Fist of Fury: Sworn Revenge Dubbed & Spec Edition

Amazon.com

Most kung fu epics succeed or fail on the spectacle of their fight scenes, but Chinese TV movie First of Fury: Sworn Revenge is more engaging because of its rapidly paced story. After his family is murdered by marauding bandits, hot-headed farm boy Chen Jun (Donnie Yen from Iron Monkey and many other Hong Kong action adventures) takes his surviving little sister to the big city of Shanghai, where they get caught up in a web of gangsters, corrupt businessmen, and mysterious women. The mix of historical epic and sheer melodrama, with its dizzying changes of fortune, is like a kung fu version of Charles Dickens. The narrative loses some steam in the second half (of almost four hours), when Chen Jun joins a martial arts school that gets torn apart by envy and pride, but Yen remains engaging and the action comes regularly. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

It's Ok, but the whole TV series should have been released instead.......2007-03-19

This is actually an edit of the 25 episode TV series Donnie Yen starred in called Fist of Fury. I wanted to point that out because the previous reviews thinks this is a standalone movie or gives that impression. This is not the case. This is essentially a part 2 to condensing the TV series. Think of the recent 'recap' DVDs put out for shows [most noted, Heroes]. Part 1 is Fist of Fury: Sworn Revenge. I give this 4 out of 5 because the series was a stage for Donnie Yen's range to shine through early in his career as an actor. I recommend this for any recent Donne Yen fan [especially in light of recent films SPL, Dragon Tiger Gate and the upcoming Flashpoint formerly called City With No Mercy] or fans that haven't seen his TV work. The commentary is a nice bonus for fans of hearing how scenes were put together and the ideas for doing what they did. If you can, try to get ahold of the actual full 25 eps. Pretty sure eng subbed versions are really rare.

Extremely Disappointing - Donnie does "Dis" Service.......2006-08-05

Out of all the Huo Yuan Jia and his student Chen Zhen films - this is by far the worst. I am so glad that Donnie has come to be a much better actor - it's a wonder anyone would cast him after this role... bad acting overshadowed his kung fu talent. The saddest part - this movie had a large budget and still couldn't compare to any of the old movies or series. Worse there is NOTHING original about this version - NOTHING. A matter of fact if you have seen the Bruce Lee version you may notice some of the same camera angles!! PS Chen Zhen never had a Japanese girlfriend (in case you were wondering). All I can say, in the words of Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen) "WOOOOOO OOOO WO OW WOO - Stay away!"

An insult to Bruce.......2006-01-16

After Bruce Lee's death, there were a motley crew of imposters trying to jump on the fame band wagon of the "Dragon", there was Bruce Le, Bruce Li and Dragon Le, some were good most were corny, but they were given some note of credibility; to an occidental audience due to the well known actors who worked with them in these films, (this is what made Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle a hit, by using wen Wo Ping as choreographer and veteran actors and real masters like Chiu Chi Liang and Yuen Wah.
The most incredible thing about Bruce Lee is that some of his fight movements had to be slowed down in order to be visible to the audience,
hence shooting scenes were the camera is obviously speeded up cheapens the integrity of the kung fu, such as in this mediocre flik and the overated Iron Monkey.

A TRUE Bruce Lee Tribute.......2005-04-22

I finally got my hands on Donnie Yen's Fist of Fury: Sworn Revenge, which was pushed as a prequel to Bruce Lee's Chinese Connection and his own version of Fist of Fury, and I was breathless behind the storyline, the colorful characters, the Cantonese w/t English subtitles setup(authenticity), the special affects and the action. What we have here is an awesome foundation for the storyline feautured in Bruice Lee's Fist of Fury(Chinese Connection). However, the only reason I gave it a 4 out of 5 was because: (1)to quote another post, it did look more like a day time soap than an actual kung-fu flick, but with all the action, the setup becomes obsolete(lol), (2)Sworn Vengeance is somewhat of a prequel and companion to Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury, but is a much better companion to Donnie Yen's Fist of Fury considering the fact that Yen's FOF features more prior to the death of Chen's master before the famous burial scene(TEACHER! TEACHER!!!), and (3)While I enjoyed the efx, it DID look like they were fast fwd'g the action to make it look like Yen was faster than he was. Nonetheless, we have a REAL, modern day tribute to Bruce Lee's work in Fist of Fury. However, Sworn Vengeance is more of a companion to Yen's FOF than to Lee's...for a TRUE companion to Bruce Lee's Chinese Connection(Fist of Fury) I STRONGLY recommend Bruce Li's Chinese Connection 2(Fist of Fury 2). I also recommend Fist of Legend(Jet Li) which is another modern remake of Fist of Fury, but with a different twist. But to make a long story short...Fist of Fury:Sworn Vengeance + Fist of Fury = SUPERB!!! Bruce Lee would be proud!

fist of fury.......2004-09-11

It;s supposed to be an awesome TV series about Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury" ( "Chinese Connection" in US) played by Donnie Yen. I saw the whole series on TV. But cramping it into one 2 hour movie?!! it's not easy at all. The story line is still good (of course it's still way far if you compare it with the real 27 series/ episodes) but you can catch the resumed story. Fighting scenes are awesome but I agreed that they fastforward it as about 2-3XX on your DVD. Donnie is fast but not that fast. He was a world Tai Chi Champion. I love him in certain way he's better than Bruce Lee, in other ways, Bruce Lee is much better than him, so he just did that movie coz he appreciate Bruce Lee and Chen Jen legend. It's a tribute to Bruce Lee. Not trying to make a copycat at all. So just enjoy it as the movie itself, don't compare it to Fist of Fury by Bruce Lee (Chinese Connection), Jackie Chan (The New Fist of Fury) or Jet Lee (Fist of Legend). They all have their own positive and negative side.
I just dissapointed with the back cover of this DVD, the show the scenes which is not in the DVD at all. They are the Korean kickboxer and Chen Jen's senior who is jealous to Chen Jen. That was two great fighting scenes in this movie but the just hook me up on the back cover, I didn't find it at all in the movie.
Overall if you don't see the TV series, don't judge Donnie Yen and this movie, this is a pretty good movie. Thanks.

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