Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (simplified Chinese: 精武风云－陈真) is a 2010 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Andrew Lau. The film is a continuation of the 1995 television series Fist of Fury, with Donnie Yenreprising his role as Chen Zhen, a role made famous by Bruce Lee in the 1972 film Fist of Fury. Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is set during the Second Sino-Japanese War in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, seven years after the events of the series. Principal photography for the film began in November 2009 and ended in early February 2010; filming took place in Shanghai. The film was shown out of competition during the opening night of the 67th Venice International Film Festival and 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 23 September 2010.

Story begin with Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is set in Shanghai before the Second Sino-Japanese War, seven years after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after avenging his teacher (Huo Yuanjia) in Fist of Fury. A mysterious stranger arrives from overseas and befriends a local businessman and owner of a prominent nightclub frequented by foreign dignitaries. That man is Chen Zhen in disguise, who is part of the local resistance. Disguising himself as a masked fighter(based on the Green Hornet sidekick Kato) by night, Chen foils the plans of the Japanese to assassinate the son of a local Warlord(General Zeng) who has been collaborating with the Japanese and place the blame on a rival Warlord(General Zhuo), thereby causing civil war and aiding the subsequent Japanese invasion. With the operation foiled, Tokyo sends a death list of 100 names to the Colonel in charge of intelligence operations in China, to be killed within a month. To smoke out the masked hero who foiled their operation last time, the Japanese leak the death list which causes panic among the populace, and pay a visit to the nightclub where Chen Zhen, disguised as his dead comrade Qin Tiansheng, is masquerading in the day as a partner of Master Liu, the nightclub owner and an influential businessman. As Chen Zhen looks nothing like his dead comrade who used to wear spectacles, the Japanese suspect of him of being the masked warrior and challenge him to save as many people as possible. Most of the people on the death list refuse to leave, and have to be forced to leave by Chen Zhen's friend who is an Inspector in the ineffectual, British controlled police force, and while Chen Zhen saves many of those on the death list, he is unable to save everyone in time. Eventually the Colonel's younger brother leads a team of killers to kill the editor of the Shanghai Times, Chen Zhen's friend and comrade in the resistance. Chen Zhen arrives in the nick of time to see his friend killed right before his eyes and avenges him by killing all of the Japanese on the scene. Meanwhile Chen Zhen is pursuing a romantic relationship with Kiki, one of the nightclub hostesses, whom is actually a Captain in the Japanese army and one of their best spies. However Kiki starts to have conflicting feelings due to her love for Chen Zhen and does not inform the Colonel of Chen Zhen's real identity and Chen Zhen eventually figures out who the spy in the nightclub is after noticing that Kiki always orders a particular brand of cigarettes even though she does not know how to smoke, and warns her to immediately leave Shanghai. At this point, the Colonel, suspecting Kiki's loyalty, kidnaps the girlfriend of General Zeng's son and forces Kiki to kill her, even though they are both close friends. The incident is blamed on General Zhuo and General Zeng, backed by Japanese troops attack General Zhuo's forces, starting the second Sino-Japanese war. Eventually the Japanese simply kidnap Chen Zhen off the street in broad daylight and torture him at the Japanese Head Quarters. At the same time, Chen Zhen's comrades in the resistance, together with Chen Zhen's sister and his Inspector friend, stage a raid on the Japanese Headquarters and suceed in causing serious damage with the use of fire and explosives. As Chen Zhen has taken pictures with his comrades before, the Japanese are able to easily track down and have them hanged in public, while the Colonel rapes Qin Tiansheng's sister(albeit misunderstood her as Chen Zhen's biological sister). Chen Zhen is thrown out of a car infront of the nightclub and is comatose for many days while he heals from his injuries. With the Japanese invasion underway and General Zhuo killed in action with his forces in full retreat, there seems to be nothing the resistance can do to preventing the Japanese from occupying Shanghai. However the Colonel sends Kiki, now clad in a Japanese army uniform, to the nightclub to issue a challenge to fight Chen Zhen in martial combat at the Hongkou Dojo, the same one that Chen Zhen defeated in Fist of Fury. Chen Zhen accepts the challenge and defeats all the students of the Dojo, before facing the Colonel in one on one combat, which he wins. Although the Japanese eventually occupy Shanghai, Chen Zhen continues fighting as part of the resistance.

Kiki~