Review of Avenging Fist, The

Introduction

I remember sitting and waiting for The Young Master to start during Hong Kong Legends recent Fight Night 2, when the trailer for The Avenging Fist played. "Cor, that looks good!", I muttered. Famous last words. But then, The Avenging Fist really DOES look good. On the outside it`s glossy, dark, hi-tech, futuristic, sci-fi and styled like a videogame comic book type thing.

Hong Kong Legends, purveyors of some top notch martial arts discs finally bring us The Avenging Fist. I love martial arts movies, but when I saw this was directed by Andrew Lau of Stormriders fame, I had a niggle of doubt. I wasn`t overly keen on The Stormriders, I thought the pace was slow and lumbering making the film plain boring. Yes it looked good, and had some good moments, but I thought the film was average at best and took two sittings to get through. So what has Mr Lau come up with this time?

Rather than echo the storyline summary, just read above, it`s exactly what it says on the back of the box.

Video

Presented with a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, this has a good looking transfer all the way through. The look of the film is very stylised and does resemble something of a videogame with its strong colours and a lot of black. In the story there`s a problem with the Earth`s atmosphere so it`s dark. And because the film contains these dark shots it can be difficult to make out some of the details. You only really notice it when you`re suddenly confronted by a bright shot and the contrast makes a welcome change. On the whole, there`s little dirt to see (not that I could see it in all that darkness!).

Audio

There`s no doubting that the sound here is good, no, make that very good. The Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack is loud, clear and almost thunderous! A healthy dose of bass never did anyone any harm and what with the vibrant visuals on offer, the audio is well up there holding its own. Dialogue is well recorded and clear, not that I`d really notice since I need the English subtitles. No complaints from me or the neighbours.

Features

Loud thumping animated menus lead us the way to a lot of extras:

Dream Warriors, the making of The Avenging Fist (55 mins) - This is an anamorphic subtitled making of the film where the cast and crew talk about their experiences on the set, working with CG and wires, director Andrew Lau talks about his inspiration and writer Chan Sap-sam talks of his difficulties in dreaming this all up. It would have been nice to get a few soundbites from Sammo Hung or Yuen Biao to round this off.

Fight Night, an exclusive look at the premiere of The Avenging Fist. (4½ mins) - This is just a short clip recorded with cast and crew members outside the premiere. Nothing really of note here except for the brief appearance of Sammo Hung.

Trailer Gallery gives us the UK Promotional Trailer and Original Theatrical Trailer. These are a little long and I think it might spoil the surprises in store, so don`t watch `em before the main feature!

Portait of an Angel: an interview with Gigi Leung (6 mins) - I have no idea what the angel reference is to but here she talks briefly about her first role in the film Full Throttle through to her other roles and talks quite generally about what she likes to do. At the end is a special message for her British fans, in English. She`s adorable...now I know why she`s called an angel! It would have been good to see this level of interview treatment for the other actors too.

Product is the usual showcase for a ton of other HKL films with trailers for: Ninja in the Dragon`s Den, Mr Vampire, Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Project A, Tai Chi Boxer, The Prodigal Son, The Scorpion King and My Lucky Stars.

I should mention that the English subtitles work well. It`s clear and legible with good timing and this is the preferred option when watching the movie. If you want a laugh, you can check out the atrocious English dub, but you`ve been warned!

Conclusion

I wasn`t sure what to expect by this. After all, Andrew Lau made The Stormriders, and I wasn`t too keen on this as a film. Since The Avenging Fist stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, I thought I just had to see this; two legendary martial arts actors whose films I really really like. Plus the Avenging Fist trailer did kinda make the film look sexy. How could I not be curious?

Sadly though ones curiousity doesn`t always pan out. This film is barely average. It`s over the top and silly with some great looking shots and possesses a strong visual style for sure, but the substance is sorely missing. I like the concept of God`s `No Access Zone` as the potential for great energy and power, but it feels like they`ve missed something really exciting in the concept. There are other themes that could have been explored but this film deals with world domination, again.

Well, they did say they wanted to make a videogame style film and they succeeded in that respect. It looks great, is a bit shallow to play in execution and doesn`t leave me with any satisfaction. Mind you, the CGI blends in almost seamlessly and is fitting for the story. There are sonic boom style effects that knock whole crowds out and these are cool, together with the Bladerunner/Fifth Element style metropolis feel to the city. So yes, there`s some nice work here, but it`s not in the storytelling so this is still a disappointing film.

The story isn`t new, doesn`t have anything original, or twist any existing idea. It`s a run of the mill power struggle between good and evil, with a few emotional bits in the family. How tiresome.

Casting seems a bit hit and miss. The mainly new and young cast here show their inexperience, particularly the hammy Lee Hom-wong as the spoiled brat, Nova. The others don`t stand out at all, but then the script hardly calls for any real acting. They simply look good in their parts. So what about Sammo and Yuen then? Sad to say that their small cameo roles here aren`t anything exceptional either and could have been played by anyone. I did enjoy the four jokes about Sammo`s `chubbiness` though, always guaranteed a smirk or two.

The action, choreographed by Cory Yuen (action director of Kiss of the Dragon and The One) is good, but needs to be edited in a more original way. The anime style with streaking colours behind the actor just doesn`t look very effective on film. Plus you can`t really see a lot of the fighting because these actors are not trained in martial arts so there are no long takes with pure fighting action. Their kung-fu is weak.

At just 92 minutes long, I can be thankful that it wasn`t longer. It`s highly predictable and doesn`t sit easily on the shelf with the other great HKL titles. Visually stunning yes, but the story needs work to make it more compelling. If you must see it, rent it, otherwise avoid.