Film Review: Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen 精武風雲－陳真 (2010) - Hong Kong
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia)
I rated it 7/10
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There is an undeniable thrill, a pure cinematic jolt, when Donnie Yen unleashes fury upon his foes. In “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen," director Andrew Lau understands this fundamental truth and constructs a lavish, adrenaline-fueled temple around Yen's formidable presence. The result is a film that soars during its meticulously crafted combat sequences but occasionally stumbles in the quieter spaces between them, like a champion boxer momentarily off balance.
Yen, serving also as action choreographer, is the film's beating heart and its razor-sharp fist. He steps into the iconic shoes of Chen Zhen – worn memorably by Bruce Lee and Jet Li – with an electric intensity and a physical vocabulary that borders on the superhuman. The film announces its intentions with bravado: a breathtaking, almost fantastical World War I trench warfare sequence where Chen Zhen moves like a whirlwind of death. It’s audacious, visceral, and sets a bar for spectacle the film happily strives for.
Lau, a cinematographer of significant renown before turning director, bathes 1920s Shanghai in an intoxicating glow. The nightclub where much of the intrigue unfolds is a character itself, dripping with Art Deco opulence and shadows worthy of Rick's Café, if Rick were a martial arts master in disguise. And yes, Yen pays loving, crowd-pleasing homage to Bruce Lee in the climactic showdown – the whirl of nunchaku, the defiant cries – a gesture that feels earned, not stolen.
Where "Legend of the Fist" loses its footing is in the labyrinth it builds around its hero. The plot aspires to be a complex web of espionage, wartime intrigue, and masked vigilantism (Chen Zhen adopts a Zorro/Kato persona that feels slightly awkward). But the threads tangle. Subplots multiply like weeds, characters appear and vanish without leaving much impression, and the pacing in the second act sags noticeably under the weight of exposition and political machinations. The film wants us to care deeply about the intrigue, but it lacks the narrative focus or character depth to make those quieter moments resonate. We find ourselves politely waiting for the next explosion of violence.
Furthermore, the film's patriotic fervor, while understandable given the historical context of Japanese aggression in Shanghai, is wielded with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Nuance is sacrificed at the altar of nationalism, making the villains cartoonishly evil and the hero's motivations less compellingly human, more symbolically monolithic. It drains some complexity from what could have been a richer stew.
"Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" is not the profound character study or the tightly woven historical epic that Yen achieved with the *Ip Man* series. It is, however, a frequently dazzling piece of action filmmaking. Andrew Lau provides the glossy, hyper-stylized playground, but Donnie Yen is the undisputed star attraction, delivering martial arts sequences of such speed, power, and balletic precision that they momentarily make you forget the narrative clutter. For fans of the genre and Yen's undeniable prowess, the sheer spectacle of Yen in motion is worth the price of admission. It’s a three-star experience elevated by four-star action, a solidly enjoyable, if ultimately flawed, return of a legend. Just don’t expect the legend to be told with much depth. (Neo 2025)