Home Video: ‘Fist of Legend,’ ‘The Wolves’

Dragon Dynasty’s release of Jet Li’s FIST OF LEGEND tops the list of new screen fighting titles for the first week of September. Considered by many to be Li’s best kung fu movie, this 1994 remake of Bruce Lee’s FIST OF FURY tells the story of Huo Yuan-jia’s fictional student Chen Zhen who fights occupying Japanese and their Chinese sympathizers after his master is killed. It features action choreography by Yuen Woo-ping and memorable fighting performances from superkicker Billy Chow and Yasuaki Kurata (HEROES OF THE EAST, LEGEND OF A FIGHTER).

The Two-Disc Ultimate Edition release features deleted scenes, audio commentary by Bey Logan, a featurette on the Kurata Action School, comments from Brett Ratner and Elvis Mitchell, trailers, and interviews with director Gordon Chan, Chin Siu-ho and the great Yasuaki Kurata himself!

Dragon Dynasty will follow this release at the end of the month with Vietnam’s first martial arts movie, THE REBEL.

Also out on DVD from AnimEigo is the yakuza drama THE WOLVES (1971) from Hideo Gosha, the director of chambara classics THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI (1964) and BANDITS VS. SAMURAI SQUADRON (1978). Tom Mes of Midnight Eye calls this film “rock solid genre fare” that emphasizes character development over action.

A number of re-releases appear this week. BLACK MASK and UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY arrive on Blu-ray and we also see the re-release of the first two RUSH HOUR flicks and both UNDER SIEGE pics in new, low-priced two-movie packs. If you go to your local mega retailer, bargain bins are filling up with dozens of two-movie releases from different studios.

Ultra low-budget distrib EPI has cranked out a couple box sets of previously released kung fu titles, all unlicensed, low-quality stuff. Despite the poor visual quality of these releases and the presence of a few turkeys there are some gems here for fu fans. Here’s a quick rundown.

FIVE FABULOUS KUNG FU FEATURES, VOL. 2

• SECRET OF THE SNAKE AND CRANE (aka SNAKE CRANE SECRET) (1978) – Average fu flick directed by Shaw Brothers vet Wu Ma features supporting action performances from genre regulars Meng Fei and superkicker Dorian Tan.
• DRAGON LEE VS. THE FIVE BROTHERS (1978) – Unusual Bruceploitationer mixes kung fu and wuxia conventions. It stars Korean Bruce Lee clone Dragon Lee and female stuntwoman and future co-star of KUNG FU HUSTLE Yuen Qiu (aka the “Landlady”).
• FANTASY MISSION FORCE (1982) – Jackie Chan’s favor to Jimmy Wang Yu is also one of the strangest and arguably worst genre movies ever to come out of Hong Kong. Also stars Adam Cheng and a young Brigitte Lin.
• FISTS OF VENGEANCE (1973) – An early kung fu title from the shlockmeisters at IFD Films features Taiwanese wuxia star Kong Ban and Yasuaki Kurata.
• MONKEY KUNG FU (aka MONKEY FIST, FLOATING SNAKE) (1979) – Not to be confused with Shaw Brothers’ MONKEY KUNG FU starring Ching Siu-tung, this is another Monkey Fist-related fu flick featuring performances from Chan Sing, Chang Yi, Eddie Ko and Yueh Hua. Neither film comes close to the magnificence of Lau Kar-leung’s MAD MONKEY KUNG FU.

LEGENDS OF KUNG FU VOL. 2

• FISTS OF FURY 3 (1979) – Typical Bruceploitation pic stars Ho Chung-tao (aka Bruce Li). The talented Bruce Tong co-stars along with legendary Shaw Brothers character actor Ku Feng.
• STRUGGLE THROUGH DEATH (1981) – A terrific prison fu flick starring superkicker John Liu as a fighter who battles his way out of a corrupt mining camp.
• IN EAGLE’S SHADOW FIST (aka NOT SCARED TO DIE) (1973) – Billed as a Jackie Chan movie, it’s actually an early basher flick starring tough guy Wong Ching, although a young Jackie makes an appearance and is credited on some databases as action director alongside Yuen Cheung-yan. The film is notable for including a cast list filled with future genre notables such as Yuen Qiu, Lau Kar-wing, Fung Hak-on, Tino Wong, and members of the Yuen Clan.
• THE MAGNIFICENT FIST (1978) – Forgettable Chinese vs. Japanese actioner stars Carter Wong but is otherwise of little interest.
• FIGHTING ACE (1979) – Solid boot-mastery from Dorian Tan protégé John Liu makes this cheap fu flick a modest success.

Outside the U.S., Hong Kong distrib Kam & Ronson releases KUNG FU POP, a film starring Fan Bing-bing and Jordon Chan that continues the trend of mixing “kung fu” with other pastimes (think SHAOLIN SOCCER), in this case dance. Love HK Film calls it a “cheesy cringe fest that still entertains.” I don’t know about that but old school fu fans will get another glimpse of genre legend Chen Kuan-tai (THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG).

Hong Kong isn’t the only territory suffering from an insatiable need to milk the successes of Stephen Chow. In Japan, Geneon Entertainment is releasing SHAOLIN GIRL on DVD. It stars Kou Shibasaki as a lacrosse-playing, Shaolin-trained heroine who is out to save her grandfather’s martial arts school. With Chow as executive producer and co-starring roles filled by a couple of Chow’s frequent cast members, the film has been marketed as a spin-off from SHAOLIN SOCCER.

Since I haven’t covered home video for several weeks I’ll recap quickly to point out a couple of noteworthy releases that came out in August. Last week, Sony Pictures put out REDBELT, a highly-recommended martial arts drama from writer-director David Mamet and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as an MMA instructor with an honorable warrior spirit who is caught up in a dishonorable world of prize fighting. Magnolia put out THE BODYGUARD 2, an action comedy sequel from Thailand starring ONG BAK’s Petchtai Wongkamlao and featuring Tony Jaa in a cameo. There’s also a new director’s cut edition of Christophe Gans’ BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, a film I like to think of as a European horror actioner with the spirit of a Shaw Brothers movie. I loved the film but honestly, it was too ambitious and long in its theatrical form. Previously release in Europe and now available Stateside from Universal, this cut adds nine more minutes, apparently consisting of fleshed out drama related to the film’s love triangle.

Other recent releases include CGI-infested sword and sandal pic THE SCORPION KING 2: RISE OF A WARRIOR (Universal), gritty Korean crime actioner NO BLOOD NO TEARS (CJ Entertainment), artsy indie martial arts movie THE LAST EVE, and super low-budget actioner FIGHTING WITH ANGER which stars country music icon Willie Nelson.

Next Week:

• The Forbidden Kingdom (Blu-ray – Lionsgate)
• The Forbidden Kingdom (DVD – Lionsgate)
• The Forbidden Kingdom (Special Edition) (DVD – Lionsgate)
• House of Traps (DVD – Image)
• Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Blu-ray – Buena Vista)
• Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Blu-ray – Buena Vista)
• Rashomon (DVD – Criterion)