Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

R

Released Apr 22, 2011

1 hr. 45 min.

Action

Drama

List

47%

36 Reviews

Tomatometer

53%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Chen fakes his death and returns as a caped crime fighter.

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Watch Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen with a subscription on Netflix, rent on Fandango at Home, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Apple TV.

Audience Member

How do you make a sequel to Bruce Lee's Fists of Fury? You turn the character of Chen Zhen into a Kung Fu superhero that, based on his costume, asked the question what if Kato was the lead and not the Green Hornet? Donnie Yen does his best to honor a legend of Martial Arts film in Bruce Lee while cementing himself as the premiere star of the genre. Yen's Chen Zhen is fighting the Japanese invasion of China with tremendous fighting skills and an army of supporters within the community. When Japan tightens it's grip the audience isn't spared the gory results. The Death List section of the movie brings the stakes of the fight against this invasion front and center sparing none of the gory details. The strengths of the movie are in its's energetic choreography, the pulp hero tone of the film that moves it along a brisk pace, and a view of the inspirational power of the hero showing us young children dressed up like the "Black Mask" fighting the evil Japanese invaders and one point even catching and tying up some soldiers during their push to control the city. Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is an enjoyable watch. It would welcome addition to any Kung Fu movie fan's library.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Liam D

A real disappointment but it's not awful This Thriller is a major underwhelming sequel to Fist of Legend but as a normal action movie it's fine

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/08/21

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Audience Member

Overall enjoyable movie. Donnie Yen is consistently watchable and adept at capturing your attention as a viewer. The anti-Japanese sentiment and struggle in pre-War China is very engaging here. The main issue is that most of the fighting is done with cinematography that doesn't bode well for the real martial arts fan. Very blurry, shaky, and hurried. However, the last 15 minutes contains redemption in this area. The film pays much tribute to the work of Bruce Lee in an interesting way.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Really pretty bad. No character building, exaggerated moves and just all round cringe w a lot of bits that don't seem to connect

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's hard to believe they obviously spent so much money on this production yet were so careless about keeping it authentic. There were more anachronisms than you could shake a chopstick at. The German Army did not outfit its soldiers in World War I in spiffy, spotless brown uniforms. They wore battlefield gray, same as in WW2. Likewise, the French Army did not wear the helmets of British soldiers. The bulk of the movie is supposed to take place in Shanghai in the 1920's, yet whenever we see an automobile, it's an American make from the late 1940's. I'm sure other viewers could pick up even more.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not the best Donnie Yen flick. Opens well but moves quite slowly. There are some good fight scenes though.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Andrew Lau Wai-Keung

Director

Donnie Yen

Chen Zhen

Shu Qi

Kiki

Anthony Chau-Sang Wong

Liu Yutian

Yasuaki Kurata

Chikaraishi's father

Shawn Yu Man-Lok

Actor

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David Edelstein

New York Magazine/Vulture

There's too much lustrous-hued loitering and too few martial-arts set pieces. This isn't another disposable B movie, though.

May 2, 2011

Full Review

Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

What appears to be going on behind the scenes is a distinctly anti-Japanese/anti-English nationalistic fervor disguised as historical action slugfest.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 29, 2011

Full Review

Doug Knoop

Seattle Times

It's all a big cinematic jumble and, quite frankly, an expensive-looking mess.

Rated: 1.5/4

Apr 28, 2011

Full Review

Ed Travis

Hollywood Jesus

This could be best Kung Fu film made in the last 10 years.

Apr 9, 2020

Full Review

Jay Antani

Cinema Writer

Adroit editing, camerawork and staging keep in step with Yen's formidable martial arts mastery, showcasing a talent on par with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 27, 2012

Full Review

Jeremy Heilman

MovieMartyr.com

The movie only really comes to life when there's fighting on screen, which is unfortunate, if not entirely unexpected.

Rated: 47/100

Jul 13, 2011

Full Review

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Synopsis

Chen fakes his death and returns as a caped crime fighter.

Director: Andrew Lau Wai-Keung
Executive Producer: John Chong, Wang Chang Tian
Screenwriter: Gordon Chan
Distributor: Variance Films
Production Co: Basic Pictures, Enlight Pictures, Media Asia Films Ltd. [hk]
Rating: R (Strong Violence|Some Language|Martial Arts Action)
Genre: Action, Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 22, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $48.4K

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