8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Infuriated by Master Huo's brutal defeat at the hands of a Japanese master, a young martial arts student returns from studying in Japan to seek ultimate revenge.
Starring: Jet Li, Siu-Ho Chin, Yasuaki Kurata, Shinobu Nakayama, Ada ChoiAction | 100% |
Foreign | 98% |
Martial arts | 98% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0
Mandarin: Dolby Digital 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
For those of us in the West, any mention of Japanese Imperial aggression inevitably brings to mind visions of Pearl Harbor and Japan’s rapid conquest of the islands that dot the vast expanse of the Pacific that separates their island nation from the Americas. But to Eastern sensibilities, there was a long history of aggression that was focused on the direction of the sunset rather than the sunrise (quite ironic considering Japan’s soubriquet as the land of the rising sun), culminating in several occupations of China. It may seem incredible to modern audiences that tiny Japan could have invaded the behemoth that was then and still is China, but of course, not to state the obvious, things were much different in the first half of the 20th century than they turned out to be for either of these nations in the epochal years since World War II. In the late 1930’s, China, though large, was still by and large a feudal society attempting to come to terms with modern ideas and technologies. Japan, on the other hand, was highly militarized and technologically quite savvy. Japan had been threatening China for years, though 1937 saw the conflict erupt into a new round of fury, one which escalated into a long running sidebar to the “main” conflicts of World War II. Only with the surrender of Japan after the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did mainland China finally find itself free of the land of the rising sun. The second Sino-Japanese War serves as the political and social backdrop to Fist of Legend, one of Jet Li’s earlier film efforts and one which helped him attain the worldwide superstardom he enjoys currently. A remake of 1972’s Bruce Lee starrer Fist of Fury, Legend tells the story of fictional Chen Zhen, a Chinese student attending school in Japan (where he is discriminated against due to his ethnicity), who returns to Shanghai after his martial arts master dies unexpectedly.
Jet Li
Dragon Dynasty Blu's got off to a rocky start with lamentable video presentations on both 36th Chamber of Shaolin and The Killer. Luckily, that trend reversed itself fairly convincingly with The Protector, which I half wondered might be due to Tarantino's involvement with that film. Fist of Legend has no Tarantino connection (at least officially, anyway), and yet we're offered a convincing, if not quite perfect, AVC encoded 1080p transfer (yes, 1080p--looks like Vivendi finally got the message) in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. This is a very good looking transfer by and large, with beautifully saturated colors and a wealth of fine detail. Grain is completely natural looking, rather evident in some shots, but never distracting, and actually helping to give this transfer a very palpable texture. The source elements themselves have very minor issues, including passing flecks and a scratch or two. I noticed absolutely no post processing issues like edge enhancement or DNR. I'd say Vivendi is batting about .400 now with these Dragon Dynasty releases, with some points taken off for this film's source element damage, as minor as it is.
Unfortunately, no lossless audio options are offered on this Blu. Instead we get Dolby 2.0 mono tracks in both Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as a repurposed English dub in Dolby 5.1. I toggled back and forth between all three of these and found I liked the Cantonese best, though both of the Chinese tracks are plagued by some synchronization issues. Obviously this was a multi-lingual production to begin with, so ADR was probably a must. Both of the mono tracks do have a bit of the boxy sound of films much older than a vintage 1994 movie, but overall fidelity is fine, if not mind-blowing. The English 5.1 mix is a bit more spacious, as might be expected, but I actually found it somewhat off putting at times. While the surround activity is fun in the fight sequences, for the other, non-action segments (and there are lots, despite the film's pedigree), the 5.1 just seemed too artificial, as if a lacquer of reverb had been slathered onto the stems. What's really missing here, from all three choices, is that "thunk"-worthiness on the low end that a lossless option provides. Even the fiercest punches here sound anemic, not a good sign in a film which relies on sound effects to deliver visceral excitement during an action sequence.
There has been some controversy that this release was "dubtitled" instead of "subtitled," but not having seen other releases of this film, I can say that the issue really didn't bother me too greatly.
Fist of Legend arrives on Blu with the 2 disc SD-DVD bonuses intact:
Too often martial arts films are disparaged as being something akin to living cartoons. Fist of Legend is a notable exception, with an intelligent script rooted in historical truth, and an amazingly athletic performance from Jet Li. Even if you're not a big fan of this genre in general, my hunch is you'll find a lot to enjoy in this outing. If you are a fan, especially of this film in particular, you'll love the mostly excellent image and probably be willing to forgive the somewhat lackluster audio.
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