Movie #288 Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen *2011*

This movie opens with a great action / karate scene.  It takes place in the early stages of WWI.  The Chinese, Japanese, French and Germans are all fighting.  The cinematography is wonderful.  It will remain so throughout the entire film.  The battle rages on and we see a Chinese soldier go down.  Another man in his battalion takes matters into his own hands and nearly single handedly wins the battle.  You get a feeling that he could have won the whole damn war.

From this point on we get a WWII spy thriller with some kung fu thrown in at times.  This movie is very political and centers in a part of the world where I have to admit that I am not very informed about their politics.  The film is very well shot and the score is interesting enough to keep my hooked. 

It stars Donnie Yen.  An up and comer in the Chinese film market.  He is also doing the Ip Man films and I think soon to break into American theaters in some action movie I heard about.  He is charming and handsome.  Sort of like a poor mans Tony Leung.

This is a good action movie, but it is bogged down by too much spy talk and political nonsense.  Imagine that, me complaining about a movie trying to tell a story not just a bunch of action scenes.

I give Legend of the Fist ★★★.