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When I saw Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon years ago with my dad, I wasn't really impressed. It didn't do much for my curiosity pertaining to martial arts films, so I ended up putting off Bruce Lee for years. Now that I'm focusing on 1972, Fist of Fury, which is said to be quite good, has become an obligation. Is this going to be the movie that finally kindles a love for Bruce Lee in my stubborn soul, or is this going to be another bust like Enter the Dragon and The Way of the Dragon?
Chen is a stubborn and angry little man who's kung fu teacher was recently killed. The reports say it was pneumonia, but many students in the school are still suspicious. After being taunted by a Japanese school, Chen, against his new master's wishes, goes over and challenges them, winning in the process. However, now the Japanese are out for blood, and they've threatened the kung fu school. Chen's not gonna take that lightly.
I just typed a very tropy plotline. I really don't think it requires imagination to think of people getting revenge after being shamed. It's pretty much the story of Samson here: The Philistines threaten his wife, he kills some Philistines, they kill his wife, he kills some Philistines, they force the Israelites to hand him over, he kills 1000 Philistines. How can this be considered original by anyone when you get to the basics of what human beings will naturally do? Why did so many martial arts films of that time have to be so plotless? There's nothing here that Bruce is offering that's any different than what others were offering at the time, save the weird noises, one of which sounded like a bad impersonation of a creaking door opening slowly. I can do that. There's much better plotting in an episode of Kung Fu.
The biggest reason movies like this sell are for the stunts. And how are they? They're alright. I mean, you can tell when some of this stuff is faked pretty often, but the choreography is operable at best. But once again, I see nothing here that I can't get in better martial arts movies. And the biggest problem in this vein is not just the stunts, but the characterization. Angry student getting revenge? Allow me to sing a song: Whoopdee-freakin-doo, when will you, be someone I can like now? Whoopdee-freakin-doo, how are you, a staple kung fu star now? Cop on the wrong side of the law (but maybe the right one since he's Chinese and not Japanese)? That adds so little to the movie that it's not even worth following as a character. Every other person here can't even call themselves paper-cutouts. They WANT TO BE paper cutouts.
Dammit, third time wasn't the charm when watching my third Bruce Lee movie. If anything, this was the worst of the three. I understand that I'll probably anger somebody, but I am on movie-related chat boars and am SO not afraid of that. Bruce Lee was nothing more than a guy relying on the rep of an original fighting style and a fake American given-name to sell his movies. He was basically the Ramones of the movie industry, except Ramones had the decency to keep their fun projects less than a half-hour at a time so they didn't burn out easily.
= 52.5
Lo Wei needs 2 more films to qualify for a Directorial Score.
Fist of Fury
(1972) - Directed by Lo Wei
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Kung Fu
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Kung Fu
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"Whenever you're ready, I'll take on any Japanese here."
When I saw Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon years ago with my dad, I wasn't really impressed. It didn't do much for my curiosity pertaining to martial arts films, so I ended up putting off Bruce Lee for years. Now that I'm focusing on 1972, Fist of Fury, which is said to be quite good, has become an obligation. Is this going to be the movie that finally kindles a love for Bruce Lee in my stubborn soul, or is this going to be another bust like Enter the Dragon and The Way of the Dragon?
Chen is a stubborn and angry little man who's kung fu teacher was recently killed. The reports say it was pneumonia, but many students in the school are still suspicious. After being taunted by a Japanese school, Chen, against his new master's wishes, goes over and challenges them, winning in the process. However, now the Japanese are out for blood, and they've threatened the kung fu school. Chen's not gonna take that lightly.
I just typed a very tropy plotline. I really don't think it requires imagination to think of people getting revenge after being shamed. It's pretty much the story of Samson here: The Philistines threaten his wife, he kills some Philistines, they kill his wife, he kills some Philistines, they force the Israelites to hand him over, he kills 1000 Philistines. How can this be considered original by anyone when you get to the basics of what human beings will naturally do? Why did so many martial arts films of that time have to be so plotless? There's nothing here that Bruce is offering that's any different than what others were offering at the time, save the weird noises, one of which sounded like a bad impersonation of a creaking door opening slowly. I can do that. There's much better plotting in an episode of Kung Fu.
The biggest reason movies like this sell are for the stunts. And how are they? They're alright. I mean, you can tell when some of this stuff is faked pretty often, but the choreography is operable at best. But once again, I see nothing here that I can't get in better martial arts movies. And the biggest problem in this vein is not just the stunts, but the characterization. Angry student getting revenge? Allow me to sing a song: Whoopdee-freakin-doo, when will you, be someone I can like now? Whoopdee-freakin-doo, how are you, a staple kung fu star now? Cop on the wrong side of the law (but maybe the right one since he's Chinese and not Japanese)? That adds so little to the movie that it's not even worth following as a character. Every other person here can't even call themselves paper-cutouts. They WANT TO BE paper cutouts.
Dammit, third time wasn't the charm when watching my third Bruce Lee movie. If anything, this was the worst of the three. I understand that I'll probably anger somebody, but I am on movie-related chat boars and am SO not afraid of that. Bruce Lee was nothing more than a guy relying on the rep of an original fighting style and a fake American given-name to sell his movies. He was basically the Ramones of the movie industry, except Ramones had the decency to keep their fun projects less than a half-hour at a time so they didn't burn out easily.
= 52.5
Lo Wei needs 2 more films to qualify for a Directorial Score.