alexanderdavies-99382 "Fist of Fury" is an improvement over Bruce Lee's previous movie, technically speaking and the story is stronger. Above all, the martial arts choreography is simply superb and represents the best of its kind. The violence is brutal and unpretentious. There is some history associated with this film, focusing on the hatred between the Chinese and the Japanese races. That is the reason why the plot is better than usual. Bruce Lee plays the avenging student of a local Chinese school who seeks revenge for the murder of his teacher. He soon runs afoul of this Japanese school - or should that be the other way round? Soon, all hell breaks loose as Lee exerts his own brand of justice - in Kung Fu style! There is added tension in the story, courtesy of the Chinese citizens being under the control of the Japanese. Bruce Lee is a more hard-edged character in this film. He displays almost no humour or charm and is strictly business. He dispatches his enemies without a second thought and without conscience. His anger and grief surface on more than occasion and in spectacular fashion. The fight scenes are amongst the best I've ever seen in a martial arts movie and I have watched a lot of them. Real life student of Bruce Lee - American Bob Baker - is on hand as a Russian martial artist. His fight against Lee is not to be missed. For the first time, we bear witness to the use of the nunchukus. In the hands of Lee, they are an exceptionally dangerous weapon. At the beginning when Lee first enters the Japanese school, he says the line: We Chinese are NOT sick men," the cinemagoers went wild with applause during the film's release in 1972. The Chinese people immediately regarded Bruce Lee as their hero and who can blame them? "Fist of Fury" proved to be so successful at the Asian box office after breaking all records, that two different sequels were made. In my opinion, neither one of them can match the original.

Leofwine_draca Lo Wei's FIST OF FURY is yet another strong, action-fuelled odyssey of danger, treachery, rivalry, and hatred from Bruce Lee, the undisputed king of kung fu cinema who once again gets an opportunity to display the reasons that he is still, even now forty years later, considered to be the best of the best when it comes to martial arts. Drawing on many inspirations, from spaghetti westerns to war films and even romance, the movie satisfies on a number of levels and not least with the violence-fuelled plot which makes ultimate use of the intense hatred of the Japanese by the Chinese (and vice-versa). This time around, Bruce plays a deeply flawed hero who simply cannot control his anger when confronted by a Japanese school who may or may not have had his beloved master killed. In order to satisfy his deep-burning lust for revenge, Bruce goes on a one-man mission of revenge and justice, as the police close in on him and his former comrades lose hope.Lo Wei's movie is well-directed and it goes without saying that the fights are very well choreographed, especially towards the end of the movie. Although the transfer I saw was badly cropped, many of the fight sequences are still highly impressive, showing a more human but no less indestructible side of Bruce. The finale, in which he invades the Japanese camp and takes on a massive Russian fighter, is great stuff and martial arts at its finest.The rest of the film is a mixed bag, containing heavy helpings of social comment, drama and a close examination of the situation in which the helpless characters find themselves. In a way, all of the participants have no control over what they do and so watching the inevitable tragedy play out is often gripping stuff. Although the victim of another bad dubbing job, the often strong acting shines through from the likes of Nora Miao, James Tien, and of course Bruce himself. Thus, both Lee fans and fans of the action genre in general should find much to be enjoyed in this powerful, very human drama which uses the fight scenes as a result of the plot rather than the other way round (as is often the flaw with most cheap kung fu movies). Jet Li's 1994 film FIST OF LEGEND is a very different - but no less impressive - version of the same story.

SnoopyStyle Chen Zhen (Bruce Lee) returns to Shanghai and is shocked to find his master Huo Yuanjia's funeral. Huo had started the Ching Wu School. The local Japanese dojo intrudes on the funeral and challenge them to a fight. Chen is suspicious of the death and investigates. He answers the challenge alone and takes down everybody forcing them to eat their words. He goes to a park where he's forbidden to enter. A sign reads "NO DOGS AND Chinese ALLOWED". As Chen continues to fight, his Japanese foes push the police to stop him.This is a classic kung fu movie. Bruce Lee is playing the martyr, the terminator, and the underdog. It doesn't get much better than Bruce taking on dozens of enemy. The best is probably him kicking the sign at the park to smithereens. There are some dubbing issues but this is still one of Bruce's best. His charisma shines through. This a real audience pleaser especially for Chinese national pride.

nicholls_les I always swap between this film and Enter the dragon being my favourite Bruce Lee Film. ETD is slicker but the few fight scenes that there are in this film are among Bruce Lee's best in my opinion. The reason is that he is acting while fighting. He is supposed to be this crazy guy who is driven mad by his masters murder and this sure comes through in the fight scenes. Two in particular are when he kills the guy involved in poisoning his master ( acted by the same guy who was the Big Boss in the first Chinese Martial Arts Film Lee did ) 'Why did you kill my teacher then?' and then at the Japanese school when he says ' I will allow you to leave, Scram, Scram, Scraaaam!' Pure magic. Also the fight against the Russian allows Bruce to show off some excellent Kung fu skills ( apart from the silly hand waving scene,what was that supposed to be about? ) When Bruce switches styles from Kung Fu, Karate and Western Boxing to confuse the Russian it is Bruce showing Jeet Kune Do at it's best. The film has it's silly comic elements, like the rickshaw throwing scene, but this was probably Lo Wei's (Director) idea. And the love scenes with Nora Mao are too long and unnecessary. All the other fighters in the film look really amateurish compared to Bruce with one or two exceptions. The scene where the Japanese boss flies through the wall after Bruce kicks him is actually a young Jackie Chan as a stunt man. Jackie mentions in his biography that he was the only stunt man willing to do that scene as it involved landing on his back. Jackie is also the stunt man who has his neck broken by Bruce in Enter the Dragon. All in all I still enjoy this film having watched it probably over 30 times.