One of the most applauded martial arts movies to date, this piece of art offers much more than flawless, thrilling action: plausible characters having real dilemmas and making actual decisions, based on their own moral codex. Each and every of the five-or-so protagonists is a human being with a set of values that he or she tries to follow, each and every fight is meaningful and serves to advance both the plot and character evolution. In this, Fist of Legend has achieved more than everything else that has been done in its genre and in fact transcended it, and should surely rank amongst the greatest movies of all time - much like Casablanca did for the classical melodramatic flick.Set in the time of the Japanese occupation of China and revolving around Sino-Japanese lovers, Fist of Legend presents numerous conflicts of morally right and wrong action, such as national pride versus racial prejudice, misuse of power versus right for self-defense, limits of loyalty to an authority, limits of self-sacrifice for the sake of love. It is amazing how so much of it could be crammed amongst the grand amount of action, but the result is unparalleled, creating the single movie where every fight has deeper meaning than just the hero thrashing another bad guy. When everything is poised for the grand finale, Fist of Legend delivers a truly epic battle between a hero standing for humanity with all its faults and a being that has lost all human traits save for the physical shell. Never before or after can I remember having such a strong feeling that humans could, and should, actually punch through concrete when the time is right.Unless you really, really can't stand Asian action cinematography or just hate movies that are not in English, there is no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this movie. Oh, and if you ever decide to watch only one, only ONE kung-fu pic, in your whole life, EVER... this has to be it.

You get to see what happens if Fist of Fury (A.K.A Chinese Connection) was made with bigger budget and modern film technologies, in this remake of Bruce Lee's classic. Some of the differences are: Japanese are portrayed as more honorable bunch in this picture, dialogs are in Japanese where Japanese characters speaks which adds to the realism, and as a secondary effect, although the movie is not intended to be a comedy, some of the scenes are unintentionally funny because posing on both sides are so over the top, and because they intentionally mimic the original film's way of framing the shots, and acting which looks strange by today's standards. Jet Li is at his element in this movie, and it's one of the best movie he's ever made. Not too much acting, and lot of kung-fu action brings the best of him. He moves so fast that sometimes you'd be suspicious if they employed CG Jet Li to do some of the moves.This Fist of Fury is not just a mindless grudge match between the Chinese and the Japanese, but there're actually some story plot to it. Jet is supposed to be sent to Japan to study Japanese technology by his master, and has a Japanese girlfriend portrayed by Shinobu Nakayama which adds an interesting twist to the story.This is one case where the remake is far superior to the original. What I would have loved to see would be a fight sequence between Bruce Lee and Jet Li. Too bad that Bruce is no longer with us.One of the best kung-fu action movie I've seen especially because I've seen the original before I saw this. I recommend seeing the original Fist of Fury before seeing this to appreciate the full effect of this movie.

Fist of Legend is a classic movie of Jet Li's. It came in the middle of Jet's Hong Kong 90's era, when he was placed on wires in several of his movies. Fist of Legend is the exact opposite. Wires are kept to an absolute minimum.Fist of Legend is a loose remake of Bruce Lee's 'The Chinese Connection', and it lives up to it's predecessor's standards. The story is the typical one of teacher gets murdered and the best student(Jet Li) seeks revenge. Jet Li also has a Japanese girlfriend in a time when the Chinese and Japanese are hostile toward each other. Obviously nothing original, but it's actually enjoyable. A few small twists here and there keep the plot from getting too boring.Now onto the fights, which are the reason this movie is a classic. For anybody who claims this movie doesn't have a lot of action, I don't know what they are talking about. I counted, Jet Li has six main fights in the movie, four of which are one-on-one. Then there are few fight scenes not involving him, and and a few 'training' sequences. Quite a bit if you ask me. And it's top quality. As mentioned before, Jet Li was at the time doing a lot of wire-work. Wires in Fist of Legend are kept to a minimum. Jet shows off the incredible speed and agility that made him a 5-time undefeated national champion. he performs many acrobatic and flashy kicks, particularly in the one-on-one fights. It's the type of action Jet Li performed in the 80's, before wire-fu became popular. The final fight between Jet Li and Billy Chow is still considered by many to be Jet's best fight scene ever. A must see for all martial arts or Jet Li fans. A true classic! 10/10!

A remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury, this movie gives us amazing martial arts sequences, with good plot and acting in between.The fights are spectacular. A lot of martial arts movies incorporate wonderful movements and acrobatics, designed to show off the skill and grace of the fighter. However in a life or death struggle, these sometimes seem out of place. This is a "realistic" martial arts movie. You almost feel yourself cringing with each hit. As the man said: "These lads are out to hurt each other." This is fighting in its purest, taking cue from Bruce Lee's personal style, where the aim is to defeat your opponent in the most efficient manner possible. The opening fight of the movie sets its style right away and continues to its climax.But what made this movie go above and beyond a martial arts flick is the storyline and plot. This movie deals with themes of racism, tolerance and acceptance not only between the Chinese and Japanese, but within each group as well. Here Jet Li shines in his performance. While events cause him to lose his composure and give in to his feelings, at the core you see that he is a righteous person. When he realizes the correct course of action, either by himself, or when it is pointed out by others, he does what is right. And we see the people around him learn from his behavior and they seek to emulate it. The movie also tries to present a rather fair view of both the Chinese and Japanese. Neither side is portrayed as good or evil, rather as normal human beings, running the whole spectrum from selfish to noble, from hateful to kind. As a martial arts movie, this is one of the best ever made, but it stands on its own as a good film, one dealing with a historical subject that has a very strong resonance even today.