Fist of Fury: Sworn Revenge [TV] (1995)

After their parents are killed by bandits, Chen Jun (Donnie Yen) and his little sister come to Shanghai to raise money to rebuild their home. But life in the big city proves complicated and dangerous as Chen finds work and plenty of trouble as a coolie and later as a gang member, before he finally becomes a student of kung fu master Fok Yuen Gaap (Eddy Ko).

Bruce Lee made the fictitious character Chen Jun famous in 1972 with the release of Fist of Fury. Because of this, most people know who the fiery-tempered figure is and what happens to him. But how he came to be in Shanghai and a student of real life Master Fok Yuen Gaap has never been told until now.

After completing a hugely popular TV series entitled Kung Fu Master for Hong Kong station ATV in 1994, Donnie Yen was tapped for another series the next year, this time based on the life of Chen Jun. With thirty episodes to fill, the writers came up with a back story for Chen that comprised the first half of the series. In 2002, these episodes were edited into a 220 minute film entitled Fist of Fury: Sworn Revenge as a 2-disc set. Previously, Tai Seng had released the second half of the series in a similar package simply entitled Fist of Fury. This second half roughly follows the events in Lo Wei’s 1972 version, but Tai Seng’s DVD edition is hard to follow and Donnie, for all his skill, cannot possibly match Bruce Lee’s intensity. Sworn Revenge is a vast improvement on all fronts that features the best action of the series and coherently introduces the prime characters while presenting an even more compelling story not bound by the shadow of Bruce Lee.

Having originally been a television series, this condensed film presents a number of intertwining plots and characters as we see Chen Jun develop from an illiterate farmer, to become an enlightened martial arts student. After his parents are killed by bandits, Chen and his little sister head to Shanghai to receive aid from their uncle. He basically disowns them on the spot and the pair are put out on the street. Chen gets a job as a coolie working for a sadistic prodigal son named Fu who makes it his mission to make Chen’s life miserable. This doesn’t stop Chen’s kung fu skills from being noticed by Fu’s father, a big time gang leader. Chen joins up and all seems relatively well until the bandits responsible for the death of Chen’s parents show up. Chen gets his revenge, but not before his little sis is mortally wounded. To honor her dying wish, Chen quits the gang and eventually becomes the student of Fok Yuen Gaap. Initially this doesn’t set well with the other students, since he previously and quite rudely challenged Fok in hopes of becoming the number one boxer in Shanghai. But his chivalrous attitude and incredible skills win them over, with the exception of Big Brother who considers Chen a rival. The two must sort out their differences as they both learn important life lessons.

The biggest difference between this first half of the series and the second is Donnie’s performance. In the second portion, Donnie is essentially playing Bruce Lee as Chen Jun, while in the first half the character comes across more naturally. The change noticeably occurs towards the end as he fights a Muay Thai fighter for the second time after losing the first match. Yuen Gaap (Eddy Ko) has been coaching Chen on knowing your enemy. This could be interpreted as a link to Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and the practice of adapting to your enemy. From that point on, Donnie begins to move and act somewhat like Lee.

Donnie deserves kudos for giving a great acting performance in addition to his kung fu stunt work and direction. His relationship with the little girl who plays his sister in the series is touching and his reaction to her death is stirring without being overly emotional. The girl, who looks to be about 12, is a terrific little actress who adds a healthy dose of humanity to the film. Donnie’s relationship with Eddy Ko as Master Fok is also effective. Eddy is a great genre actor and is convincing as a wise kung fu master. He mentors Chen in a series of crucial dialogues on being a better martial artist and a better person. Far from being a lot of generic chatter, the advice is both sound and geared towards the development of Chen Jun into the hero he becomes. There is also a great bit of verbal sparring concerning martial arts that Fok engages in with two Japanese karate experts who appear more prominently in the second half of the series.

Donnie Yen directed all the choreography and most of it is above average. Several of the other actors appear to be quite proficient and Donnie’s skills are suitably outstanding as should be expected. But the series is the product of early ’90’s trends and there is sadly, a large amount of ‘power powder’ use and undercranking. Plus, the fights sometimes devolve into nothing more than rapid limb smacking sessions where opponents simply flail arms and legs at each other repeatedly. Seeing Donnie’s excellent choreography in films over the years, I attribute this phenomenon to limited resources including stunt personal and time. Considering how much combat is crammed into this series which has a smaller budget than most action films, Donnie’s work is quite an achievement.

I definitely recommend seeing Sworn Revenge. Built as a series, it takes more time to develop characters and motivations. It also provides our hero with more interesting situations and villains to fight then you would expect to see in a standard length theatrical release. Donnie Yen is in great form and you’ll get to see him perform all of his trademark moves from flying splits to triple midair kicks. On the down side, slowing the action down would have been an improvement. Also, some of the minor characters such as a couple of the women Chen meets seem to fade out of the story (at least one returns in the second half) and this is likely due to cuts. Lastly, the ending is a bit anti-climatic, since the focus drifts away from Chen’s enemies and focuses on his rivalry with a friend. At least this last complaint can be remedied by following this film up with Tai Seng’s Fist of Fury which picks up with Chen’s struggle against the Japanese.

From what little I have seen of other Chinese television series, this one looks remarkably good. There is fine use of intricate indoor sets and outdoor locations. The costumes are adequate. The direction and camerawork is not inspiring, but get the job done without being distracting. For the most part, the music sounds like it has been taken from other sources, as Holst’s “The Planets” can be identified. Its used well though. The most important part is the fighting itself and Donnie presents combat as good and likely better than anything you’ll see on any other television show. And, it surpasses a lot of lesser feature films as well.