Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 14, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Ronin Flix's release of Jet Li Double Feature: The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2.

Chinese history and lore are filled with tales of the exploits of any number of noble warriors, of both the actual and fictional variety. Wong Fei-hung is one of the more notable characters of this type, and as any fan of martial arts movies probably knows, he has been the focal point of a glut of both film and television versions of his life, including the memorable Once Upon a Time in China franchise, which helped to make Jet Li into an international superstar. A year after Once Upon a Time in China lit up cineplexes, Li returned to portraying at least a quasi-historical figure in the form of Fong Sai- Yuk, a character who himself has been featured in a rather large number of entertainment properties over the years. Fong Sai-Yuk's tether to an actual historical figure may be at least a bit more questionable than the inarguably real Wong Fei-hung (no matter how improbable some of the films and television properties about Wong may have been), but that perhaps gives an implicit permission to stray from any perceived historical record to simply deliver a lot of action interspersed with at times pretty broad comedy.

The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk is hugely enjoyable, but that aforementioned tether to historical fact is probably pretty much non existent in this enterprise, which comes curiously close to French farce at times or maybe even some of Shakespeare's "cross dressing" comedies in terms of mistaken identities and star crossed lovers. Fong (Jet Li) is on the hunt for a woman he more or less falls in love with at first sight, but there are a number of intermediary obstacles that of course intrude, including some gender bending misunderstandings that lend the proceedings a decidedly comic air. There is unsurprisingly a quasi-political subtext in the tale as well, as Yong comes to understand his family's legacy of "standing up to The Man". Corey Yuen contributes some typically spectacular fight choreography which definitely is one of the highlights of this film.

This film received a prior release on Blu-ray under one of its many alternate titles from the late, lamented Dragon Dynasty imprint, and those wanting a more complete plot recap are encouraged to read my The Legend Blu-ray review of that release. That review also provides an opportunity to compare some screenshots for those who may be interested.

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Ronin Flix with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. It's always kind of a personal archeological expedition for me to go back and revisit reviews I wrote over a decade ago, and in that regard I wasn't particularly gobsmacked by the Dragon Dynasty release (I had forgotten that their very first releases were actually interlaced, as I mention in my review of their release of this film, which was one of their first progressive presentations back in the day). This is apparently a newer master as evidenced by it being in its proper aspect ratio (the Dragon Dynasty release was in 1.78:1), and it offers overall a better saturated palette and at least occasionally better detail levels. As I mentioned in my review of the Dragon Dynasty release, there may simply be some issues with quality source elements, as some of the variances that hobbled that long ago release are apparent here, although arguably somewhat ameliorated, probably due at least in part to a better encode. Grain can still be widely variable and at times almost pixellated with chroma anomalies, but at other times, particularly in some more brightly lit outdoor sequences, nicely tight and well resolved. There are some passing issues with densities and saturation, some of which are due in part to momentary opticals.

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk features Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options (the Dragon Dynasty release offered lossy Dolby tracks in either 5.1 or 2.0, though I frankly can't recall right now whether it was 2.0 Mono, before we started delineating that option, and I couldn't find my Dragon Dynasty disc to check). One thing noticeable if you choose to toggle between the tracks is that each version offers a different score. The music in particular sounds more vivid on the English track, where it attains a bit more full bodied sound overall, but in terms of general amplitude and mix, the two tracks are really pretty interchangeable in my estimation. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly in both languages, and some of the intentionally goofy sound effects reverberate well in both versions as well. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Ronin Flix has packaged The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk 1 and The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk 2 together on one disc. After an individual film has been selected, the following supplements for this film are accessible:

• Hit Hard and Fly High (HD; 20:56) is an interview with director and fight choreographer Corey Yuen Kwai. Subtitled in English.


• The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword (HD; 13:09 is an interview with writer Jeff Lau. In English, but subtitled perhaps due to Lau's accent.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:46)


• Commentary by Chris Poggliali, co-author of These Fists Break Bricks and Frankie Balboa is accessible under the Audio Menu.

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk by any of its many names would still be as much fun, and as the commentary on this track mentions, it's kind of buoying to see Jet Li smile so much in this film. This release improves on the technical merits of the Dragon Dynasty release, if it still has some passing issues in the video department. This release also ports over the two interviews from the Dragon Dynasty release, but swaps out the Dragon Dynasty's excellent Bey Logan commentary for another interesting but probably chattier and less contextual analysis. Recommended.