expected from the transfer. The colors are vivid and the lines are sharp, and overall the picture is cleaned up considerably. Also the sound is much clearer and in stereo, although there are moments where it seems the foley and looping are a little bit off (I'm hoping it's not the notorious DVD lip-synch problem, although since this movie is dubbed it's difficult to tell). That's about all for the good.

Now the bad. First off, as I mentioned, this version is dubbed (and no there isn't an original language option), and quite badly at that. This is regrettable considering that one thing that made the original so great was that it was multi-lingual, where Japanese spoke Japanese, Chinese spoke Cantonese and the Westerners spoke English. Here everything is dubbed into English, so the character differentiation is lost. Plus the voiceovers are wooden and unnaturally stilted, and the gist of the dialogue often strays from what is written in the subtitled version, which sometimes causes key thematic material to be lost (ie. Chen's lecture to the other students concerning the importance of a powerful attack). This, of course, is a common problem concerning dubbing.

Secondly, that great title music has been wiped out and replaced with something more typical, more "dramatic" in terms of Hollywood thinking, I suppose.

Finally, and I think this is the most unforgivable thing, the ending has been truncated and the dialogue overtly distorted to completely change the context. I won't say what it is, but I'll just say the original ending had much more resonance than the new one. Also, the new ending cuts out the segment that shows what becomes of the Jing Woo school. I have no idea why they chose to cut that part out--it doesn't even detract from the new ending, so what's the point?

Still, the fight scenes, which are among the best ever filmed, are in their entirety, and they look better than ever, and I guess that's most important. It's just too bad that they felt the need to tinker with the movie, making it overall not as strong as the original.