Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
Theatrical poster
Traditional	精武風雲－陳真
Simplified	精武风云－陈真
Mandarin	Jīng Wǔ Fēng Yún－Chén Zhēn
Cantonese	Zing1 Mou5 Fung1 Wan4－Can4 Zan1
Directed by	Andrew Lau
Produced by	Andrew Lau Gordon Chan
Written by	Cheung Chi-shing Gordon Chan
Starring	Donnie Yen Shu Qi Anthony Wong Huang Bo
Music by	Chan Kwong-wing
Cinematography	Andrew Lau Ng Man-ching
Editing by	Azrael Chung
Studio	Media Asia Films Enlight Pictures Shanghai Film Media Asia Basic Pictures
Distributed by	Media Asia Distribution
Release date(s)	21 September 2010 (2010-09-21) (China) 23 September 2010 (2010-09-23) (Hong Kong)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	Hong Kong China
Language	Cantonese Mandarin
Budget	¥120 million
Gross revenue	¥136 million

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is a 2010 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Andrew Lau. The film is a continuation of the 1994 film Fist of Legend starring Jet Li, with Donnie Yen as Chen Zhen, a role made famous by Bruce Lee in the 1972 film Fist of Fury. Principal photography for the film began in November 2009 and ended in early February 2010; shooting took place in Shanghai. The film was shown out of competition during the opening night of the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released theatrically in China on 21 September 2010 and two days later in Hong Kong.

Plot

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is set in the period before the Second Sino-Japanese War, after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after avenging his teacher (Huo Yuanjia) in Fist of Legend. Chen joins a group of Chinese men to help the Allies fight the Germans in France during World War I. He returns to China after the war, taking on the identity of Qi Tianyuan, a fellow comrade who was killed in action.

Back in Shanghai, Chen joins an underground resistance movement to stop the Empire of Japan from invading China. He befriends Liu Yutian, a businessman and owner of a nightclub frequented by foreign dignitaries. At the same time, he is romantically attracted to Kiki, a nightclub singer who is actually a Japanese undercover agent. One night, Chen discovers that the Japanese are planning to assassinate General Zeng, the son of a northern warlord, and push the blame to General Zhuo, a rival warlord. Zeng's death will spark off a civil war between the two warlords and aid the subsequent Japanese invasion. Chen disguises himself as a masked superhero (based on The Green Hornet's sidekick Kato) and defeats the assassins and saves Zeng.

With the operation failed, Tokyo sends a name list of prominent anti-Japanese activists to Colonel Chikaraishi Takeshi, leader of the Japanese secret agency in Shanghai, ordering him to kill the people on the list within a month. Chikaraishi leaks out the list, causing panic among the populace, and pays a visit to the nightclub. Chikaraishi initially finds Chen suspicious, and his doubts are confirmed when he compares a photo of the real Qi Tianyuan with the one stolen from Chen by Kiki. Chikaraishi is aware of Chen's true identity and he challenges Chen to save the people on the list. Chen and Chikaraishi engage in a race of time to save and assassinate the activists respectively, with most of the targets being killed while others manage to escape. Eventually, Chikaraishi's younger brother leads a team of killers to murder the editor of the Shanghai Times, who is a friend and fellow comrade of Chen. Chen fails to save him on time and sees his friend die before him, after which he takes vengeance on the murderers.

In the meantime, Chen figures out that Kiki is a spy and warns her to leave or he will kill her. At this point, Chikaraishi starts to distrust Kiki and he forces her to kill General Zeng's girlfriend, one of her close friends. The blame is placed on General Zhuo and the angered General Zeng attacks Zhuo with support from Japanese forces, starting a war. One night, the Japanese corner Chen on the street and knock him into unconsciousness, before bringing him to their headquarters to torture him. Chikaraishi reveals to Chen that he is the son of the Hongkou dojo's master, who was defeated and killed by Chen years ago. He releases Chen and says that he will personally avenge his father later. Concurrently, Chen's friends stage a raid on the Japanese headquarters and cause serious damage with explosives before fleeing the scene. The Japanese track down Chen's comrades and murder them for revenge later. Chen is thrown out of a car in front of the nightclub and remains in coma for days while he recovers from his injuries.

With the Japanese invasion underway and General Zhuo killed in action with his forces in full retreat, there seems to be nothing that the resistance can prevent the Japanese from occupying Shanghai. Chikaraishi sends Kiki to challenge Chen Zhen to a fight in the Hongkou dojo. Chen accepts the challenge and meets Chikaraishi, who kills one of his comrades and Kiki in front of him. In rage, Chen defeats all the combatants alone, after which he faces Chikaraishi in a one-on-one bout and defeats his opponent eventually. At the end of the film, Chikaraishi is replaced with another officer while Chen is seen dressed in his superhero costume, and he continues to help the resistance oppose the invaders.

Cast

• Donnie Yen as Chen Zhen
• Shu Qi as Kiki
• Anthony Wong as Liu Yutian, owner of the Casablanca
• Huang Bo as Huang Haolong, a police inspector
• Kohata Ryu as Colonel Chikaraishi Takeshi, the main antagonist of the film
• Akira as Sasaki Takeshi, Chikaraishi's younger brother
• Yasuaki Kurata as Chikaraishi's father, the Hongkou dojo master who was defeated and killed by Chen Zhen years ago
• Zhou Yang as Qi Zhishan, Chen Zhen's fake sister
• Huo Siyan as Weiwei, General Zeng's girlfriend
• Shawn Yue as General Zeng, a northern warlord whom Chen Zhen saves from asassins
• Ma Yue as General Zhuo, General Zeng's rival
• Ma Su as General Zhuo's wife
• Chen Jiajia as Huang Yun, a Japanese spy working at Casablanca
• Zhang Songwen as Wenzai, editor of the Shanghai Times
• Lü Xiaolin as Qiuting, a student protester

Development

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is a continuation of the 1994 film Fist of Legend, with Donnie Yen taking over the role of Chen Zhen from Jet Li. Yen also previously played Chen Zhen in Fist of Fury, a 1995 television series adapted from the 1972 film of the same title that starred Bruce Lee as Chen Zhen.

In February 2007, Gordon Chan announced plans to make a follow-up feature film to the 1994 film Fist of Legend. Chan, who was also the writer and director of Fist of Legend, announced that Donnie Yen would replace Jet Li as Chen Zhen in the film.

Production

The film was directed by Andrew Lau, who also co-produced the film and served as a cinematographer alongside his frequent partner Ng Man-ching; Gordon Chan co-wrote and co-produced the film; John Chong served as an executive producer. The film was a co-production between Hong Kong film distributor Media Asia Films, Lau's production company Basic Pictures, and Chinese film producer Enlight Pictures.

On 15 November 2009, Gordon Chan promised the film would not be another remake of Fist of Fury. He also said that in Fist of Legend, Chen Zhen is in his twenties, while in this film Chen Zhen would be in his thirties.

Casting

On 29 October 2009, Anthony Wong was announced to be a part of the supporting cast. Prior to principal photography, the supporting cast members for the film was announced. Zhou Yang and Shu Qi will play two women are competitively vieing for Chen Zhen's affection; Huang Bo will play an underdog fighter; Anthony Wong plays a local crime boss.

Filming

Principal photography for Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen began on 15 November 2009, following a press conference attended by the cast and crew; filming took place in Shanghai. and concluded in early February.

Action choreography

The fight scenes were choreographed by Donnie Yen. For this film, Yen mentioned that he included nunchaku and the screaming elements as a tribute to Bruce Lee, who played Chen Zhen in the 1972 film Fist of Fury. Furthermore he incorporated many mixed martial arts (MMA) elements in the film, coupled with the utilisation of Wing Chun. MMA is an interdisciplinary form of fighting utilising elements of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing and wrestling which can be evidently seen in the film.

Yen also stated that the concept behind Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do is similar to that of MMA, hence the incorporation of many forms of martial arts is a necessity in this film.

As a tribute to Bruce Lee

Main article: Kato (The Green Hornet)

In the film, Donnie Yen's character Chen Zhen disguises himself as a masked vigilante (based on the Green Hornet's sidekick Kato) to stop the Japanese from assassinating people. Director Andrew Lau mentioned that since Bruce Lee played both Chen Zhen (in the 1972 film Fist of Fury) and Kato (in the 1960s television series The Green Hornet) before, Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is a tribute and dedication to Lee.

Release

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 23 September 2010. It was further announced that the film will be released to theaters in the United States in its original, uncut international version by Variance Films on April 22, 2011.

Box office

The film grossed ¥65 million and ranked first in the box office during the first week of its theatrical run in China. Despite so, its total gross rose to only ¥136 million a month later. Donnie Yen was unhappy with the film distributors because many scenes were removed (about a total of 10 minutes of non-fighting scenes), and he commented on his Sina Weibo that the film's overall gross would not exceed ¥200 million. However, producers Andrew Lau and Gordon Chan think that the film will still express what they want and gross well in other countries.

Reception

The movie has been praised for its action scenes and Donnie Yen's performance, and received mostly positive reviews.

As per negative reviews, Total Film gave the film two stars out of five, stating that the film "only comes alive when showcasing Yen's flamboyant fight choreography, glimpsed far too seldom – the longeurs in between the snappy scraps are sloppily written, and the clumsy Chinese nationalism is tedious." The Guardian gave the film two stars out of five finding the plot to be confusing. The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review referring to the film as "a popcorn movie of epic proportions" and that "one expects more from producer Gordon Chan and director Andrew Lau".

Other reviews commended that the film is not about Chen Zhen, but a Hollywood-style superhero film; a combination of 007, Spider-Man, and Batman. Director Andrew Lau responded that a Hollywood-style superhero film is what people want to see, and he thinks that a 6:4 ratio of Hollywood style to traditional style is just right for the film.

See also

• Donnie Yen filmography
• Hong Kong films of 2010
• Fist of Legend
• Fist of Fury
• Chen Zhen

External links

• Official website
• Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen at the Internet Movie Database
• Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen at AllRovi
• Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen at Rotten Tomatoes