Rating:

6.5

AKA: Tekken, Legend of God's Fist, Legend of Tekken, Fight Zone, God of Fist Style, In the Name of Heroes, The Legend of the Fist Master

Year of release: 2001

Company: StarEast, BoB

Genre: sci-fi action

Running time: 96 minutes

Directors: Andrew Lau, Corey Yuen

Script: Thirteen Chan

Action director: Corey Yuen

Producers: Wong Jing, Andrew Lau, Jessinta Liu

Stars: Stephen Fung, Wang Lee Hom, Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Gigi Leung, Kristy Yeung, Chin Kar-Lok, Cecilia Yip, Roy Cheung, Ekin Cheng, Ron Smoorenburg

Rated IIB for violence

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Tekken page
Sammo Hung biography
Ekin Cheng biography
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The Avenging Fist

The Avenging Fist had some anticipation among Western viewers as the filmed version of the popular video game Tekken. Unfortunately for fans of the game, Wong Jing "forgot" to secure the rights before shooting began, and was sued by the game's creators. Of course, Wong wasn't willing to let a little thing like a lawsuit stop him, and so progressed on with a new script. Well, perhaps, "new" might be a misnomer -- this is Wong Jing after all. The Avenging Fist's story might not be based on Tekken, but it sure has a lot of similarities to another popular video game, Street Fighter II, a game Wong already used for inspiration in City Hunter and Future Cops.

Taking place in a bleak, Blade Runner-eqsue future, The Avenging Fist centers on a young man named Nova (played by newcomer Wang Lee Hom) whose father, Thunder (Yuen Biao), disappeared at an early age, and so spends his days fighting. Thunder was involved in the development of a device called "the Power Glove" (which in another Wong Jing classic, was actually the name of an old Nintendo peripheral) which enhances a fighter's "internal arts" and makes them near-invincible. An evil general known as War 21 (played by Roy Cheung, in a role swiped from the character of M. Bison from Street Fighter II) is looking to perfect the Power Glove by capturing the world's best fighters and taking their "psychic energy," and Nova and his friends become prime targets.

Well, okay, the story isn't exactly earth-shattering, but remember that this is Wong Jing and Andrew Lau -- the kings of Hong Kong "pop" filmmaking -- we're talking about here. Their collaborations are known for style over substance, and being basically brainless entertainment. While none of their movies could really be considered "artistic" or "masterpieces," at their best, they deliver solid, if unchallenging, entertainment. The big problem with The Avenging Fist that there is so little substance, so little for the viewer to care about, that it ends up feeling a bit flat and dull.

I will grant that The Avenging Fist is an incredible-looking movie. US films almost have seemed to hit a roadblock in terms of special effects -- even big-budget affairs like Arnold Schwarzengger's Collateral Damage look cheap nowadays -- but each "big" HK movie seems to be getting bigger and better in terms of visuals. The Avenging Fist is especially impressive, since HK typically has not been known for producing good-looking science-fiction movies. But just one look at the sweeping shots of the future noir city should tell you that HK can really no longer be considered a "bit player" when it comes to special effects. The fights -- aided by these effects -- are also pretty exciting. I'm not saying every movie should use CGI in the fights (in fact, I tend to not like using computers to replace real martial arts ability), but in the video game-inspired world of The Avenging Fist, it works. And, of course, this being a Wong Jing movie, some of the best looking things in the movie are the young actresses, such as Kristy Yueng and Gigi Leung (I suppose female viewers would like Stephen Fung and Wang Lee Hom, but then they also get guys like Chin Kar-Lok and Roy Cheung).

However, all the best "eye candy" in the world can't save The Avenging Fist from its' worst enemy -- the script. The movie starts out with a bang, with several fight sequences, but then slows down to a crawl as the story is ever-so-slightly drawn out inch by inch -- there are attempts to create suspense, but really any viewer should be able to see the "twists" a mile away, and so the "suspenseful" moments just become boring. Of course, there is also a romantic subplot, which is handled with all the style of your typical soap opera. There were some bits which were just unbelievably cheesy (flying around in the clouds and crud like that) that almost made me wretch and wish for the "good old days" of Ekin Cheng romancing Hsu Chi in the Young and Dangerous movies.

Though to its' credit, The Avenging Fist's finale is fairly exciting stuff and manages somewhat to make the viewer forget the crap that proceeded it. It's a bit sad really, because it shows that if it was put together right, The Avenging Fist could have been a tight 90-minute action movie. Instead, like many recent Hong Kong movies, it tries to be everything to everyone and loses something in the process.