The Avenging Fist (2001)

Fantastic!

Absolutely Brilliant!

A Masterpiece!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

THE AVENGING FIST follows many modern-day Chinese films by having a central cast of young, attractive actors and chucking in a couple of old hands in minor scenes. The old hands this time around are former sparring partners Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, who both made many fantastic films during the 1980s. Here, they're relegated to minor, almost demeaning parts (certainly in Sammo's case) but nevertheless turn out to be the best things in the movie.The plot to this is a muddled and confused one, in which there are lots of clichéd genre elements mixed together. There's a central father-turned-evil storyline lifted straight from STAR WARS that vies for attention with some Nazi-style bad guys (are there any other?), a well-animated but inexplicable CGI beastie, tournament battles, hover boards and a Power Glove that gives its wearer lots of, well, power. The storyline really only exists to hang together a load of disparate action scenes, which are chock full of computer wizardry, mainly of the MATRIX type – slow motion, cameras spinning round. There are lots of pretty colours too but it all becomes headache inducing (rather than cool) after about five minutes.The young cast are bland and uninspiring, and once again there are no up-and-comers to look out for; nobody here shines. The best actor is Yuen Biao, appearing either behind a silver mask or as a hologram for much of the movie, and he does get to kick ass in a couple of scenes; undoubtedly these are the best in the film. Sammo is present in a sadly non-fighting role as a police detective whose watch tells him how long he's got left to live! Other than the appearance of these genre stalwarts, THE AVENGING FIST is a crashing bore.

Avenging Fist opens with the premise that the average human can only use 10% of their brain and the "Power Glove" can unlock the other 90% leading to greatly increased combat ability. However there are side-effects and designed for elite police units there is the potential for disaster if they fall into the wrong hands...The futuristic setting is based on CGI, which largely holds up to the challenge, though there are limitations such as some of the fight scenes where the moves appear blurred rather than powerful. Otherwise it is well realised.It had been many years since Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Chin Kar-lok had appeared on screen together and they appear to have aged well though their presence cannot guarantee success here. They and other well-known faces in Hong Kong cinema such as Gigi Leung, Cecillia Yip and Roy Cheung also make their presence known among the newer faces such as the uncharismatic lead Stephen Fung.The acting is surprisingly good in places, especially Roy Cheung as the lead villain and Sammo Hung making the most of his limited screen time and a rare serious role. The main trouble is the plot which is supposed to have been originally based on the Tekken computer games - rarely a good sign as the 'Tomb Raider' and 'Doom' films recently proved. The changes mean that sometimes the story makes little sense and one point seems virtually stolen from 'The Empire Strikes Back' minimising any impact it may have had.Overall, Avenging Fist is a patchy and ambitious effort that fails to reach it expectations despite the best efforts of director Yuen Kwai and his mixed cast. There are some solid performances and the film generally improves during its running time, but fans of Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao may do better looking elsewhere. Avenging Fist is certainly unlikely to bring them many new admirers.

I think Namco should have let them go ahead and use the Tekken name instead of the likeness. With that said so much could have been right, but a lot could have been wrong. The action was not that great to me but the story was pretty good.This story sums up tragedy causing a playful immature boy to become a man. I was looking for a little more coming from Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung, but again I can't gripe because they both have brought some serious action to the movie table.The CG was very good, the ending to me had to much likeness to Storm Riders in a since. The fighting was nice especially using those rag doll falls from powerful hits. The story of the Power Glove was a little lame to me but it was something you could look over.After everything that happened you can only start to feel sorry for the Hero being that he lost everything he had, but never under-estimate the power of true friends.In the end this movie was good with bad parts in it but definitely not a horrible one. If you can't tell the difference between good and bad movies this is a taste of the good.Now this is a taste of the bad Volcano High, Equilibrium, Matrix Reload, Matrix Revolution, The Invincibles, to avoid any conflict I'll stop here. But give this movie a try you will like it, or you won't.

AVENGING FIST was supposed to be the live-action version of TEKKEN the video game, but apparently no one bothered to tell creator Wong Jing about that little thing called "copyright infringement". Hence the re-title, even though the whole movie is really one big mishmash of other, better sci-fi films, mostly lifting plot points and gimmicks directly from Lucas' STAR WARS films. (i.e. Young boy accepts fate, learns skill, faces brainwashed father. Sound familiar?)Notable are the special effects, which are quite good. Some of the fights are not too bad, although they are heavily manipulated by CGI, up to a point where you can't say a single person in this movie actually knows kung fu.Sammo Hung has a funny cameo, playing up his weight angle. A good looking film, but highly unfocused and too derirative for its own good.4 out of 10.