Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

High-production values here. They spent some money on this one. The action starts in 1917 along the front-lines where Chen Zen(Donnie) makes a name for himself. The action sequences in the opening moments of the film are absolutely jaw-dropping. I really thought I was in for a treat. Then LOTF(heehee) dives into the plot which is overdrawn, dull, and boring. There is very little character development, very little in terms of subplots, and very little action for the middle hour of this film. It's a shame too, because from the choreography to the effects, the action sequences might be some of the best ever put to film. I could make a film about walking my dog around the block with more depth than this, and while that's not what I should expect from an action flick, I SHOULD expect a lot of action. If you take out the first and last ten minutes of the film there is 5 minutes of action(also incredible). Unfortunately, the wait is so long that it's not worth the wait. I would watch the opening and ending till the DVD stops working, but I won't ever sit through this whole movie again. 54/100

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.