"Fist of Fury" is an improvement over Bruce Lee's previous movie, technically speaking and the story is stronger. Above all, the martial arts choreography is simply superb and represents the best of its kind. The violence is brutal and unpretentious.
There is some history associated with this film, focusing on the hatred between the Chinese and the Japanese races. That is the reason why the plot is better than usual.
Bruce Lee plays the avenging student of a local Chinese school who seeks revenge for the murder of his teacher. He soon runs afoul of this Japanese school - or should that be the other way round? Soon, all hell breaks loose as Lee exerts his own brand of justice - in Kung Fu style!
There is added tension in the story, courtesy of the Chinese citizens being under the control of the Japanese.
Bruce Lee is a more hard-edged character in this film. He displays almost no humour or charm and is strictly business. He dispatches his enemies without a second thought and without conscience. His anger and grief surface on more than occasion and in spectacular fashion.
The fight scenes are amongst the best I've ever seen in a martial arts movie and I have watched a lot of them. Real life student of Bruce Lee - American Bob Baker - is on hand as a Russian martial artist. His fight against Lee is not to be missed. For the first time, we bear witness to the use of the nunchukus. In the hands of Lee, they are an exceptionally dangerous weapon.
At the beginning when Lee first enters the Japanese school, he says the line: We Chinese are NOT sick men," the cinemagoers went wild with applause during the film's release in 1972. The Chinese people immediately regarded Bruce Lee as their hero and who can blame them?
"Fist of Fury" proved to be so successful at the Asian box office after breaking all records, that two different sequels were made. In my opinion, neither one of them can match the original.
Review of Fist of Fury
