Foreign Films, Kung Fu Movies, Movies

Donnie Yen Double Feature (Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen/Flashpoint)

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Donnie Yen is a well accomplished Hong Kong action star. He has made many acclaimed action films such as Ip Man and Hero. He’s among the ranks of Jackie Chan and Jet Li yet I had never before seen a full Donnie Yen film. I’ve made it my mission to see a handful of Donnie Yen films. I had already seen most of Ip Man before so I decided to start with Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen and then go on to watch Flash Point.

First off is my review of Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen. The title seems very cliche and legend of the fistuninspired. “Legend of the Fist” Very bland and it doesn’t do a whole lot to separate itself from other action movies. However the 2nd half of the title is a bit more interesting. “The Return of Chen Zhen” Chen Zhen is a character that has been in many martial arts movies being played by a number of accomplished martial artists including Jet Li and was first played by Bruce Lee in the Chinese Connection. So Chen Zhen is definitely a character worth noting. The “Legend of the Fist” bit is making more sense now isn’t it? The character has always been associated with a fist, as a trademark.

Donnie Yen has many connections to Bruce Lee. He cites Bruce Lee as an influence, he played Bruce Lee’s teacher in Ip Man, and he has reprized multiple roles previously played by Bruce Lee. He has played Chen Zhen in Legend of the fist as well as the TV series Fist of Fury. Bruce Lee made a movie known in America as Fists of Fury, but the original title was Big Boss. Donnie Yen made a movie called Snow Wolf, but the original title was The New Big Boss.

All these connections make Donnie Yen the obvious choice for the role of Chen Zhen. He even throws in some iconic Bruce Lee high pitched yelling into his fighting. It’s definitely toned down, but it’s still there.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen opens with one of the coolest action opening scenesequences I’ve seen in a long time. The beginning of the movie has Donnie Yen killing Germans in WWI. They have lots of men and lots of guns. He is just one man, with 3 knives. He sprints and parkours through gun fire and slashes them to pieces in an action sequence that will have you verbally exclaiming.

Now after that incredible opening action sequence, the rest of the film is a bit of a disappointment. It’s definitely not bad, just slower. There are other action scenes, and while they do not surpass the opening fight, they are all still awesome. the only problem is that the connecting bits between action sequences is not incredibly interesting. The film has a decent plot, but it feels the need to reiterate everything that is going on in between each scene.

It’s a shame that the movie peaks with it’s opening scene, as the rest of the movie seems even more slow and monotonous in comparison. The other fights are all legend of the fist 2nd fightsuperbly choreographed and executed. The action is fast and brutal. This is the kind of movie where you wish they swapped a couple of expositional scenes with a few more action sequences.

The final fight at the end of the movie is a little mixed. It begins as Donnie Yen fighting a large group of Japanese soldiers and then boils down to a one on one fight between him and the final villain. The group fight is awesome. Donnie Yen showcases incredible speed and kicks an average of 3.5 people in the face each time he leaves the ground, which is quite often. Unfortunately the one on one fight is a little disappointing. The fight isn’t bad by any means, but it lacks a certain flair, and ends up lowering the final fight.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen has good action, but terrible pacing. I would almost say that this is the kind of film where you should skip to the good parts. If you watch Legend of the Fist you’ll probably have a good time, but you may be a little bored at parts.

Flash Point (Not to be confused with the sub par TV show of the same name.)flash point poster

Flash Point is not strictly a martial arts movie. It also has it’s fair share of gunplay. At times Flash Point can seem like a John Woo movie, which is a good thing. I got a real Hard Boiled kind of vibe off of Flash Point. There are a number of small similarities between the two films. I wonder if it was an inspiration.

Flash Point, much like Legend of the Fist, opens with a an action scene. In Flash Point the action is very short. It’s only about a minute and a half long, but it sets the tone and style of the movie. It is shot in one continuous dolly shot and looks great.

The next big chunk of the movie sets up the story. The story is actually rather cliche. There’s an undercover cop, a girlfriend in danger, a loose cannon cop who takes the law into his own hands, a bad guy above the law. It’s all been done before. The only slightly different thing is that instead of following the undercover cop whose girlfriend gets kidnapped, we follow his partner played by Donnie Yen. Not many movies do that, most films have you follow the center of the conflict. I think it was a smart move.

Flash Point has an interesting set of characters. The character development is done well and each character has a unique personality, which is something that a lot of action films don’t bother with. At times we follow both the good guys and the bad guys. Wison Yip the director does a very good job with the film. He brings a definite style and tone to the film that doesn’t take itself too seriously. There is a good lighthearted tone that welcomes comedy into the action.donnie yenb

Most of the acting is good, with one really terrible performance that sticks out. There is a woman who plays a cop in an action scene. She has not been in the movie before now, so this is our introduction to her. People start shooting. She’s in cover with another cop. She’s supposed to be either terrified or caught up in the action, but instead she’s smiling away. She is obliviously happy while being shot at, and the movie tries to bring tension when she dies. She get’s killed and it’s supposed to be dramatic and rage fueling, when really, it was her own fault she died, and the audience doesn’t even know her before it happens. I don’t even think she has a name. Just one poorly acted scene. You can’t introduce someone in the same scene you kill them off and expect there to be a dramatic payoff.

The relationship between the undercover cop and his girlfriend is a big part of the movie. The entire final fight scene happens because of them. The problem is that I don’t really buy their relationship. Maybe it’s the writing or maybe they just have poor onscreen chemistry, but I didn’t feel the passion that was supposed to have fueled this suicidal charge at the end.

The action in this film is great. Donnie Yen is also the action director and he brings incredible action sequences to Flash Point. There are some great chase and fight flashpointsequences. Two in particular stand out. The first is a parkour chase through the city that leads to a one on one fight in a market. Both aspects of this scene are awesome and well performed by both men.

The final sequence of the film makes the movie. The best scene in the movie is the two part action scene at the end. Where Legend of the Fist opened strong, Flash Point closed strong. A movie needs to open strong and end even stronger. I think Flash Point succeeded more in this aspect.

The film ends with a two part action sequence. The first part is a John Woo-esque shootout between Donnie Yen and all the bad guys. The shootout is very well done and this is where I  started to notice the very well done camera angles and pans. The camera work may not be important to the casual film viewer, but it does play an important role in the effectiveness of any movie. The shootout showcases some awesome sniper rifle work which again makes me wish that there were more sniperflash point gunfights in movies. True we do have some films about snipers like Shooter or Sniper, but there is always room for more. One of the main villains dies in one of the coolest on screen deaths from any film during this shootout.

Start spoiler * He is blasted into the air and skeet shot several times with the sniper rifle as he falls down onto the roof of a car. Awesome. * End spoiler

After the gunfight it’s down to Donnie Yen and one of the main villains. No guns now just fighting. This fight is incredible. It’s long varied and brutal. The actors take some impressive falls and daring full contact hits. This fight is the highlight of the whole film. I would say that most of the film is not quite there but this final fight makes the movie worth watching.

In closing I would say that neither of these movies are bad at all, but they’re not that great either. They both have great moments, but fail to deliver a consistently great experience throughout. Both films tend to drag, but the action is showstopping. I enjoyed Flash Point more than Legend of the Fist. If you’re going to watch one, then I would say, go with that one.

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