FIST OF FURY (1972)
Films Of Fury #2
Blu-Ray & Collector's Postcard
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: M
Duration: 107 Minutes
Audio: English, Cantonese and Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1 & 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Wei Lo
Cast: Bruce Lee, Nora Miao, Riki Hashimoto, Robert Baker, Tien Feng, Paul Wei, Monica Yi, Chung Hsin, and Haw Ying Chien
Audio: English, Cantonese and Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1 & 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Wei Lo
Cast: Bruce Lee, Nora Miao, Riki Hashimoto, Robert Baker, Tien Feng, Paul Wei, Monica Yi, Chung Hsin, and Haw Ying Chien
Later at a memorial for Ho Yuan-chia a rival Japanese martial arts school arrives with a smug translator (Ping-Ou Wei, Hapkido), he presents to them a tablet thar reads “The Sick Nation in Eastern Asia”, disrespecting the deceased teacher and attempting to engage the mourning students with taunts. They bottle-up their anger and stay true to their late mentor's teaching though, choosing not to give in to the taunting. Chen looks like a powder keg being taunted by a lit match, ready to explode, but still he manages to maintain control over his feelings.
Not for long though, after the memorial Chen storms the Japanese martial arts school and lays waste to at least two dozen of students in an all-out assault that features Lee in his finest form, dripping with anger as he unleashes a kung fu beat down of epic proportions, utilizing nun chucks to whack feet and crack skulls!.
His actions only further fuel the Japanese to attack the Chinese school, there a strong sense of nationalism throughout the film, with Lee's quest for vengeance a pretty naked attack on the Japanese occupation. Eventually Chen through his unbridled vengeance kills a several people, afterward hanging their corpses from a light post outside the school, and must go into hiding and Chinese authorities telling the school if they don't turn him in they will be held responsible for the deaths,
Things are played pretty straight but there are some scenes of slapstick humor, like a scene of Lee grabbing hold of a pair of Japanese combatants and twirling them around like fan blades, with obviously fake dummies as stand-ins is amusing, as is the sight of Lee lifting a rickshaw by the handles with someone in it and throwing it down an alleyway, smashing it against the wall. The somewhat comedic interludes don't distract from the ass-kicking though and the tone holds together quite well. Even Lee's character going undercover to get to who masterminded his teachers death doesn't derail it, with Lee posing as the aforementioned rickshaw driver, an elderly newspaper street vendor, and a buck-toothed telephone repairman, which gives the flick a fun spy-game edge at certain points.
The finale is a terrific Bruce Lee dust-up with Chen taking of the Japanese school's head honcho, Hiroshi Suzuki (Chikara Hashimoto, The Great Yokai War), who has a very uneven mustache I found so distracting. He also has to face-off against Suzuki's Russian henchman (Robert Baker, Way of the Dragon), whom he dispatches with his focused-anger, its quite a display of Lee's precise and kinetic style of Kung fu, his sinewy body delivering blow after blow of hate-filled vengeance, all the while delivering those patented vocalizations that focus his energies into volcanic outbursts of ass-kicking and ferocious death-blows. This is absolutely one of my favorite Bruce Lee flicks, love that nihilistic ending!
Audio/Video: Fist of Fury (1972) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen as the second release from Umbrella Entertainment's new sub-label 'Films of Fury'. Its a solid presentation, while its not the most colorful film you will ever see the HD image features natural looking grain with modest depth and fine detail. Colors at times seem muted, but black levels are strong and overall its a pleasing image.
Audio comes by way of both English, Mandarin and Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles. I preferred sticking with the English 2.0, it's a bit shrill at times but I liked the directness of the mix and felt it was the most impactful. The other 2.0 and 5.1 options are also shrill and lack dynamic range, and the surrounds options sound quite thin and forced.
Onto the extras, we get the '84 doc Bruce Lee, The Legend that explores his childhood and early years, and is peppered with some fantastic fight clips from his films. We also get a 10-min Interview with actor Yuen Wahand, a 44-min Interview actors Jun Katsumura, Nora Miao, Riki Hashimoto. The disc is buttoned-up with 8-min of Alternate Openings, a brief 1-min Alternate Ending, 4-min Still Gallery and 17-minutes of Trailers in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
The single-disc release arrives in a clear oversized keepcase with a 2-sided sleeve of artwork and a limited edition slipcover with presentable artwork on both the front and back, both the sleeve and slipcover are numbered with the Films of Fury branding. Inside you will find a limited edition collector’s postcard-sized art card, based on the original theatrical poster for the film.
Special Features:
- Feature Documentary: Bruce Lee, The Legend (90 min) HD
- Interview with actor Yuen Wah (10 min) HD
- Interview actors Jun Katsumura, Nora Miao, Riki Hashimoto (44 min) HD
- Alternate Openings (8 min) HD
- Alternate Ending (1 min( HD
- Still Gallery (4 min) HD
- Re-edit 4K Trailer (5 min) HD
- English Trailer (MA Vertify Version) (4 min) HD
- Mandarin Trailer (4 min) HD
- Cantonese Trailer (4 min) HD
Another solid release from Umbrella Entertainment's fledging Films of Fury sub-label, top-notch stuff, and we can look forward to the third volume with Bruce Lee's The Way Of The Dragon (1972) on tap!
Screenshots from the Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray:
