LEGEND OF THE FIST boasts some topnotch production values: in the opening scenes, Donnie Yen as the superhuman Chen Zhen makes short work of the Germans in France during WWI- with the aid of wirework and cgi. When WWII rolls around, Yen, laying low as a piano player in a Shanghai nightclub, antagonizes the occupying Japanese- and then snatches a chauffeur's black leather outfit and mask from a storefront dummy (part of a display for a movie titled THE MASKED WARRIOR) and kicks some butt. The outfit is, of course, yet another copy of Bruce Lee's costume from THE GREEN HORNET. Jet Li donned same in THE BLACK MASK, another Bruceploitation flick from yesteryear. Going Li one better, LEGEND OF THE FIST also borrows liberally from Li's own FIST OF LEGEND. It's enough to make one's head spin. As is the wonky wirework we see here (again). Far too much time is spent on posturing and partying and talking before this latest Bruceploitation propaganda flick kicks into high gear- and, when it does, it's much too little and it comes much too late to save this one. When Yen does his impression of Bruce Lee during The Big Finale, it's unintentionally hilarious. And I thought these kind of movies had finally run their course. Guess not...
