Hold your horses; Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero are wuxia epics, not martial arts action films. With regards to the latter, the storylines are usually paper thin because they only exist to string together the impressive fight scenes. The story and emotional content of Fist of Legend is not far from this— like the fight choreography, it's rather simple and straightforward. Its merits come from its subtle touches: the way it unifies martial arts philosophy, thematic content, story, character relationships, and the fight choreography itself.
First, the fight scenes— a martial arts movie is nothing without good fight scenes. They're really good. Timeless and refreshing, the crisp, efficient style embodies the principle of "whatever is most effective is most beautiful". Chen Zhen in this film is portrayed as a free thinking fighter. He dislocates jaws, grabs people by the ear, and goes for groin shots. One of my favorite parts was when his opponent trips him and he converts it to one armed handstand kick. Perhaps that's not very feasible, but daamnnnn. Most importantly, the major fights do not conform to the usual two act structure where the hero gets beat really badly before getting up and winning without getting hit again. There's a good amount of variation to the moves. Despite the final fight being 5 minutes long, it never feels dragged out or repetitive, unlike in the Raid where it feels like mindless action after a while. Lastly, it's fricking Jet Li and world kickboxing champion Billy Chow performing poetry in motion.
The reason I went into detail with the fight scenes is because they're inextricable from the film's martial arts philosophy. In the fight scene between Chen Zhen and the Japanese master, Fumio, Chen Zhen breaks a rock with his fist. Fumio responds by cutting a falling leaf in half with his palm. During the fight, Fumio observes Zhen's style and mirrors it. Afterwards, the old master says that the young fighter has opened his eyes. Chen Zhen laments that his skills were not enough to win, to which Fumio replies that if the most effective way to beat someone is with a gun. No, the purpose of martial arts, he says, is to hone the self to the highest level.
Later, Chen Zhen would only beat the villain because of his ability to adapt to his enemy, which is what really makes him powerful. Fittingly, the villain is someone who has hardened his body to be invulnerable to the harshest hits, only to be broken down in the end— like I said, it's the subtle touches. On the character side, Chen Zhen goes to school in Japan and comes home with a Japanese girlfriend despite the militant attitudes of the Chinese towards the Japanese during that time period. He defies both the rigidity of his native martial arts and the rigidity of social stigmas and nationalism. He takes his footwork from boxing, his kicks from karate, and his love interest from Japan. To practice martial arts is to practice life, and vice versa.
Greatest martial arts movie ever?
Hold your horses; Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero are wuxia epics, not martial arts action films. With regards to the latter, the storylines are usually paper thin because they only exist to string together the impressive fight scenes. The story and emotional content of Fist of Legend is not far from this— like the fight choreography, it's rather simple and straightforward. Its merits come from its subtle touches: the way it unifies martial arts philosophy, thematic content, story, character relationships, and the fight choreography itself.
First, the fight scenes— a martial arts movie is nothing without good fight scenes. They're really good. Timeless and refreshing, the crisp, efficient style embodies the principle of "whatever is most effective is most beautiful". Chen Zhen in this film is portrayed as a free thinking fighter. He dislocates jaws, grabs people by the ear, and goes for groin shots. One of my favorite parts was when his opponent trips him and he converts it to one armed handstand kick. Perhaps that's not very feasible, but daamnnnn. Most importantly, the major fights do not conform to the usual two act structure where the hero gets beat really badly before getting up and winning without getting hit again. There's a good amount of variation to the moves. Despite the final fight being 5 minutes long, it never feels dragged out or repetitive, unlike in the Raid where it feels like mindless action after a while. Lastly, it's fricking Jet Li and world kickboxing champion Billy Chow performing poetry in motion.
The reason I went into detail with the fight scenes is because they're inextricable from the film's martial arts philosophy. In the fight scene between Chen Zhen and the Japanese master, Fumio, Chen Zhen breaks a rock with his fist. Fumio responds by cutting a falling leaf in half with his palm. During the fight, Fumio observes Zhen's style and mirrors it. Afterwards, the old master says that the young fighter has opened his eyes. Chen Zhen laments that his skills were not enough to win, to which Fumio replies that if the most effective way to beat someone is with a gun. No, the purpose of martial arts, he says, is to hone the self to the highest level.
Later, Chen Zhen would only beat the villain because of his ability to adapt to his enemy, which is what really makes him powerful. Fittingly, the villain is someone who has hardened his body to be invulnerable to the harshest hits, only to be broken down in the end— like I said, it's the subtle touches. On the character side, Chen Zhen goes to school in Japan and comes home with a Japanese girlfriend despite the militant attitudes of the Chinese towards the Japanese during that time period. He defies both the rigidity of his native martial arts and the rigidity of social stigmas and nationalism. He takes his footwork from boxing, his kicks from karate, and his love interest from Japan. To practice martial arts is to practice life, and vice versa.