|
|
|
Fist of Fury
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - Australia - Umbrella Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (5th March 2022). |
|
The Film
 "Fist of Fury" (精武門) (1972) Master Huo Yuanjia, the leader of the Jingwu School of martial arts, suddenly passed away from an unexpected illness. One of the students, Chen Zhen (played by Bruce Lee is convinced that his master was killed by rivals rather than dying from the flu as the medical report suggested. The most suspicious is the nearby Japanese dojo led by grandmaster Suzuki (played by Riki Hashimoto), whose men continuously taunt the Chinese Jingwu School as weak compared to the Japanese. Though the men of Jingwu are of peace, Chen Zhen decides to use his fists and his wits to take down the imperial rivals and find the truth. Following the production of "The Big Boss" and it's subsequent release in October of 1971, Bruce Lee became an overnight sensation, breaking Hong Kong box office records. Though there was some ill tension between him and the veteran director Lo Wei over the production, it still led them to reteam under producer Raymond Chow for a quick follow-up. This time, Lee would have more creative control over the fight choreography in his scenes, able to show his style, grace, and impact to a much higher degree than in his previous film. "Fist of Fury" took some real life elements but was not at all a true story. Huo Yuanjia was a real martial arts master from Shanghai, who was a living hero to many Chinese citizens of the late 19th and early 20th centuries for his deeds with martial arts. His sudden death at the age of 42 in 1910 caused much speculation, and it wasn't until 1989 that it was discovered that arsenic poisoning was the true cause of his death. Bruce Lee's character of Chen Zhen was a fictional character created for the film, though with Lee's portrayal and having real life characters portrayed in "Fist of Fury" blurred the lines of what was real and what was fiction. The film one of the first if not the first Chinese production to tackle the subject of colonialism and the oppression by Japanese forces in the first half of the 20th century. Shanghai's history has been a complex one, though "Fist of Fury" is not one to look at the intricaties and only focus on the simple good and evil - the peaceful Chinese and the oppressive foreign powers. In this case being the Japanese dojo along with the vicious Russian Petrov (played by Robert Baker). The story focuses on the character of Chen Zhen, who all in all is fairly selfish from the start. He's the only one who cries uncontrollably at his master's funeral, trying to stop the burial process. His fiancee (played by Nora Miao) is more or less brushed aside while he mourns his master's loss. In addition, he puts every other student at his school at risk by infiltrating the Japanese dojo again and again, beating up multiple fighters and coming away unscathed. It's clear that he is the strongest pupil in his school, as when he takes on dozens of Japanese fighters, he is able to do it with ease. On the other hand, when the Japanese students enter the Jingwu school, they are able to take down the entire place. The fights do seem quite unbalanced in these situations, but then again, this is all about handing a showcase for Lee. Audiences flocked to theaters to see Lee fight in "The Big Boss" and they were ready for more. Chen Zhen may be invincible and selfish but it isn't jus the fighting that Lee wanted to show. Rather than just a fighter with incredible skills, Chen Zhen is also great at disguising himself in various situations. He dresses as an elderly man, a telephone repairman, and a rickshaw driver in different situations to find information and get closer to his enemies. Lee was able to use his acting chops in these situations, not just with makeup and wardrobe but also changing his posture and facial expressions, which were not at all seen in his previous works in film and television. The scenes also play out comically with a touch of humor, which also satisfied Lee as well as fans. Though these scenes are nothing compared to the fight choreography seen in many portions of the film. From the onslaught of fighters in the dojo to the brilliant use of nunchakus, Lee did not rely on trampolines or trick photography to make his skills look better on camera as he didn't need them to be. He was already faster and better than anyone else around and he had the charisma, the seriousness, and the charm that audiences loved, and "Fist of Fury" did everything to put the star in place. But the weakest element of "Fist of Fury" is the story itself. The character of Chen Zhen basically has no weakness and the enemy never has an advantage. Of course, there could have been a subplot of the Japanese kidnapping his fiancee to show his emotions more, or have something equally balanced with the fighters. Even the strongest ones on the enemy's side with Suzuki and Petrov do give some excellent moves, they really are no match. In addition, why are the other students at his school so weak? Actors like James Tien had great martial arts background as seen in "The Big Boss" is sidelined as a low supporting character and is quickly beaten and bruised. The revenge story is a classic one that will never die, but there must always be something at stake. But no. Chen Zhen puts his frustration and anger first, rather than his love for his fiancee or his honor for the school. At the least it is simple, linear, consistent and gets straight to the point, but if anyone is watching "Fist of Fury" to make sense of the plot fully, then they are watching the wrong movie. It is simply a story of avenging for honor and showing off some incredible hand to hand and weapon to weapon combat that was unlike anything else on the screen at the time. And with that said, it paid off for Golden Harvest studios. Released in Hong Kong on March 22nd, 1972, the film broke all box office records that were set by Lee's previous film "The Big Boss" released only five months prior. Grossing HK$4.4 million, it became Hong Kong's highest grosser which would then be broken by Lee's next film The Way of the Dragon". The film also had amazing success internationally, with the film grossing more than US$100 million worldwide, surpassing the US$50 million grossed with "The Big Boss". It was one of the most profitable films of all time as well, with the original budget being about US$100,000. For North American audiences there was some confusion over the title. When acquired by National General Pictures, the plan was to retitle "The Big Boss" as "The Chinese Connection", as the film dealt with illegal drug trading and to capitalize off "The French Connection", the Oscar winning drug trade film from the previous year. Unfortunately due to a mixup, "The Big Boss" was given the title "Fists of Fury" (plural) and "Fist of Fury" receiving the title "The Chinese Connection". These American titles were finally reverted back to their original Fortune Star titles in 2005 with 20th Century Fox's release of a remastered Bruce Lee collection on DVD. Japan was one of the last major territories to receive the film. Due to the story's anti-Japanese setting, it was not given a release until after Lee's death, His other films were massively successful in Japan, and so the film was released posthumously with some scenes trimmed to appease Japanese audiences. It was still a massive hit, and further cemented his legendary status, while Japanese audiences saw the evil Japanese characters as cartoonish villains rather than a disgrace to culture. It would be later in the home video era that Japanese audiences would be able to see the full uncut version. While "Fist of Fury" was able to show off Lee's incredible grace as a character and a fighter, the story is the weakest element unfortunately and there's no way to dance around that fact. But for audiences wanting to see some amazing fight choreography and a simplistic vengeance story with some light humor, it doesn't come much better than this. While it's implied that Chen Zhen would sacrifice himself at the end of the film for the honor of the school, it didn't stop the legend of the Chen Zhen character. "New Fist of Fury" (1976) continued the story but with Jackie Chan starring in a successor role after the passing of Chen Zhen. "Fist of Legend" (1994) had Jet Li take on the role of Chen Zhen, and the "Fist of Fury" 1995 TV series and its sequel "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" in 2010 had Donnie Yen in the role. There have been other numerous sequels, remakes, and related films made over the period, but the original is where it all started and continues to entertain even fifty years later. Note this is a region ALL Blu-ray
Video
Umbrella Entertainment presents the film in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio in 1080p AVC MPEG-4. The transfer comes from rightsholder Fortune Star. Oh dear... What happened here? The image looks fairly awful here. Everything has an unnecessary blue hue and reds have been toned down, leaving a lifeless looking image. Skin tones look off, the whites including Lee's iconic white funeral outfit at the beginning looks close to teal rather than pure white. Not only that, the image does not look as sharp as it could be. Some shots look a bit blurry and lack detail, and sharpness is an issue. Stability is fairly good and there are few instances of damage marks, there are still some instances of wobble as well as speckles visible. Grain structure also looks bad, with digital scrubing leaving artifacts all around. Note that this is a transfer with a copyright date of 2010. Fortune Star went back and remastered their Bruce Lee films in 4K in 2016 which has been released in various countries on Blu-ray as well as 4K UHD, but unfortunately the Umbrella Entertainment release does not use the newer transfer. The 2010 transfer of "The Big Boss" looked good on the Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray, but this one unfortunately is noticeably poorer all around. This is not particularly the fault of Umbrella but because of Fortune Star's restoration. For those hoping it would be an upgrade from the previous Australian Blu-ray from Beyond Entertainment, it's unfortunately basically the same transfer as that disc. In comparison, the 4K restoration transfer as seen a number of other Blu-rays and UHDs look noticeably sharper and better, showing that it was not the fault of the original materials but in the restoration process. In addition, some like the US Criterion release has applied additional color correction to tone down the blue hue. It's unfortunate that Umbrella was not able to secure the 2016 4K restoration masters from Fortune Star for these new Bruce Lee Blu-rays, and most likely the further two Lee films will also have the same fate. The film's runtime is 106:42.
Audio
Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English Dolby Digital 1.0 As with almost all Hong Kong films of this era, all voices and effects were dubbed in post production. Therefore the actors spoke their native tongue on set, whether it was Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, or English but later dubbed into the respective languages fully for differing markets. The Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono faithfully represent the film as it played in the differing Chinese markets. The mono sound is well balanced with dialogue, music, and effects though the lossy track does have its limitations. The music cues sometimes feels crushed with the fidelity issues, and there is some occasional hiss or crackle to be heard in either audio track. For the English Dolby Digital 1.0 track, the mono sound is comparable to the Mandarin and Cantonese tracks, with similar flatness to the sound in lossy form. Though all three of these tracks are comparably better than the lossless 5.1 tracks. The Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio tracks should have the added benefit of having more channels and being lossless, but the mixes are poor to say the least. All three tracks have additional sound effects added, such as rain and punch sounds which sound anachronistic compared to the original audio track, sounding too clear in comparison. Strangely, the dialogue sounds less clear in these 5.1 mixes, especially in the English track, where it sounds fuzzy at times and lower in volume compared to the music and effects. In addition, the English 5.1 track here seems to be based off the English audio created for the Japanese theatrical version from 1974, which included a new theme song sung by Hong Kong based crooner Mike Remedios with the original theme composed by Joseph Koo. The English 5.1 track is the only one to feature the song. The English mono track has the original non-vocal version. The music may sound slightly better being spread out, but it does sound a bit unnatural overall. It's better to go with the mono tracks instead of these subpar remixes. There are optional Chinese (Simplified), English subtitles in a white font. The English subtitles are clear and easy to read and well timed, with either the Mandarin or Cantonese tracks. They obviously do not match the English dub as the translations are slightly differing.
Extras
"Bruce Lee, the Legend" 1984 documentary (89:43) This 1984 documentary produced by Fortune Star is a biography on Bruce Lee, made a decade after his passing. There are clips of Lee's films from his days as a child actor, notes on his school life, his family, his unsuccessful period in Hollywood, as well as his superstardom following his move back to Hong Kong to work for Golden Harvest. There are also many clips of Lee's leading films as well as audition footage, outtakes, and many more, along with interviews from Raymond Chow, Nora Miao, and more throughout. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles Interview with actor Yuen Wah (9:40) This vintage interview from 2005 features Yuen Wah, one of many uncredited performers in the film. He recalls his performance getting beat up in the "no dogs and no Chinese" scene, being hired for the stuntwork, the rigorous training sessions, and more. in 1080i60 AVC MPEG-4 (upscaled), in 2.35:1, in Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned-in English subtitles Interviews with Jun Katsumura, Nora Miao, Riki Hashimoto (43:25) Presented here are vintage interviews conducted by Hong Kong Legends in 1993. First is Katsumura, discussing his life as an actor, working for Shintaro Katsu, going to Hong Kong and seeing the built sets, as well as the realistic fighting sequences. Miao talks about playing the small cameo role in "The Big Boss" and working with Lee at a greater capacity for his next two films, her favorite scenes, and more. Hashimoto (whose given name is Chikara Hashimoto but also credited as Riki Hashimoto) discusses his career start as a professional baseball player and then his transition to film following his retirement, as well as his memories of working with the then-unknown Lee in the film, the differences in filmmaking in Japan and Hong Kong, and more. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4 (upscaled), in 1.85:1 / 2.35:1, in Japanese/Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned-in English subtitles Alternate Openings (7:31) Two alternate openings are presented here. First is the US version as "The Chinese Connection" which basically replaces the one text screen with the title. The names and credits remain in Chinese and English with the same graphics and font as well as the original music being intact. This is followed by the Japanese opening of the film, which has differing pre-credits text in Japanese. Instead of a prologue has nothing about Huo Yuanjia's poisoning, instead giving background about Shanghai during the period and colonialism. (Unfortunately Umbrella Entertainment failed to provide subtitles for this portion.) The credits are completely different, with a new theme song with vocals sung by Mike Remedios, as well as newly created English only credits. Strangely it misspells a name of an actor (and of all people, it was one of the Japanese actors). in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.35:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned-in Japanese subtitles for the Japanese version Alternate Ending (1:23) The Japanese ending plays here. Basically the same sequence of events, but with the vocal theme song playing and no end credits overlaid. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.35:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned-in Japanese subtitles Still Gallery (3:37) An automated silent slideshow of behind the scenes photos and theatrical posters. 1080p AVC MPEG-4 Trailers Four trailers are presented. Re-edit 4K Trailer (5:08) The original trailer, but re-created using a restored master with recreated text overlays. Ironically, since the image comes from a 4K remaster, it looks much sharper and cleaner than the main feature. There is still a blue hue visible, but not as bad. It interestingly features Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra” as a music cue which is not featured in the film at all. The trailer has been embedded below. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.35:1, in Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 with Chinese/English text English Trailer (MA Vertify Version) (4:22) Again, not sure what MA Vertify is, but here is a vintage English language trailer with the “Fist of Fury” title that has quite a lot of scratches and speckles all around. Again, “Also sprach Zarathustra” is used here for background music. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.35:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with English text Mandarin Trailer (4:21) The original Mandarin language trailer which basically plays like the above English trailer but with Mandarin dialogue and text overlays in both Chinese and English. The brownish faded colors make some of the text difficult to read, along with other visible and audible damage. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.35:1, in Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 with Chinese/English text Cantonese Trailer (4:20) Basically the same as above but this time with the dialogue being in Cantonese. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 2.35:1, in Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 with Chinese/English text There have been a large number of editions of "Fist of Fury" on home video over the years, with each format and each country receiving multiple editions with differing transfers, audio options, and extras over the years. By looking at the DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD pages on our site, it's not easy to say which edition of "Fist of Fury" is definitive as each offers something different. The Australian release from Umbrella Entertainment has a good selection of extras, though note nothing is particularly exclusive to this release.
Packaging
This is #2 in Umbrella's new "Films of Fury" series, which includes a slipcase as well as a collector's card inside, having poster artwork similar to the slipcover. The inlay, both inside and out have alternate theatrical poster artwork. The packaging mistakenly states region B only, as this is a region ALL Blu-ray. It also states that the mono audio tracks are DTS-HD Master Audio, but they are in fact Dolby Digital.
Overall
"Fist of Fury" has a weak story arc but the incredible force of Bruce Lee's lead in his second major film role takes precedent. The Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray unfortunately has a weak and dated transfer, though it has a good selection of extras that fans will enjoy.
|
|||||
|