Booming cinema in Legend of the Fist

10 April 2012

Fans of Bruce Lee and Jet Li will know that kung-fu star and choreographer Donnie Yen is going where others have gone before.

Here, he returns as Chen Zhen, a Chinaman with superhero strength, a superhero costume and surprisingly slender arms. Zhen’s whipcrackerboom assault on a group of Germans during the First World War is the film’s visual highlight. The acting turns of gorgeous Shu Qi as a nightclub femme fatale in Thirties Shanghai and Anthony Wong as her cynical boss are another plus.

Towards the end, the already bad Japs and Brits turn pure evil and say things like "Whatever!".

Zhen fights back by adopting a high-pitched growl. To my ears, he sounded like a beleaguered chicken. By turns over-ambitious, hamfisted and fun, Andrew Lau’s patriotic spectacular proves, if nothing else, that Hong Kong cinema is booming.

Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen
Cert: 18

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