Movie Review: Fist of Fury/精武門

It’s rare that a 40-year old action movie is just as good today as it was then.

But when it’s a movie starring one of the greatest action movie stars ever, it’s a lot easier.

Fist of Fury/精武門 stars Bruce Lee, and if you didn’t know that… why are you here?

Let me make something clear: I do not now nor have I ever studied martial arts.

I’m an American. We just use guns.

I think that’s important because a lot of people who  study martial arts watch martial arts movies.

So many other people assume that if you watch martial arts movies, you must practice martial arts.

Especially if you’re white.

I watch a lot of movies about hookers, but that doesn’t mean I’m peddling my ass on Temple St.

I know this is Portland St. and not Temple St. I copy-edited that sign.

I don’t know if a lot of the Rocky audience study boxing. Doesn’t matter.

Good Lord, where were we?

Ah, yes, the longevity of Fist of Fury/精武門.

One reason this movie holds up so well is because of the people Bruce Lee is hitting.

Jackie Chan, Yuen Wah, Sammo Hung and Lam Ching Ying, among others, all help make Bruce Lee look amazing because they could keep up with him.

I’m not going to talk about the story, because you’ve either  already seen it, and if you haven’t, you need to watch it your damn self.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

This movie deserves its legendary status. But it’s not perfect.

Fist of Fury/精武門 shows its age in some places. 

Bow chicka bow-wow…

It’s obvious it was made quickly, and for not a lot of money, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.

The use of blackface is a little cringe-inducing now, but hey, it was 40 years ago.

So I don’t know what excuse Donnie Yen has.

One of the things you can take away from the movie is just how good an actor and comedian Bruce Lee was.

Some of his emotional responses seem overblown, but that was the style back then.

So I don’t know what excuse Donnie Yen has.

But watching Bruce Lee in disguise is a lot of fun, because he actually plays it quite well.

These days, a lot of China films demonize Japan, and a lot of people say that Bruce Lee did it too.

I disagree.

The Japanese characters aren’t very well-defined, but none of the characters in this movie really are.

I don’t get the sense that Bruce Lee wanted people to think that the Japanese were inherently bad or evil, just that they did bad, evil things to Chinese people.

There isa difference.

So I don’t know what excuse Donnie Yen has.

The important half of the argument, to me, is that he was saying Chinese people are not the Sick Men of Asia. He was talking about Chinese pride as a quality, not as a response to Japanese inferiority.

Yes, he was better than them at martial arts, and he let them know, but I don’t get the impression he thought he (or Chinese people) were intrinsically better.

Like I said, there is a difference.

One thing that people today may not understand is just how famous Bruce Lee was even in the early 1970s, and why. His movies came out right at the beginning of what we now call Third Cinema. Politically speaking, the world was changing a lot. Colonialism was finally fading away in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

At this time, people around the world got tired of seeing the usual Hollywood heroes.

Who usually looked… like me.

They wanted to see themselves represented, or someone with whom they could more easily identify.

Bruce Lee became a global icon of social and political importance because he was one of the first non-white movie heroes.

And he beat up white people.

That may not seem very new today, but in 1972 it certainly was. 

In Africa, Latin America, and everywhere else, Bruce Lee became a hero and an inspiration.

He is literally one of the most recognizable people in the world.

It’s a shame Bruce Lee died so young, but then again… look at Jackie Chan.