Jing wu ying xiong (1994)

Director:

Gordon Chan

Writers:

Gordon Chan (screenplay)
Lan Kay Toa (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

22 December 1994 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

In 1937, a Chinese martial artist returns to Shanghai to find his teacher dead and his school harassed by the Japanese.

Plot Keywords:

Kung Fu | Martial Arts | Abuse | Slap In The Face | Sword

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Jet Li	...	Chen Zhen
Shinobu Nakayama	...	Mitsuko Yamada
Siu-hou Chin	...	Hou Ting-An (as Chin Siu Ho)
Billy Chow	...	General Fujita (Supreme Killer) (as Billy Chau)
Yasuaki Kurata	...	Fuimo Funakoshi
Paul Chun	...	Uncle Noh (as Paul Chiang)
Ada Choi	...	Rose
Cheung-Yan Yuen	...	Captain Jie
Toshimichi Takahashi	...	Japanese Ambassador
Carol Tam	...	Wei
Jackson Liu	...	Ryuichi Akutagawa (as Lou Hsueh Hsien)
Sun Wong	...	Cook
Man Biu Lee	...	Biu
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shaun Britton	...	English Gentleman at dock
Tai Woh Dang	...	Ngai
Gary Mak	...	Lun - Jingwu Mun student
Kenji Tanigaki

Directed by
Gordon Chan

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gordon Chan		screenplay
Lan Kay Toa		screenplay (as Lam Kay Toa)
Kee-To Lam		screenplay (as Kei To Lam)
Kwong Kim Yip		screenplay (as Ip Kwong Kim)

Produced by
Chui Yin Lam	....	co-producer
Jet Li	....	executive producer
Jet Li	....	producer

Original Music by
Stephen Edwards
Joseph Koo

Cinematography by
Derek Wan		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ki-hop Chan		(as Chan Kei Hop)

Production Design by
Horace Ma

Costume Design by
Shirley Chan

Production Management
Po Chu Chui	....	executive in charge of production
Helen Li	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cheung-Yan Yuen	....	action director

Sound Department
Todd Beckett	....	sound re-recording mixer
Trip Brock	....	supervising sound editor (1999 English soundtrack)
Michael J. Fox	....	sound editor
Dean St. John	....	adr mixer (English version)

Stunts
Huan-Chiu Ku	....	martial arts and stunt double: Jet li

Camera and Electrical Department
Kwok-Man Keung	....	gaffer

Editorial Department
David B. Baron	....	editorial consultant (2001 English version)

Other crew
Norm Hvam	....	main title graphics
Shun-Yee Yuen	....	action director
Woo-ping Yuen	....	action director
Woo-ping Yuen	....	martial arts choreographer (as Yuen Woo Ping)

Production Companies

• Eastern Productions

Distributors

• Arte (2007) (Germany) (TV)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Buena Vista Home Video (2001) (Netherlands) (VHS) (rental)
• Buena Vista Home Video (2003) (Netherlands) (VHS) (retail)
• Buena Vista Home Video
• Dimension Films (USA) (dubbed)
• Evolution Entertainment (2008) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• Manga Films (1998) (Spain) (video)
• Metropolitan Filmexport (France)
• Miramax Films

Other Companies

• Monkeyland Audio  post-production sound services

Also Known As:

Fist of Legend (Hong Kong: English title) (International: English title)
Cheng miu ying hung (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong martial arts violence.

Runtime:

103 min | Germany:98 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

English | Japanese | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | France:U | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Company:

Eastern Productions

Trivia:

Jet Li plays Chen Zhen in this movie, a student of master Huo Yuanjia. Jet Li will then go on to play Master Huo Yuanjia in Huo Yuan Jia (2006)

Goofs:

Continuity: When Chen Zen flips one of the Niguchi students while his fingers are in the student's mouth, he seems to be doing it with his right hand. But when the student falls, it seems Chen did it with his left hand, although he wipes his right hand on his clothes.

Quotes:

Fumio Funakoshi: What style is that?
Chen Zhen: don't ask! if it works, it's a good one!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jackie Brown: How It Went Down (2002) (V)

Jet's +Fist+ is a +Legend+ in Eastern Cinema

I had commented earlier this year that Chinese martial arts sensation Jet Li's most recent action film, "Danny the Dog" or "Unleashed" as it has been advertised here in the states, was the best film that I'd ever seen him act in. The fights in that movie, with choreography that was courtesy of Yuen Wo Ping, were brutal and spectacular and captured a side of Li that had not yet been seen by the audiences of American martial arts cinema.

After seeing "Danny the Dog," I've become convinced that there's no question of Li's talents as an actor and performer, as he had starred in some 40 successful action movies in China before making his American debut as the main villain in "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998). One of Li's most famous roles from his time in China was that of Chen Zhen in 1994's "Fist of Legend."

"Fist of Legend," a remake of the classic Bruce Lee movie "The Chinese Connection" (1972), is set in China in 1937 when the Japanese were occupying Shanghai and racial tensions between Chinese citizens and the Japan military were high. (I'm not all that familiar with Chinese history so I'm not going to pretend I know a whole lot about how these two industrious cultures clashed with one another in the streets.)

Li stars as Chen Zhen, a bright martial arts student who is away in Japan studying engineering. In the opening action sequence at a Japanese school, we already get a sense of the animosity the two rivaling cultures share, as Chen takes on an entire squad of Japanese police officers in the classroom as they attempt to arrest him. But of course, even more seriously, he has no idea of the ills that await him once he returns to his homeland when he receives word that his beloved martial arts master was killed in a challenge.

I was amazed at the degree of restraint exercised in "Fist of Legend." Obviously very few martial arts movies have action that is realistic, but this film has the kind of sequences that I really like, which is the nearly complete absence of wirework or "Matrix-fu" or "wire-fu." Instead, like my favorite American Jet Li productions, the aforementioned "Danny the Dog" or "Kiss of the Dragon" (2001), much of the action is down-to-earth and ground-based.

Back in China, Chen finds that life in his homeland is not the same as when he left it. He finds himself at odds with his best friend, who is now the academy's leading martial arts master but the students prefer Chen Zhen to him. Even worse, Chen had fallen in love with a Japanese woman while out of country, and faces the skepticism of his fellow countrymen and women as a result - his allegiance to his fellow Chinamen is now being tested.

But many of these personal woes will have to be pushed to the side, as Chen Zhen must square off against the Japanese general, who Chen suspects had his master poisoned and who also looks to shut the school down and misplace its students. Of course, Chen's not going away without a fight, and it becomes a showdown between warring cultures, the outcome of which we already know from history.

As stated earlier, "Fist of Legend" showcases Li in one of the most famous roles of his career as an action film star. He's channeling the mighty Bruce Lee himself in his on-screen actions - particularly evident in the film's over-the-top finale where Li battles the towering Japanese general in a no-holds-barred fight to the death.

In the case of many imported movies from China, it's easy to get over the horrendous dubbing, frantic pacing, and any changes that may have made to the film in order to accommodate the interest of American viewers. "Fist of Legend" was directed by Gordon Chan and choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping, who shows us what Li can really do in the absence of today's highly stylized wirework.

Now we know why Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee are icons on the kung-fu movie circuit: they've all made movies and are idolized by a devoted fanbase that encompasses millions of loyal followers. Li is currently the screen's most electric and sensational martial arts star; his work in this film and this year's "Danny the Dog" show us why that's true. I'm just waiting for his acceptance speech - that may be just a pipe dream, but hey, anything is possible in today's times.

8/10