LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN (2011) **

You’d think a movie where Donnie Yen plays a piano player who moonlights as a superhero to take out Japanese soldiers in occupied China during The Roaring ‘20s would be a no-brainer.  In fact, the opening scene, set in WWI, promises awesomeness at every turn.  I mean once you see Yen running around the battlefield like The Road Runner and taking out enemy snipers using only a knife and some Circ de Soleil moves, you sort of expect that level of excellence throughout the rest of the picture.  Sadly, Legend of the Fist:  The Return of Chen Zhen quickly bogs down from there and becomes a sluggish snooze fest that only occasionally brushes with Kung Fu glory.

I freely admit Chinese history is not my strong suit.  I have no real frame of reference for all the historical back and forth between the Chinese and Japanese forces, so all the spying shit between them didn’t really play for me.  That said, director Andrew (Infernal Affairs) Lau didn’t do much to bring these sequences any life or urgency, and as a consequence, they fall flat.  His pacing is stagnant at times, and the action is much too infrequent to make it truly worthwhile.

How you can mess up a movie in which Donnie Yen dresses up like Kato and beats the crap out of bad guys is beyond me.  Despite the rousing opening, the fights elsewhere in the film just can’t measure up.  There are a few good action beats here, mostly having to do with Yen taking people out with his knees, Tony Jaa-style.  There’s not nearly enough of them to make a difference though.  The finale is especially lackluster.  Yen, who is amusing while wearing his little fake mustache during his secret identity scenes, gives it his best shot, but he deserves better. 

AKA:  Legend of the Fist.  AKA:  The Return of Chen Zhen.  AKA:  Chen Zhen:  The Turbulence of Jing Wu.