Where to start….? Watched it on Netflix, and was really excited for the first 10 minutes because for once in my lifetime I finally came across a MA movie that's not telling me the story about how the Chinese being invaded from whomever for whatever reasons. I was wrong, miserably wrong.At one point I was still looking at Donne Yan killing German solider in the Western battlefield, minutes later he became Chen Zhen (played by Bruce Lee in the 1972 blockbuster, "Fist of Fury") in a black suit kicking Japanese's asses. Don't get me wrong, the fight scenes are crystal clear, fast, and furious; but for every 5 minutes fight scene comes a 35 minutes "Chinese trying so hard to be united against the Japanese", I just couldn't help but to skip through the so-called "acting" part. I knew what's coming next, you probably knew too, in fact everyone who have ever watched a MA movie would have known exactly what's going to happen next.This is not about being incredibly stereotypical, this is not about absolutely zero character development; this is not even about being predictable. This is about the epic failure of the Chinese movie industry, the fact that they DO NOT have the brain power to think of anything new that's suitable in a movie to tie with Martial Art.To conclude this, history is history, we do not need another and another and yet another movie to emphasis the past. We won't be nemesis trying to revenge the Japanese, this is not "glorious bastard", and we do not want to fall back in the same pattern and same routine, that's why we study history. And Just a side note, never did a single Chinese troop fought outside of Asia during WW1, try harder next time.

Seven years after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after discovering who was responsible...You have to love Donnie Yen. The day of martial arts films may have passed decades ago, but with Yen, it should come back. The film things I have seen him in are among the best martial arts films I have ever experienced.What I liked about this film was that it had martial arts mixed with warfare, and also Chinese history. Martial arts alone would have sold this film, but mixing fists with guns is a nice touch... and putting it into the context of the Chinese resistance to Japan? Brilliant.Another thing about this film... the disparity between the English dub and the English subtitles is big enough that it not only rarely matches, it almost tells two completely different stories. I suggest that if you have the dub on, keep the subtitles on, too. It is pretty funny seeing how far off the two versions are -- and some of the jokes appear in one version but not the other, so to get the full effect both parts are needed.

Although the narrative gets convoluted at times, the historical setting of the Chinese labor corps sent to aid the allied war effort during world war 1 is historically factual ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Labour_Corps ), though it has been largely forgotten.the Chinese intelligentsia also successfully mounted pressure to cause Japan to delay full scale aggression until the 30s ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-One_Demands )this movie is essentially a big budget hong kong action movie produced as a homage to Bruce Lee. At times it strives to be too many homages at once with Donnie Yen resurrecting both Kato AND Chen Zhen ( Fist of Fury).It shouldn't be conceived as Chinese propaganda (anymore than any of the Bruce Lee movies were) or anti-Japanese, as long as you understand that the Chinese truly were the underdogs back then.in fact, the young Japanese actor playing the colonel totally stole the show.

Ip Man was an uplifting movie that showed how the spirit of martial arts and national pride overcame oppression from the Japanese military. Legend of The Fist on the other hand is an ugly, mean spirited mess.A historical drama like Farewell My Concubine or John Rabe is suited for dealing with heavy subject matter like the Japanese occupation of China. Not a movie marketed as a martial arts extravaganza. Especially when the first action scene shows Donnie Yen defeating German Soldiers with the precision of Spider-Man and Daredevil. He pretty much demonstrates that he could end World War I by himself.I would have been fine with more of that. But the focus of the movie is not on the action scenes or Donnie's crusade against the Japanese military. The main focus is how evil the Japanese military is, and what atrocities they commit. Thankfully it's not as detailed as say Schindler's List, but it's shoved in the viewers face nonetheless.There are a ton of subplots which also get in the way and ruin the narrative.Certain characters are also poorly written despite the best efforts of the actors portraying them. They exhibit traitorous behavior but then go back and fourth in their alignment, so it's hard to sympathize with or hate them.One of the characters even gets raped just to tastelessly move the plot forward and motivate revenge. It comes across as very cheap and does not make the viewer want the hero to beat the bad guys.If Ip Man could be a good drama with appropriately placed action scenes, why not this movie?On a 1 to 5 scale, it deserves a 1.