Set in 1914 Chinese student Chen Zhen is studying engineering in Kyoto where he is confronted by members of the Black Dragon Clan, a group of Japanese martial arts students who don't want Chinese in their country… he easily defeats them as he is a highly skilled practitioner of Kung-fu. Afterwards the student's master apologises to Chen and also informs him that his master has been killed in challenge match in Shanghai against a Japanese fighter. Chen returns to China and confronts the man he fought. He wins and is convinced that his master was in fact murdered and an autopsy soon reveals that he was poisoned. Meanwhile the Japanese fighter is murdered by General Fujita; Chen is accused of the murder but is cleared when Mitsuko Yamada, a student Chen knew in Kyoto, tells the caught that he was with her the night of the murder. This isn't the end of Chen's problems; when he returns to the Kung-fu school with Mitsuko it is made clear that she will never be welcome as she is Japanese. He leaves with her but inevitably he will fight again and ultimately face General Fujita.There seems to be some confusion about when this film is set; IMDb says it is in 1937 but references to Japan siding with the United Kingdom against Germany suggests it is really 1914. This doesn't affect ones enjoyment of the film though. The story is solid and there is a lot of brilliantly choreographed martial arts action. This doesn't include the wire assisted leaps that feature in so many such films, it is also pretty bone-crunching at times. Jet Li is on great form as protagonist Chen Zhen; both during the numerous fight scenes and the non-action scenes. Shinobu Nakayama does a fine job as Mitsuko and Yasuaki Kurata impresses as her uncle, an honourable Japanese fighter. Billy Chow is suitably unpleasant as the dastardly General Fujita. The production values are very high; if it wasn't for the young looking Jet Li I'd have thought it was made much more recently! Overall I'd certainly recommend this for any fans of martial arts films.These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.

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!

This is one of my favourite kung fu films of all time. Woo Ping + Jet Li = quality and this is his best. The fight scenes are superb. I didn't think Iron monkey could be beaten until I watched this. The end fight is my favourite fight of all time and I've seen a few! I can't recommend this film enough. The film is a remake of the Bruce Lee film fist of fury which is a classic itself. This takes it to a new level though. There is a bit of poor acting in parts as you would expect in a 90's kung fu flic but the action more than makes up for it. The music also stays with you and builds the fights up really well. If your a kung fu fan and haven't seen this film I suggest you get hold of it.