Martial actor Donnie Yen has been kicking ass in Hong Kong movies for ages, and while he’s never made a Jet Li or Jackie Chan-sized impact in the US, that hasn’t slowed his flying fists and feet in his home country.
Yen’s latest, LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN finds him wearing some familiar-looking face gear and hammering his way through WWI and the streets of Shanghai. Yen is actually reprising the role he played in the 90s on a TV series called “Fist of Fury” (the character was also played by Bruce Lee in FIST OF FURY, aka THE CHINESE CONNECTION). Shu Qi (SO CLOSE, THE TRANSPORTER) provides the love interest, and the fisticuffs are captured by director Andrew Lau (THE STORM RIDERS, INFERNAL AFFAIRS – remade in the US as THE DEPARTED).
The synopsis: In 1925, the nation of China is divided by infighting, and Japan has become the most powerful force in Asia. With the city of Shanghai torn in half by international conflict, Club Casablanca has become a hotbed of spies, mobsters, English officials and the Japanese military- all looking to gain control of the country, with little regard for what happens to its citizenry. Into this den of intrigue enters Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen), who has returned to China after fighting alongside the Allied forces in Europe, bringing some dark secrets from his past along with him. During the day, he’s known as “Qi”, and appears to be just another wealthy playboy. But at night, he takes to the street as a masked warrior, determined to subvert the Japanese invasion while becoming entangled with the sultry Kiki (Played by Shu Qi), who has a dangerous secret of her own. When his past catches up to him, Zhen is faced with near impossible odds- but his skills are formidable, and he’s up to the challenge.
Check out the trailer below or in HD at Apple.
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