Fist of Fury 2 - Cheap Knock Off or Important Classic?

[shukocarl1441996347]

I've always thought that Fist of Fury II (or 'Part II' - it's full title) is an important little film, being an unofficial sequel and a damn good fu-flick in it's own right. I'm more drawn to it these days rather than it's more famous prequel and I'll try to explain:

The original and better budgeted film is basically a vehicle to show what Bruce Lee could do with more creative control. His role as Chen Chen is basically to get revenge on the Japanese who killed his master. There are some interesting characters such as Wei Ping Ao's creepy interpreter and Nora Miao's as Lee's romantic counterpart but for the most part it's about Bruce Lee getting bare-chested to kick ass. Yes, the message is clear - the villains are horrid and nasty but Chen has only time to think of his own retribution and not really about the Ching Wu students until the very end.

In comparison the sequel hammer's home the cruelty and brutal torture heaped on the Ching Wu right from the start. Bruce Li as Chen San shows up around 40 mins and witness to these acts. He's out for revenge of the death of his brother but he's also the defender of the Ching Wu members - virtually living on the street- trying to support the Head Sifu (in a more meaty and dramatic turn for Tien Feng) who has turned from a stoic leader to helpless drunk under the Japanese and in turn helping the other Kung fu schools to rally against the evil Miimoto (Lo Lieh in a rather 'Aloof' portrayal).  The fight scenes are a lot harder and more reality based (by Tommy Lee) than the main school fight choreographed by Han Ying Chieh in the original.

Bruce Li gives a nice restrained performance as Chen San - strong but not overdrawn like Bruce Lee's. As to his fighting performance, it is top notch - nicely staged but not flashy, no fake 'Bruce' yells (thank god) and a fine final face off with Lo Lieh that thankfully doesn't overstay it's welcome.

So there it is, an important little piece of Fu that deserves a bit of respect and if the negative still exists - a complete and thorough restoration should be done for us to enjoy this film again.

Edited December 16, 2020 by shukocarl1441996347

[Drunken Monk]

I prefer Fist of Fury III.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

I would say it is a decent sequel. Tommy Lee did a great job and Ho Chung Tao had really improved as a martial artist. I know Gam Ming (Tommy Lee) was really good at bringing out the best of martial artists and non martial artists.

[saltysam]

It's an excellent sequel,the first is the better movie though. It would be fantastic to see this getting a proper HD release with an original audio option. As it stands the German English dubbed DVD is the best version I am aware of. 

[Killer Meteor]

At times it's basically a Xerox of the first film (I get the Wei Ping-ao clone, but did we really need a Lo Wei clone?), but it had good fights, a dark tone and a strong personality. And it's far better than New Fist of Fury.

I watched this again last night, on my old blurry but surprisingly uncut UK VHS, and suddenly noticed that the Inspector has a different assistant depending on whether the scene is interior or exterior!

Sun Yueh - http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/image_detail.mhtml?id=9533&image_id=121805&display_set=eng

Sun Lam - http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/image_detail.mhtml?id=9533&image_id=121804&display_set=eng

Jimmy Shaw is the only credited direcor on the English VHS print, which unusually for a 70s HK movie had a full cast list at the end, but various online sites credit Lee Tso-nam with direction too.

My review - https://cityonfire.com/fist-of-fury-part-ii-1976-review-bruce-li-bruceploitation-chinese-connection-2/

[ShawAngela]

it surely is a silly idea, but there should be a boxset with Fist of fury and all its sequels : Fist of fury 2, Fist of fury 3, New fist of fury and maybe others that I'm not aware of, all uncut and restored...

[Killer Meteor]

Fist of Fury and New Fist are both owned by Fortune Star, but I don't recall ever seing them paired up together on home video.

 

FOFII is Alpha Films, FOFIII is Golden Sun.

[ShawAngela]

32 minutes ago, Killer Meteor said:

Fist of Fury and New Fist are both owned by Fortune Star, but I don't recall ever seing them paired up together on home video.

 

FOFII is Alpha Films, FOFIII is Golden Sun.

I bought a 2 DVD release in which they were both paired weeks/months ago, and I even wonder if it wasn't a Hong Kong Legends release, I don't remember.

[Killer Meteor]

Now you mention it, I think HKL did release the two films together...

Watching the FOF films again recently, I note that Fist of Fury II and New Fist of Fury share a few common actors. One of them is Yeh Hai-Ching, who plays a Chinese kung fu student in FOFII and a Japanese villian in New Fist. Either way, he gets his arm broken in both films!

[Killer Meteor]

15 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I prefer Fist of Fury III.

I found that one rather tedious until the awesome finale. Too much tomfoolery from Hon Kwok-choi, and it's one of those silly Chinese films where a character's blindness is down to too much crying!

 

It seems to have been made around the same time as another FOF clone, Bruce Le's Greatest Revenge, and shares the same director and much of the cast.

[saltysam]

I saw rumours somewhere that Tarantino has a pristine print of FOF2 and he was going to let Michael Worth release it.Heard nothing recently though. Getting info from Pearl River is really sketchy, they don't update a lot with what they have coming. That severin Bruceploitation box has been allegedly coming for years!

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

On 12/17/2020 at 8:47 AM, saltysam said:

I saw rumours somewhere that Tarantino has a pristine print of FOF2 and he was going to let Michael Worth release it.Heard nothing recently though. Getting info from Pearl River is really sketchy, they don't update a lot with what they have coming. That severin Bruceploitation box has been allegedly coming for years!

I will ask Michael, he will get back probably after Christmas.

 

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Tarantino's got it, uncut. Stay tuned. I am sure it's on the list....

[De Ming Li]

While calling it a "classic" may be a stretch it was an important and I feel necessary follow up to the original FOF. I feel that the story is more drawn out in FOF2 and a lot of the character development plays out better, also as mentioned the fights are more realistic and that gives a a greater hard hitting resonance.

[Graysman]

Guys what is the top 10 best Bruce Li movies please state yours in top order 

[saltysam]

5 hours ago, Graysman said:

Guys what is the top 10 best Bruce Li movies please state yours in top order 

1:Bruce Lee's Secret/Bruce Lee,The Man,The Myth (can't seperate)

2: Fist Of Fury Part 2

3: Soul Brothers Of Kung Fu

4: The Lama Avenger

5: Bruce & The Iron Finger

6: Exit The Dragon,Enter The Tiger

8: Dynamo

9: Deadly Strike

10: Fist Of Fury 3

Edited December 29, 2020 by saltysam

[Boards Fight Back]

I really enjoyed the story, but the picture quality is pretty bad. In fact, in the UK, they edited out the scene where Bruce Li grabs the nunchucks. But he has them on the front cover. 

[saltysam]

13 hours ago, Boards Fight Back said:

I really enjoyed the story, but the picture quality is pretty bad. In fact, in the UK, they edited out the scene where Bruce Li grabs the nunchucks. But he has them on the front cover. 

get the german Asia Line DVD.

[Killer Meteor]

19 hours ago, Boards Fight Back said:

I really enjoyed the story, but the picture quality is pretty bad. In fact, in the UK, they edited out the scene where Bruce Li grabs the nunchucks. But he has them on the front cover. 

 

On my UK VHS, the chucks were on the film, but censored on the cover!

[chen lung]

It's by no means a great film, but I do like much of it.
 I didn't like Part III.

Does anyone know of a source for the Mandarin soundtrack? All I know of are reports of multi-generation copies from VHS (possibly what this is from).

Edited February 21, 2021 by chen lung

[Django]

On 12/17/2020 at 7:43 AM, Killer Meteor said:

Jimmy Shaw is the only credited direcor on the English VHS print, which unusually for a 70s HK movie had a full cast list at the end, but various online sites credit Lee Tso-nam with direction too

Jimmy Shaw was just another name that Lee Tso Nam used! Same guy.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

1 hour ago, Django said:

Jimmy Shaw was just another name that Lee Tso Nam used! Same guy.

Eeeh, excuse me?

[Django]

3 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

Eeeh, excuse me?

That's what Tarantino said on the Pure Cinema Podcast 🤔

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

1 hour ago, Django said:

That's what Tarantino said on the Pure Cinema Podcast 🤔

That doesn't make it true.

[saltysam]

I came across a supposedly HD version of this, i expected it to be an upscale of the german DVD but just looking at the opening seconds it  seems to be a different print. Runs 99:25 and is english dubbed.