Guest WuxiaFan Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Not to go off on a tangent here and ruin the thread, but the Thakral DVD is the only version of DM2 that I know of that is subbed (imbedded) and uncut. But... it's only partially letterboxed! It's aspect is about 1:85:1 instead on it's original 2:35:1. So in regards to picture quality and the widescreen image- if I want to just watch the action scenes I pull out the shit US release. You are correct sir, yes. I think the transfer is very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member tdb Posted January 28, 2009 Member Share Posted January 28, 2009 Not to go off on a tangent here and ruin the thread, but the Thakral DVD is the only version of DM2 that I know of that is subbed (imbedded) and uncut. But... it's only partially letterboxed! It's aspect is about 1:85:1 instead on it's original 2:35:1. Actually the subs are removable, not embedded. The picture does appear cramped on the sides. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member shaolin drunkard Posted January 28, 2009 Member Share Posted January 28, 2009 Fist Of Legend-Unseen DM2-Did not like movie overall that much but some action scenes are very good.Fight in marketplace and Lau Kar Leung vs Jackie under train are sweet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted January 29, 2009 Member Share Posted January 29, 2009 DM 2 is not first in my list but FOL is not even "in" my list... So DM 2 all the way... Yeah, I'll go with this. Has anyone tallyed this up yet? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted January 29, 2009 Member Share Posted January 29, 2009 Has anyone tallyed this up yet? I nominate Tosh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted January 29, 2009 Member Share Posted January 29, 2009 I nominate Tosh. Haha where's the poll when you need oneXD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member JazzandZen Posted January 29, 2009 Member Share Posted January 29, 2009 My choice is with DRUNKEN MASTER II. I love both Chan and Jet, but for me I give it to DM2. For me, my personal highest rated Jet Li movie is FEARLESS, and 2nd would be FIST OF LEGEND. But If I'm rating between DM2 and FOL - DRUNKEN MASTER II is the more complete movie for me. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy Fist of Legend. Jet, Kurata, and the cutie Shinobu Nakayama are all good. What Chan and Jet need to do though is collaborate for a second time and out do both DM2 and FOL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member thedirtytiger Posted January 30, 2009 Member Share Posted January 30, 2009 There was a proper wide video of DM2 with English subs released by Mei Ah in HK. I am a proud owner of the tape. Overall I think Fist Of Legend was the better film, I prefer it to Fist Of Fury, I was never a huge fan of Bruce style. The main problem with DM2 is the comedy which is too long and quite grating. But I have to agree the moment Jackie flew into action in each fight scene I was in heaven too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted January 30, 2009 Moderator Share Posted January 30, 2009 There are proper widescreen releases of DM2 (with subs)... Just no (official) dvd. I'm not sure if I've posted my opinion yet, while I love both films I'd have to give it DM2. I need to watch Fist of Legend again though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mpm74 Posted January 30, 2009 Member Share Posted January 30, 2009 DM 2 is not first in my list but FOL is not even "in" my list... So DM 2 all the way... We park our cars in the same garage. DRUNKEN MASTER II all the way. I'd rather eat 5-day old adobo, than watch FOL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Omni Dragon Posted January 14, 2020 Member Share Posted January 14, 2020 Fist of Legend 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member sym8 Posted January 14, 2020 Member Share Posted January 14, 2020 Drunken Master 2 all day,felt the undercranking in Fist of legend let it down a little 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted January 14, 2020 Member Share Posted January 14, 2020 I recently did a podcast episode on Drunken Master II (the aim of the podcast is to get my wife and best friend into the genre) and I fell in love with it all over again. To newcomers, the comedy may seem very awkward and silly but when it comes to the action, it simply shines. With that said, I haven't seen Fist of Legend in a long, long time. I'm pretty hyped to watch it again to see how I feel about it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Rodolphe Dux Posted January 14, 2020 Member Share Posted January 14, 2020 Just now, Drunken Monk said: I recently did a podcast episode on Drunken Master II (the aim of the podcast is to get my wife and best friend into the genre) and I fell in love with it all over again. To newcomers, the comedy may seem very awkward and silly but when it comes to the action, it simply shines. With that said, I haven't seen Fist of Legend in a long, long time. I'm pretty hyped to watch it again to see how I feel about it. I have to say Fist of Legend, I just watched Drunken Master II, I still don’t like it, maybe because of the writing and directing. But it’s mainly a matter of taste, I’m not a fan of Liu Jia Lian as an actor, but I obviously have tremendous respect for his work as action director. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 14, 2020 Member Share Posted January 14, 2020 I like both of them, but I vote for Fist of legend because I love Jet Li and Chin Siu Ho in it ! And the " blind duel " with Yasuaki Kurata is great. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member CT KID Posted January 14, 2020 Member Share Posted January 14, 2020 I love them both as well and saw where I chose FOL in this thread way back in 2008. Now with so much water under the bridge my opinion has changed and have to go with DM 2. The fights just seem more powerful and it's hard to top that finale. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunksnake Posted September 2, 2020 Member Share Posted September 2, 2020 This is tough. Next to Fearless, Fist Of Legend is Jet li’s best movie. Great story performed excellently by all the cast, great setting and beautifully shot. Jet li is on form and his martial arts execution is top notch, as is Yuen Woo Pinh’s choreography. Drunken Master is probably my favourite Kung Fu Movie for many reasons, so when I discovered there was a second one I just had to see it. This proved difficult as it was not released in the UK and not every household was yet connected to the internet. A good friend finally located the Thakral DVD and when it arrived after weeks of waiting, I spent that evening in Kung Fu Heaven. I loved the setting, the (very similar to Dragon Lord) plot and the costumes the characters wore. Jackie versus Lau Kar Leung was brilliant. I was expecting a hilltop/landscape duel finale (I knew nothing about the film) so when it started kicking off in the factory I was surprised, but pleasantly so. The high impact finale was incredible to me. Drunken Master 2 wins for me. More for sentimental reasons really but still couldn’t do without Fist Of Legend. Two great movies. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member gskmeva Posted September 3, 2020 Member Share Posted September 3, 2020 (edited) Both great films in my book however let me take an alternate angle to share my opinion about both films mainly on a technical level. Cinematography: Without a doubt, DM2 wins here. DM2 was one of the last HK films to be beautifully photographed in anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 and most classic kungfu films were all filmed in this format. However, anamorphic widescreen is more expensive due to the heavier and complicated lenses. It’s also harder to focus for sharp pictures because the image needed more light and had a much shallower depth of field (hence that's why many kungfu films had a lot of focus issues - one scene sharp, next scene blurry). Even today, some directors refuse to shoot their films in anamorphic widescreen because it’s just a huge hassle. On the other hand, FOL was filmed in flat 1.85:1 format. Nothing wrong with the more TV friendly format. It's better on the budget, the lenses were a lot smaller (which allowed for more hand-held action and a variety of angles) and technically sharper. However, in my opinion, many of the 1.85:1 HK films just have a cheaper look compared to the 2.35:1 counterpart (e.g. Armor of God [flat] vs. Armor of God 2 [scope]). Music: Again, DM2 wins here. There’s just more life to DM2’s soundtrack which emphasized more with actual traditional Chinese instruments whereas FOL had more of a midi-synth soundtrack which sounded very low budget. Even after 25 years, fans can recognize many of the themes from the film. And how can I forget - DM2 had an epic ending theme song sung by Jackie whereas FOL had none. Sound design: DM2. In my opinion, FOL’s sound design wasn’t that great (and I’m talking about the original Cantonese/Mandarin version). You’re probably thinking that all kungfu films sound fake so what am I talking about. However, even when kungfu films use exaggerated sound effects for punches and kicks, you can still make fake sound effects sound good. However with FOL, it seems like they ran out of time or were limited in their effects library because every punch and kick just repeated the same exact sound over and over and there wasn’t much of a variety. Anyway, final answer for me is: DM2. Edited September 3, 2020 by gskmeva 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunksnake Posted September 3, 2020 Member Share Posted September 3, 2020 (edited) 9 hours ago, gskmeva said: Both great films in my book however let me take an alternate angle to share my opinion about both films mainly on a technical level. Cinematography: Without a doubt, DM2 wins here. DM2 was one of the last HK films to be beautifully photographed in anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 and most classic kungfu films were all filmed in this format. However, anamorphic widescreen is more expensive due to the heavier and complicated lenses. It’s also harder to focus for sharp pictures because the image needed more light and had a much shallower depth of field (hence that's why many kungfu films had a lot of focus issues - one scene sharp, next scene blurry). Even today, some directors refuse to shoot their films in anamorphic widescreen because it’s just a huge hassle. On the other hand, FOL was filmed in flat 1.85:1 format. Nothing wrong with the more TV friendly format. It's better on the budget, the lenses were a lot smaller (which allowed for more hand-held action and a variety of angles) and technically sharper. However, in my opinion, many of the 1.85:1 HK films just have a cheaper look compared to the 2.35:1 counterpart (e.g. Armor of God [flat] vs. Armor of God 2 [scope]). Music: Again, DM2 wins here. There’s just more life to DM2’s soundtrack which emphasized more with actual traditional Chinese instruments whereas FOL had more of a midi-synth soundtrack which sounded very low budget. Even after 25 years, fans can recognize many of the themes from the film. And how can I forget - DM2 had an epic ending theme song sung by Jackie whereas FOL had none. Sound design: DM2. In my opinion, FOL’s sound design wasn’t that great (and I’m talking about the original Cantonese/Mandarin version). You’re probably thinking that all kungfu films sound fake so what am I talking about. However, even when kungfu films use exaggerated sound effects for punches and kicks, you can still make fake sound effects sound good. However with FOL, it seems like they ran out of time or were limited in their effects library because every punch and kick just repeated the same exact sound over and over and there wasn’t much of a variety. Anyway, final answer for me is: DM2. On the subject of sound/audio, Drunken Master 2’s Original score is one of my favourite Martial Arts movie scores ever. But the Dimension remix is horrendous! What were they thinking?? Not only that but they added their own Foley effects which were awful and completely ruined the timing and rhythm of the fight scenes. Fist Of Legend on the other hand had a rather forgettable original score. I’m going to be hated here, but for once I actually prefer the Dimension score and their Foley effects to the original for this particular movie. Edited September 3, 2020 by Drunksnake 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member gskmeva Posted September 4, 2020 Member Share Posted September 4, 2020 15 hours ago, Drunksnake said: On the subject of sound/audio, Drunken Master 2’s Original score is one of my favourite Martial Arts movie scores ever. But the Dimension remix is horrendous! What were they thinking?? Not only that but they added their own Foley effects which were awful and completely ruined the timing and rhythm of the fight scenes. Fist Of Legend on the other hand had a rather forgettable original score. I’m going to be hated here, but for once I actually prefer the Dimension score and their Foley effects to the original for this particular movie. I second with you on that about Fist of Legend. Not sure what happened on the original production but I've always thought the Dimension score and foley effects were somewhat superior to the original (even with a passable English dub where they tried to lip sync with the lip movements of the actors when the original Cantonese didn't even sync up in the first place - LOL). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AbeRudder Posted September 4, 2020 Member Share Posted September 4, 2020 Hot take: I actually don't think the fights in fist of legend are that amazing...they're not bad or anything but all the undercranking, wired shots and excessive doubling for jet take it down a notch. I found the choreography to be pretty generic and uninspired too. When you watch jet in martial arts of shaolin and compare it to his 90s stuff it's just a world of difference. Billy chow also looked really stiff and cumbersome too which is uncharacteristic of him. As for dm2, the plot is thin and the comedy is not the best but it has the some of the best fights ever put to screen imo so it's an easy choice for me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praying Snake Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 I watch Fist of Legend at least once every year. The intensity in the fight is just mind blowing. DM2 is awesome, and one of JC best, however I do consider FoL the best martial arts movie of all time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 6, 2021 Member Share Posted June 6, 2021 On 10/20/2008 at 4:19 PM, Guest Markgway said: Film - Fist of Legend Action - Drunken Master II I think the story in DM II would have been more inspired had Jackie decided to turn it into a Project A spin-off where Sammo and Biao return as their characters from Project A. This would have been like that time when Wong Jing made a movie that was a sequel to both God of Gamblers and All for the Winner. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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