My TIFF slate got off to a bit of a rough start with LEGEND OF THE FIST, although I'll openly admit that as a newbie to Andrew Lau's films I might not have "got it".
Directed by the aforementioned Lau (INFERNAL AFFAIRS), LEGEND OF THE FIST features the character of Zhen Chen - a role first made famous by Bruce Lee in FIST OF FURY.
The film starts out amazingly, opening with a scene involving the image above where a man from a WWI Chinese labour corp single-handedly takes out a platoon of Germans. I guess it goes to show that if allied soldiers put down their rifles and mortars and took on the enemy using martial arts, we could have solved things a whole lot quicker.
Unfortunately, it's mostly downhill from there as the film abandons all sense of pacing and bumper-cars its way through WWII era Japanese/Chinese tensions in Shanghai. It borrows from sources that range from CASABLANCA to SUPERMAN, and scatters some intense incomprehensible melodrama around some truly wild action.
The film features a pretty badass hero played by Donnie Yen, even if I wasn't always entirely sure of what he was trying to achieve. Wish I could say the same for his counterpart, who is not nearly that interesting and seems one fluffy white cat away from being a James Bond villain.
LEGEND OF THE FIST gave me glimpses of great ideas, especially the aforementioned WWI sequence and a nifty looking jazz club set. Too bad the film never seems to build any sort of momentum, instead yanking the audience all over the spectrum. There are a lot of fun little bits to this film, but ultimately it was a letdown.
LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN plays TIFF twice more. Once on Friday 9/10 at 12pm, and finally on Saturday 9/18 at 9am. It will be released in North American theatres in 2011.
Friday, September 10, 2010
TIFF Review: LEGEND OF THE FIST - THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN
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5 comments:
That's too bad to hear, since I thought this film sounded so awesome! Might still give it a try though, depending on its release. Sorry your first TIFF film was a let down, but at least it sounds like it had some fun moments.
I know you're typing fast, but which was it, the first or second world war?
Don't worry, I'm sure most of your picks will be better.
@ Sean... I wasn't typing that fast - it was both!
The film begins by introducing us to the main character and his involvement in WWI. After that prologue, the film then plays itself out twenty something years later in WWII era Shanghai.
Donnie Yen is an ageless wonder. I foresee him being 90 and playing 20 year olds. It's unbelievable.
@ Alex... I'm over it now of course, but enduring that after missing most of the 2009 fest was an auspicious beginning to the whole she-bang.
@ Univarn... Certainly interested to see more of the guy's stuff.
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