Review of Famous Martial Arts Movies - Fist of Fury
The second and the best Bruce Lee movie ever is what "Fist of Fury" is considered as around the world.
It is set in 1908 Shanghai when Chen (Bruce Lee) visits his fight school to attend his teacher's funeral.
A group from the Japanese Bushido School of Martial Arts visits the funeral with a tablet on which was inscribed "To the Sick Man of Asia".
Soon Chen learns that his mentor was killed by some members of the Bushido school.
His grief turns into anger and he transforms into the one-man-fighting-machine looking to avenge the death of his master.
The concept to fight for honor has been there with the Chinese civilization since inception and the plot of "Fist of Fury" was designed to play with this popular sentiment.
When Bruce Lee was seen beating the hell out of all members of the Japanese Bushido school and yelling "Chinese are not sick men!" the Chinese audience might have felt the humiliation during the time of Japanese invasion of the World War II finally being washed away.
Hence it was to no one's surprise that the movie broke box-office records all across South-East Asia.
Almost 30 years after "Fist of Fury" was released, film critics tend to agree that action-wise, "Fist of Fury"has no match, but the directional aspect lacked brilliance.
The set looked ordinary, there were numerous bad angle shots, the background score is well below standard, the bad guys seem like funny comic characters and the dubbing was not worth mentioning.
Trying to incorporate a sub-plot in the form of an absurd and awkward romantic scene is another common point of criticism.
There is a story which says that director Lo Wei was so disinterested while the romantic scenes were shot that he was busy concentrating on horse racing! The biggest flaw in the movie was that the characters were either very good or completely evil.
There was no gray shade in any of them.
The Japanese were portrayed as the ultimate evil, with no compassion or decency.
Quite the opposite, the Chinese side was shown to be peace loving, kind and decent.
The only one character with the correct dose of complexity and depth was that of Lee's.
We see him trying to restore his school's honor and take down his teacher's murderers and at the same time doing the opposite of what his school and teacher advocated.
From a martial-arts-lover's point of view, this is Lee's best ever performance.
The action scenes are amazingly fast-paced and beautifully choreographed.
For the first time ever, we get to see Lee displaying his skills with Nun-Chaku.
We are also treated to almost realistic Jeet Kune Do moves like the finger jab and low-level kicks.
"Fist of Fury" is a movie that will definitely bring back life to the oppressed souls.
In spite of major directional glitches and poor production values, "Fist of Fury" will always remain a classic.
It is set in 1908 Shanghai when Chen (Bruce Lee) visits his fight school to attend his teacher's funeral.
A group from the Japanese Bushido School of Martial Arts visits the funeral with a tablet on which was inscribed "To the Sick Man of Asia".
Soon Chen learns that his mentor was killed by some members of the Bushido school.
His grief turns into anger and he transforms into the one-man-fighting-machine looking to avenge the death of his master.
The concept to fight for honor has been there with the Chinese civilization since inception and the plot of "Fist of Fury" was designed to play with this popular sentiment.
When Bruce Lee was seen beating the hell out of all members of the Japanese Bushido school and yelling "Chinese are not sick men!" the Chinese audience might have felt the humiliation during the time of Japanese invasion of the World War II finally being washed away.
Hence it was to no one's surprise that the movie broke box-office records all across South-East Asia.
Almost 30 years after "Fist of Fury" was released, film critics tend to agree that action-wise, "Fist of Fury"has no match, but the directional aspect lacked brilliance.
The set looked ordinary, there were numerous bad angle shots, the background score is well below standard, the bad guys seem like funny comic characters and the dubbing was not worth mentioning.
Trying to incorporate a sub-plot in the form of an absurd and awkward romantic scene is another common point of criticism.
There is a story which says that director Lo Wei was so disinterested while the romantic scenes were shot that he was busy concentrating on horse racing! The biggest flaw in the movie was that the characters were either very good or completely evil.
There was no gray shade in any of them.
The Japanese were portrayed as the ultimate evil, with no compassion or decency.
Quite the opposite, the Chinese side was shown to be peace loving, kind and decent.
The only one character with the correct dose of complexity and depth was that of Lee's.
We see him trying to restore his school's honor and take down his teacher's murderers and at the same time doing the opposite of what his school and teacher advocated.
From a martial-arts-lover's point of view, this is Lee's best ever performance.
The action scenes are amazingly fast-paced and beautifully choreographed.
For the first time ever, we get to see Lee displaying his skills with Nun-Chaku.
We are also treated to almost realistic Jeet Kune Do moves like the finger jab and low-level kicks.
"Fist of Fury" is a movie that will definitely bring back life to the oppressed souls.
In spite of major directional glitches and poor production values, "Fist of Fury" will always remain a classic.
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