Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen continues from the Fist of Fury (1995) TV series which also starring Donnie Yen. After a long absent since his last fight against the Japanese Occupation, he returns to Shanghai after fighting against the Italians and Germans in France.The supposedly dead Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen) joins an underground resistance movement to prevent the future Japanese Occupation in China. In 1917, he and a few Chinese comrades went to France to fight against the Nazi Germany. Soon in 1925, he returns to visit his friend named Liu Yutian (Anthony Wong), a businessman and owner of a Casablanca nightclub, which is the central of attraction for most foreigners in Shanghai.There are interesting fight scenes and moves done by Yen. He is the "superman", but can still be mortally wounded or injured. Yet again, there are some moves are remarkably impossible such as a long jump and a fast wall climb. The immersing power he puts on to take on everyone is tremendous and exploding.Unfortunately, the last scene with the final battle with the Colonel Chikairashi isn't what I expect to watch. Such a short stint among those two. However, the film still preserves its famous scream tactic which the late Bruce Late uses in his film.Lee was the original Chen Zhen before Jet Li took over the role and now Donnie Yen becomes the latest person to play the character. Chen Zhen's return doesn't seem to really focus on his return; it's more like donning the Kato's uniform seems to be highlight of it.

Legend of the FistI saw this trailer during a screening of "IP MAN" and I was like oh yea, i have to see this! It had Donnie Yen in it, so that pretty much summed it up. When I saw the movie, It blew me away. It was great. It had a cool 20's like extravagance in it. The Pluses: The Scenery of Shanghai, Donnie Yen and his fighting skills, Shu Qi and her sexiness. Actions scenes and how the Japanese were being portrayed.The Minuses: Too short, and some Chinese Propaganda inserted. Overall, Legend of the fist is great, watch it for Donnie Yen.

Ip Man was an uplifting movie that showed how the spirit of martial arts and national pride overcame oppression from the Japanese military. Legend of The Fist on the other hand is an ugly, mean spirited mess.A historical drama like Farewell My Concubine or John Rabe is suited for dealing with heavy subject matter like the Japanese occupation of China. Not a movie marketed as a martial arts extravaganza. Especially when the first action scene shows Donnie Yen defeating German Soldiers with the precision of Spider-Man and Daredevil. He pretty much demonstrates that he could end World War I by himself.I would have been fine with more of that. But the focus of the movie is not on the action scenes or Donnie's crusade against the Japanese military. The main focus is how evil the Japanese military is, and what atrocities they commit. Thankfully it's not as detailed as say Schindler's List, but it's shoved in the viewers face nonetheless.There are a ton of subplots which also get in the way and ruin the narrative.Certain characters are also poorly written despite the best efforts of the actors portraying them. They exhibit traitorous behavior but then go back and fourth in their alignment, so it's hard to sympathize with or hate them.One of the characters even gets raped just to tastelessly move the plot forward and motivate revenge. It comes across as very cheap and does not make the viewer want the hero to beat the bad guys.If Ip Man could be a good drama with appropriately placed action scenes, why not this movie?On a 1 to 5 scale, it deserves a 1.

Uneven yet entertaining routine… Donnie Yen is officially over-exposed. While his latest venture in Chen Zhen will not diminish his popularity, but the for movie lovers, this is just yet another more of the same. The fact that Jet Li made far superior prequel in 1994 (namely Fist of Legend) adds to the disappointment. Mr. Gordon Chan serves as producer seems to have forgotten how to make a film more even, while director Andrew Lau Is once again lost incoherence when without his counterpart Mak Siu Fai. Still, Legend of Fist is by no means a bad film, in fact, I find it quite entertaining. However, one would expect more with the current status of Yen and everyone else involved.One thing I cannot stop noticing is that Donnie Yen plays Chen Zhen like Ip Man. Not only did the final fight looks like Ip Man, but Yen acted with retrained in his character, a bit too much like the aforementioned icon. Just when he is required to do more overacting, Yen restrained to his stoned delivery. I remember watching Yen fights his way through to the big boss in Fist of Fury ATV series. His overacting created the atmosphere. While I am condoning overacting, as Yen is previously notorious for that, but I am disappointed that Yen cannot stray off his Ip Man image. I am also somewhat disappointed in the final fight scene with a class of students. In Jet Li's Fist of Legend, the scene was creatively filmed with overhead camera angles. Here, it is deadpan and the delivery is flat and how he cleaned up the room seems rather contrived and unclear. The final fight with the Japanese general is too routine and cliché to be anywhere near affecting.Antony Wong is wasted in a role where he adds next to nothing. Perhaps filmed at the same time as his venture into the Laughing Gor's role, Wong tries hard, but the script fails him. To say the least, I might admit that the best thing may well be Shu Qi. Her role is complicated and somehow she is able to pull it off. I wouldn't say that she dazzled the screen, but she was most certainly the most watchable character in the movie. Another problem is the lack of chemistry between Yen and Qi, which may well adds up to the unaffecting finale.All in all, Legend of the Fist is a decent entry into the martial arts arena, but it fails to have the same impact as Ip Man. The reason is simple, where Ip Man is a well directed film, Chen Zhen is not. At times the film feels too random, incoherent and at the end of the day rather uneven. Yen have physical presence and as well as musical talents, but his acting is still a long way from being accomplished. It seems as though that Yen is still riding on his waves of Ip Man's success. While it is not necessarily a bad thing, Chen Zhen is at the end of the day an iconic character made famous by both Bruce Lee, Jet Li and himself. To me, the donning of the mask (like Kato) should never have happened. Still, the Legend of the Fist is a decent film, some fine action scenes and more importantly people just can't get enough of Donnie Yen. Does it live up to expectations? Probably not. Does it brings the audience back to the cinemas? Yes. Maybe I am just a tad too demanding and after all, how can Donnie Yen do anything wrong...(Neo 2010)I rate it 6/10www.thehkneo.com