Fists of Fury Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Fists of Fury Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 15, 2016

One of the funniest private messages I’ve ever received in my tenure here at Blu-ray.com came from our site administrator, who simply sent me a nice picture of a train wreck when Shout’s Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection had to be recalled and then even that recall turned out to have an audio issue on Fist of Fury (those wanting to revisit this bit of Blu-ray drama can read “updates” in the main review and the Fist of Fury review, since this is the only time in my recollection that I had to actually take original reviews offline and re- do all of them once the recall happened, and even then I wasn’t finished). In a sign that could be seen as either bravery or foolhardiness, Shout! is now revisiting two of the Lee films in that set, offering new 4K transfers culled from the original camera negatives.

For my thoughts on the film, please see our original The Big Boss Blu-ray review.

Fists of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fists of Fury is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. As I've stated repeatedly in my reviews of re-releases, I've attempted to duplicate (or at least come close to) the first ten screenshots in our original The Big Boss Blu-ray review so that those interested can do their own compare and contrast rather than depend on my faltering descriptions. (Note that the The Big Boss Blu-ray review also contains screenshots from the recalled version--see the video section of that review for details. Also note that this release "reinstates" the 2.34:1 aspect ratio that the first Legacy version had, rather than the 2.35:1 of the replacement version.) I gave The Big Boss one of the higher video scores in the Legacy collection, and while there are definite improvements in this release, perhaps because I found the first version among the more generally pleasing in the first set, I wasn't as bowled over by the upgrades here as I was with regard to The Chinese Connection. Once again, there's noticeable improvement in the general look of the palette, with better suffusion and more natural looking colors, though as was the case with The Chinese Connection there are occasional fluctuations in density and color space. Grain resolves naturally and has a more organic appearance than the somewhat light (and perhaps filtered) look of the first (second?) release.

Fists of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fists of Fury offers the following audio options (this release repeats some of the menu listing errors of the original release, the actual codecs are shown in parentheses):

• Original Mandarin Mono (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• English DTS Mono (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Cantonese Mono (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Rare Original English Dub Never Heard Before (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Bonus Mandarin Mono Audio Mix (Dolby Digital 2.0)

With the exception of the Bonus Mandarin Mono mix, this release repeats the same audio options discussed in our The Big Boss Blu-ray review. As a self-admitted non-expert in Chinese language, I can't authoritatively comment on the bonus Mandarin mix, though I do have emails into various contributors to this release. If/when they respond with any relevant information, I'll post an update to this review. I have upped the audio score to reflect the added option, however.

Fists of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release ports over all of the supplements detailed in our original The Big Boss Blu-ray review, and adds a new commentary by Asian film expert Brandon Bentley. Bentley is quite informative throughout the commentary and is a self-confessed obsessive about the film and Lee in general, easily giving background on things like the score, different language versions and various other technical aspects.

Fists of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As I mentioned in our original The Big Boss Blu-ray review, this isn't prime Bruce Lee, but Lee fans probably won't care all that much. This new release offers better video and an enjoyable new commentary, and at least for diehard Lee fans comes Recommended.