Fist of Legend: A Special Look After 30 Years

This year the film Jet Li "Fist of Legend” 30 years since the release. The tape, if you don't count "Once Upon a Time in China and America” (1997) the last in the "historical" period, Jeta. From 1991 to 1994, eleven films in the genre of wushu and wuxia films were released. Then "modern" films such as "Bodyguard from Beijing” (1994), "Secret agent” (My Father is a Hero, 1995) and others.

All the films, for the most part, are filled with high-quality action. Corey Yuen и Yuen Wu-PingAs Jet Li then, they will work fruitfully in the West.

All fans of action films know that the film Jet Li is a remake of the film "Fist of fury” (1972) with Bruce Lee starring.

Here I wanted to show how the appearance of the Japanese changed over the time that passed between the two pictures. In "Fist of Fury” every Japanese is an enemy. Victory over him, pride for the Chinese and the film is filled with this from beginning to end. In the 1970s, anti-colonialist movements were taking place in Hong Kong and the film was very opportunely released at that time, with such a plot. I don’t know if this was done on purpose or just coincidence, but it was after this that the name Bruce Lee sparkled with new colors...

By the time of release "Fist of Legend” , in 1994, Japanese technology and culture were all the rage in Hong Kong. The film no longer features only evil Japanese and no jingoism. In the 1973 film, Chen Zhen, the character played by Bruce and then Jetom, arrives at the beginning of the film for the funeral of his teacher. In the 1994 film, Chen attends school in Kyoto with the Japanese, and they protect him when representatives of a Japanese martial arts school enter the classroom. We have a villain in the person of General Go Fujita, played by Billy Chow and Fumio Funakoshi, played by Yasuaki Kurata. The character Fumio is a reference to Gichinu Funakoshi, the founder of the Shotokan-ryu karate style. If Fujita is a "dinosaur" from the past, where Japan is above all, then Funakoshi distanced himself from military and political nationalism. He is liberal and martial arts for him have no "nationality".

This is how the message of films changes over time, where the main thing, as it seems to most, is the magnificent action demonstrated by legendary actors.

Director of the 1994 film, Gordon Chan, in 2010, presented another story about Chen Zhen, with Donnie Yen starring. Film "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen” is already inspired by stories about superheroes, with its own national flavor and, of course, great action. But that's a completely different story...

Author: CINEMAPLAY

1 comment

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    Thanks for posting. A review of the new blu-ray edition of the film "Fist of Legend" will be coming soon.

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