Fist of Fury (1972)

Fist of Fury (1972)

Dir. Wei Lo

Unable to silence his feelings, and in direct opposition to the wishes of his recently dead shifu, martial arts student Chen Zhen seeks direct vengeance for the death of his teacher, bringing trouble to his own front door in the process, in a socially repressed Shanghai that's being overrun by Japanese officials.

When he's not kicking (or punching) seven shades of shit out of members of a rival martial arts school, for the majority of the film Chen exists in two basic emotional states: very pissed off, or on the verge of being very pissed off. That's okay because seeing Bruce in action is the reason most of us are watching in the first place.

I don't know how many people will have a deeper knowledge of the sociopolitical nature of the relationship between the Chinese and Japanese people in the era in which the film is set, but the distrust and enmity between the two sides is given a more literal plateau within the story itself, so it should be self-explanatory.

It's not often that I recommend remakes, but the remake of Fist of Fury named Fist of Legend (1994), directed by Gordon Chan, starring Jet Li, and with choreography by Yuen Woo-ping, is really damn good. Furthermore, that film's sequel, Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (2010) directed by Andrew Lau and starring Donnie Yen as Chen is no slouch either.