What this is, is a Chinese superhero movie. Where the Japanese soldiers are the bad guys and the Chinese rebels and fighters are the good guys. Some may view this is a anti-Japanese movie, but it's based on the oppression of the Chinese people by the Japanese in the past. So in a way it's historically true during World War 1. Not the whole Chinese superhero stuff but you know what I mean. Now I personally like Bruce Lee, I think he is a pioneer for these Kung-fu movie and was a legit martial artist and philosopher. So I really liked how this is a homage to him. I also loved "Fist of Legend" which I personally think is one of the best martial arts movie out there. This one however just didn't flow very well when it came to the story. It was just boring babbling with things going all over the place. The cool Donnie Yen fight sequences doesn't really make up for it. Sure, most people don't watch a martial arts movie for a amazing story. But the story was just boring, the build up to the final fight sort of made it worth it...Sort of. But the trust and betrayal elements just wasn't impactful and didn't really seem to go anywhere. I really wanted this movie to at least be entertaining, but it just really wasn't because of the flow of it all. Overall this is a corny Chinese superhero movie that is maybe worth a rental at best.5/10

I bought "Legend of the Fist" from Amazon simply because Shu Qi was in it. But prior to that, then I had no idea what the movie was about, so it was without any hopes or expectations that I sat down to watch the movie."Legend of the Fist" was actually a rather good enough action/martial arts movie spiced up with a fairly good storyline as well. Set during World War I in a Japanese occupied Shanghai, we follow the oppression of the Chinese and their rise to rebel against the Japanese. Mostly by the hands on a single man; Chen Zhen.The action sequences and fight scenes in the movie were really great, nicely choreographed and executed, which is a trademark of Donnie Yen. So if you are familiar with his work, then you know you are in for some great action and lots of adrenaline here. However, the last fight was a bit too cliché for my liking, it was like an old Bruce Lee movie. You had Donnie Yen taking on a whole dojo of Japanese singlehandedly. Then he comes up against the 'villain', the main bad guy, and gets a nasty beating, but of course he comes back and beats the villain to a pulp. It was exactly like the old Bruce Lee movies, and it has been done too many times already, been there, done that. So it was sort of a anti-climatic end to the movie - as you saw it coming a mile away."Legend of the Fist" has some pretty good actors and actresses on the cast list; you have Donnie Yen (in the lead role of Chen Zhen), Shu Qi (playing Kiki) and Anthony Wong (playing Liu Yutian). And the people in the movie did great jobs in bringing their characters to life on the screen.Having seen "Legend of the Fist" now, I sit here with the taste of 'was this a tribute to Bruce Lee' in my mouth. Because everything in this movie screamed Bruce Lee, and it seemed like a movie that might as well have starred the immortal Bruce Lee and not Donnie Yen. And I will not even go into the similarity between the Masked Fighter and Bruce Lee's Kato character... But regardless of this being the case or not, then "Legend of the Fist" was actually good entertainment both story-wise and also action-wise.

This film tries to be more than just an action movie but fails because of this. The plot is complex with a lot of main characters and a lot of relationships. But the story itself is absolutely boring. Another "bad Japan, good China" blabla from the Hongkong studios. After the "historical" introduction, which is as correct as the propaganda of the third Reich, you know everything about the plot you need to know. The rest is only added to make the plot more than a side-dish in a action movie. But the try to make a mixture of a action movie and a kind of a Drama or Thriller fails. The plot is boring and unnecessary and the Action is cut for the plot.So in the end there is neither a classical Actionmovie than a Thriller.Long story short i end: Boring movie, even for (eastern)Actionmovie fans.

There is only one reason to see this movie and that is Donnie Yen. It is just an amazing sight to see this master of martial arts in action. Andrew Lau however must be ashamed for trying to be so political and patriotic. Nothing wrong with nationalistic movies once in a while. But lately it has been overkill. And he is clearly over his head here since he barely makes sense of what actually is happening on the screen. Worse you won't even care apart from the obvious cruelties displayed in movies like this. It is such a shame that the focus seems to be on the plot that is hardly interesting. Luckily for Andrew Lau Donnie manages to save it all by himself but you can't but wonder what the movie would have been like if the plot was kept simple.