Reviewed by: cal42 Date: 07/20/2008 Summary: Best forgotten, really The initial hype on AVENGING FIST was extremely positive: if you were interested in Hong Kong action movies, this was going to be the biggie. Then, the TEKKEN license was lost and a few rumours started to break through: this isn’t going to be too good after all. It turns out that AVENGING FIST went from being the Holy Grail of Hong Kong movies to being a complete also-ran. Having now, after owning it on DVD for close to a decade, finally watched it, I can see why it fell flat on its face: despite the great special effects, the film itself is incredibly vacuous. The first impression reaction I had when the movie opened was: “uh-oh, someone’s been watching THE FIFTH ELEMENT”. While some leeway has got to be given to the makers for at least attempting science fiction (a subject quite alien to the territory), the result is still a hodgepodge of dire warnings on the future, a hackneyed “love is stronger than hate” message and wild speculations on how technology is going to be so much different from how we know it now. Sadly, the film’s entire premise is based on the enduring urban myth that we only use 10% of our brain. The remaining 90% of our brain’s capacity, the film tells us, can be unlocked with the help of a Power Glove and can give us fantastic super powers. Kong (Wang Lee-Hom) is a troubled young man who wants to buy a black market Power Glove and be just like his apparently dead father (Yuen Biao). He has serious physical potential, and his mother (Cecilia Yip) trains him when he’s not out causing trouble with his friends. There is also a pseudo-fascist dictator to be overthrown in the form of Combat 21 (Roy Cheung), who has turned Kong’s father into one of his henchmen. Policeman Dark (Sammo Hung) somehow gets mixed up in all this, despite having a premonition of his own impending death. When Kong’s mother gives him the dire warning not to use his “power moves” in public, the game is finally up: AVENGING FIST is simply an updated kung fu picture using many of the same plot devices as so many 70s actioners. The shiny new coat of CGI simply isn’t enough to disguise the more corny moments and tired storytelling. The action scenes are particularly poor, with lots of motion-blur and special effects added in. With no human element to the fight sequences, it’s damn near impossible to engage with them. I quite liked Andrew Lau’s other CGI-driven movies, but this one leaves me cold. While it is to be congratulated on trying something new, the results are paradoxically over familiar and this is one movie that must simply be labelled as a failed experiment and forgotten about. Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 03/08/2006 Summary: i thought this would be shit... yep, it has a pretty awful cover, not that that's any real indicator, and i've read some dreadful reviews here and there. still, i really kinda enjoyed it... it's the story of a pair of siblings, their dead father, some secret army, a glove that unlocks the brain's full potential and sammo hung in a silver hat. it's filled with cgi that, on the whole, looks pretty damn good for hong kong; i was suprised at just how good it did look. the action sequences are pretty cool too; i liked the mixture of stylised, cgi assisted and just plain wire-work based fighting, they seem to have got the balance just right. as for the all-star cast, sammo was good, kristy yang was a cutie, stephen fung had some great hair and yuen biao was looking a little chubby. all-in-all, i really enjoyed this; sure, it wasn't anything new and i was expecting a big daft film with dreadful effects, but it was actually an entertaining watch, there were some decent effects, the stylisation worked a treat and there were some lovely haircuts... a good, fun watch...

Reviewed by: SimonYam.com Date: 01/08/2006 Summary: Game over The Avenging Fist was crafted as an adaption of the video game Tekken, but Capcom's lawyers intervened and thus we have an "important note" at the closing credits denying its resemblance to the game. Here's an "important note" to those considering watching it: avoid this movie. An utterly unengaging CGI flick, the initial dazzle of the futuristic visuals quickly wears off, and not even a gaggle of attractive young stars or Corey Yuen's so-so action direction can save it. Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 06/12/2005 Summary: amazing that it turned out so good As I was watching this film, I was thinking the one thing it had going for it was that Kristy Yeung was in a lot of the scenes. Even with the great CGI, the hot new action stars [Fung & Wang] and the major old school Kung-fu superstars [Hung & Yuen] in the cast, the movie wasn't grabbing me. It wasn't until Ekin showed up as the young Sammo that the filmmakers won me over. What sheer genius! It was very good to see Cecelia Yip in her role as Yuen's wife. Roy Cheung is fantastic in his bad guy role. The SFX are better used here than in any recent 'big time' Hong Kong movie that I can think of. After the production history of starts ands stops this film had, it is amazing that it turned out so good. Copyright © 2003 John Crawford. All rights reserved. Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: Arshadnm6 Date: 04/12/2005 Summary: Stunning, Spectacular and Simply Movie of Year, NO it is NOT!!!!...... A Special Effect and Super Hero fighting style entrepreneur, that seems as first better than the ‘Storm Riders Trilogy’, but introductions can be deceiving. Andrew Lau directs yet another comic hero / martial arts style movie in the essence of ‘Tekken’, over exhausted with special effects, the only evident difference is the fact all the actors are under 30 years old this time. ‘Alexander Wang’ (from the quirky side-kick of Aaron Kwok in ‘China Strike Force’) stars as Nova, a hot-headed ass-kicking teenager who spends all his valuable time watching street fighter matches and lusting over a Virtual Animated Doll named ‘Erika’ (Gigi Leung, from other previous roles in ‘Hitman’ and ‘A True Mob Story’). Nova and his disobedient twin sister Belle (played by Kristy Yeung, a fourth role in Andrew Lau’s Saga of movies) are children to Auntie Wing (Cecilia Yip), whom tries to protect her children from their miserable past. Apparently years ago her husband ‘Thunder’ (played by Yuen Biao, whom also appeared in Andrew Lau’s ‘A Man called Hero’) devised a powerful type of martial arts named the obvious ‘The Avenging Fist’, which unlocks the full potentials of humans in the martial arts world. Technology has also tried to achieve this at best by inventing ‘The Power Glove’ (sounds like something invented by the Nintendo Company back from the early 1990’s). Anyway it’s effects have proven to be disastrous for anyone whom might have worn them, including Police Inspector Dark (Sammo Hung), the Evil Villain Combat 21 (Roy Cheung) and the deceased Thunder. Now Combat 21 is hell-bent on finding the two youngsters Nova and Belle, so that he can acquire ‘The Avenging Fist’ from them, only Nova can stop him achieving the full potential of martial arts and at the same time vanquish his crazy idea of world domination. ‘Wong Jing’ was the producer of the picture and it shows. The storyline is simple yet at times you do feel it can get boring, but please you must restrain from reaching for the remote at all times. Also too much CGI has been placed in the movie, which the ruins the whole idea of Martial Arts and at times all you see are the good guys and bad guys flinging powerful plasma balls at each other, like Ryu and Ken in ‘Street Fighter’. Also there are not enough bad guy’s in the movie, which leaves poor old ‘Roy Cheung’ to do most of the work making life difficult for everyone, and might I say he does a splendid god of it. We also have Stephen Fung and Chin-Kar Lok take a sort of back role in the movie, which isn’t too bad, considering most of the time they seem to be trying to hard to court Belle, but it would be nice if Stephen Fung would be given a much better role, i.e. where he starts of as a bad guy working for Combat 21 and then falls in love with Belle, has conflicts about his feelings and then decides to join the Good Guys Team. But no!!, as Wong Jing and Andrew Lau would have it, he starts of as a Good Guy working in a night club, as a bartender, and meets Belle there and so starts to develop a sort of love interest with her, then gets his ass kicked by the reincarnated ‘Yuen Biao’ (not really, he was assumed dead as first, but later his wife, Auntie Wing, finds out Combat 21 has kept him alive all those years to do his evil bidding, like that’s original), and finally gets these special powers given to him by the dying Belle (not really sorry about that, since I always found Kristy Yeung irritating in the first place) and so helps Nova defeat Combat 21, Woo-Hoo!!! Overall this film needed work in numerous places and sometimes felt like it was rushed and a few scenes were just added for the amusement of the viewer, rather than help out the character development or the storyline. The presence of old Kung-Fu stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao is probably the biggest chip for this movie, both are welcome comebacks and really you do at times want to see more of them than these ignorant kids that they put in movies these days, not including ‘Stephen Fung’, ‘Chin-Kar Lok’ or ‘Gigi Leung’ whom I am a fan off. Both Sammo and Yuen make the most of their screen-time, especially Yuen, whom shows he’s still got the stuff for the action scenes; you really have to give them both a hand of applause!! Overall Rating: 7.4/10 Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: SteelwireMantis Date: 05/23/2004 Summary: Change of Opinion I was feeling really bored and I decided to watch this movie for the sake of it. As it turned out, I found it much better than the last time I watched it. The filmmaking skills shown were remarkable, Andrew Lau did it really well. The fight scenes could have been better, but the storyline and idea came to me much clearer. It's a sci-fi movie, the stories are meant to be unrealistic (isn't this why it's called science "fiction"?) Even though HK veterans like Samo Hung and Yuen Biao were overused, but it gave a chance for young talent to shine through. Although Wang Lee Hom sucked. Story: .................. ***/***** Acting: ................ **/***** Direction: ............ ****/***** Visuals/action: ....... ****/***** Soundtrack: ........... ***/***** Overall: .............. ***/***** --------------------------------------- When I saw the promo-clips to this movie, I was expecting something rather more enjoyable as "The Stormriders" after Andrew Lau's disappointing "A Man Called Hreo" and "Duel". Boy, were my expectations TOO high! Well the plot is about a young kid named Kong growing up in the future (so many fucking years from now) in HK with his sister and mother. His father (played by a scarce Yuen Biao) is presumed dead who left a deadly art called "The Avenging Fist". The style is kept as a secret to protect the family as Kong was told by his mother not to use it. Well, not much after that. Mother dies, father is found brain-washed, policeman Samo Hung tries to stop villain (Bison rip-off). Blah blah blah. In general, the film did have a good idea, like Jet Li's "Kiss of the Dragon", the writers got carried away and made a HK Hollywood-type film. The SFX were ok, but the fights were too short and too much quick editing was used (which has pissed me off in a lot of modern kung fu movies - "Romeo Must Die"). Like many people, over the recent years I've asked the question: WHAT THE FUCK HAS HAPPENED TO YUEN KWAI'S CHOREOGRAPHY SKILLS? He has done some really good modern kung fu movies (My Father is a Hero, Bodyguard From Beijing) But after RMD he seemed to go downhill. The fights in "The Avenging Fist" are too artificial and sometimes it does seem to make them drag on. It's more of a fusion of Dragonball Z, Tekken and Street Fighter video games. So if you're in for a no-brainer - "The Avenging Fist" is the first title in mind. **/***** Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: slanty_evo Date: 01/17/2003 Summary: OMG what the hell is this?!? Let me start off by saying this - "THIS MOVIE SUCKED HARDCORE!!" I have never seen such crap in my life, from the story line to the bad acting. I can't believe I wasted my time watching this. Anyway I heard ppl say this movie is based on Tekken. I can tell you thats BS. Besides some of the hairstyles, its nothing like tekken. Even though you got well know actors like Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and an apperance from Ekin Cheng, this still doesn't make the film any good. The roles they play are stupid; all you see of Sammo Hung is him talking and jumping up and down bashing away with the 'power glove'. Yuen Biao shows a little bit of moves. This film sucked but it was also pretty good in that it made me laugh - ALOT. Things like the characters names (Iron Surfer & Combat 21 <--- bUAHHA), Gigi Leung's afro and of course the 'earthquake' drug where it gives you epileptic fits (OMG Gigi Leung was so funny) But the one that made me laugh non-stop was the younger Dark. Sammo Hung being the older & present Dark while the younger one was Ekin Cheng. And the fact that him getting fat was a side effect in the 'power glove' buHAHAHAHAH Anyway the story line was crap, the fighting scenes were crap, the acting was crap (Wang Lee Hom & Stephen Fung Tak-Lun), the CGI ruined everything & the ending was really crap but I was thankful that it was finished. I give this film a score of 4/10. It wouldv'e been less if it didn't make me laugh =\ Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: Wu'xiaBadger Date: 01/17/2003 Summary: Star Wars meets Tekken This isn't my favorite Andrew Lau film, but it's certainly a passable one. Like all of his more recent stuff, people complain about his CGI-enhanced fight scenes being all style and no substance; and this movie certainly won't win him any new fans. The other criticsm he receives a lot(one that I agree with, to some extent) is that he doesn't use masters like Yuen and Sammo to their full potential. That said, it is a very well paced and enjoyable film. Also working in its favor is the sci-fi element, a nifty view of the future. And while the story is derivative of "Star Wars"(the son and daughter of a powerful masked warrior who went bad have to learn to use their pyshic powers to battle their father), its all in good fun. Their best friend even gets frozen in carbonite! So despite some flaws, I liked it. Lau is one of the most innovative and skilled directors working (in HK or the US), so anyone who deosn't like him can piss off. A lesser effort from Andrew Lau is still ten times better than your average action flick. 6/10 (If you like Lau films, check out the similarly-styled Korean flick "Volcano High School", it one of the best Asian films I've seen all year, an easy 10) Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Tatus Date: 12/19/2002 Summary: Tekken Shmeckan.......... I have heard much talk of how this movie was based on tekken the video game - but i don't see the ressemblance apart from the main characters ridiculous hair style. and plus i just checked my dvd of it and at the end of the movie (well the hk legends version i have got) it says that it is not based on tekken at all. so hope that put some things straight. the film is your typical stormriders, man called hero jiggery pokery. looks nice - has some good looking people in as per usual - but there's not much going on under the hood. not much action, decent enough special effects, which we all know doesn't make a film (i wouldn't have minded seeing some more of that high speed fist of the north star style asskicking though) a bit of a waste of time really - not bad - a bit different - too many screamings and cryings over lost friends and relatives by the main guy to give a crap......erm thats about it - don't watch the dub it just makes an already average movie into an emmensley poo one. 5/10 for effort. Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: Kyashan Date: 08/12/2002 Summary: Exceptional I would like spend lot of words for this movie, but I don't know what say... few words I think are enought to explain all. I must say that I watched vcd with english subtitle, but subtile are very fast and I don't understood all plot story. I liked very well this action movie painted in a far future where some guys (Nova, Iron surfer, Belle and Erika) fight against usual evil people (Combat 21, Thunder and Jazz) for liberty. I liked very well all cgi but I had disappoint becuse was not much martial arts action. Ranting: 9/10 Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: DS Imagry Date: 06/26/2002 Summary: It promises one thing and one thing only, entertainment, and it delivered. First of all, I want to say that this movie in not based on the video game Tekken. For those that have viewed the DVD version, you should know this. Since I have viewed this movie on DVD, my review will be based upon that. As far as story goes, I was able to follow it completely. The only thing that made it hard for me were the subtitles, they were quick and same words were "mispelled". The story, just as any other action film is there only to set up action, action and more action. Seen any American action films lately? But it also gives the comedy, drama and sometimes horror that is familiar with Hong Kong action movies. In terms of entertainment, which this movie and just about every movie ever made is (yes even American films), the movie keep my eyes open and my ears listening. The sound on this movie is awsome, and visually the movie has a lot to keep your eyes glued to the screen. In terms of visual effects, they may not be perfect, but they look damn cool. They look much better that one movie, "The One", starring Jet Li, and it cost less to make. And just like the Storm Riders or Wind and Cloud to be correct, they not ony get the point accross, but add energy to the film. If I were to describe this film to anyone, I would say its like a 90 minute music video. It might not make sense at times, but sit back, turn up the volume and get ready for a damn good time. And watch it on DVD!!!!!

Reviewed by: zarrsadus Date: 06/06/2002 Summary: Story? Not being a Tekken fan, it was very very hard to keep up with this movie. The first 30 minutes were spent in total cluelessness. Eventually things started to make more sense, but geez, I was so lost at the beginning and even all the way through the end. Character development could have been way better as well as a cohesive story for someone not familiar with the Tekken universe. The action sequences and special effects were top-notch, very impressive. It was an okay movie, nothing spectacular. Skip it if you're not into action films with heavy martial arts because that's all that made sense to me. A convoluted plot and trying to do too much with the world of the film made for a mediocre visual effects movie. 5/10. Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: Legolas Date: 04/19/2002 Summary: Sooooooo Shiiiiiit!!! Shit acting, shit story, shit action scenes IT WAS SO SHIT!!

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 04/15/2002 Summary: A different kind of fun I also thought this movie was fun, but it's a different fun than you get from Shaolin Soccer. This movie is, unfortunately, fairly corny and emotional at times, and I just couldn't help but fast forward for about 2 minutes. The movie looks fantastic in the CGI-enhanced "Year 2050 setting." There aren't many fight scenes, but tons of special effects are used outside fight scenes as well. I was expecting nowhere near this much speical effects. However, I feel the biggest flaw of these type of CGI-reliant movies is when they decide to take a normal shot at a fight scene, it just becomes so apparent that the choreography stinks. Hence, it would be better if EVERYTHING was shot with CGI. Yes, having real life martial artists Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Chin Kar Lok in this CGI-based movie is truly unnecessary. However, these 3 were assets to the movie. Unfortunately Chin Kar Lok has gained a lot of weight and has aged like no other, so he does absolutely nothing. At least Sammo gets to use the power glove a couple of times and Yuen Biao shows some kicks. Wang Li Hong's acting is actually not too bad. I also thought he was better than Aaron Kwok in China Strike FOrce. Actually, the entire cast is pretty good. Another disappointment is the finale. The special effects in the finale were absolutely breathtaking, but I thought the final blow went by too quickly and easily, a little cheaper than I would have wanted. It truly is flawed because Wang had nowhere near as much power as Roy, but all of a sudden he gained so much power that he defeated Roy with one blow. OUCH Overall this is a pretty good movie. Like everybody says, it could have been better. Still, IMO we need more of these movies with the CGI-futuristic settings! I never get tired of watching them. [8/10] Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: resdog781 Date: 03/23/2002 Summary: Love = Good. Wrath = Bad. Remember, the power of the Avenging Fist comes not from wrath.....*dramatic pause*.....but from love. Remember that, because that phrase is repeated at least 50 times through the movie. I seem to be in the minority here, but this movie SUCKED. SUCKED SUCKED SUCKED. Corey Yuen's fight choreography didn't mean shit in this film thanks to the overload of CGI effects and horrible editing which chopped up the fight scenes beyond all recognition. The acting was fairly wooden and/or cheesy, as befitting any video game film adaptation, with the bad guy, "Combat 21" taking the prize. "Combat 21"?? Who the hell came up with that name?? Oh and the main character's girlfriend just pissed me off. I dunno why. Maybe cos asian girls should NEVER GET AFROS. Plus, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao keep getting older, though Yuen Biao had a couple good moves. All they decided Sammo was gonna do was jump up and punch people with the POWER GLOVE(tm) That's another thing. I don't ever wanna hear the phrase "POWER GLOVE"(tm) ever again. Unless you're talking about the NES Power Glove, and even then you're pushing it cos that thing sucked. But yeah. Horrible incomprehensible movie with acting of the wooden and cheesy variety, plus more CGI effects than rationally necessary. This was worse than that Jet Li flick where he fought his evil twin. And that's definitely saying something.

Reviewed by: mejones Date: 03/21/2002 Summary: LOADS of FUN!!! Andrew Lau uses his obsession with CGI to great effect in this sci-fi supposedly not based on Tekken film! Like most sci-fi films, the "sci" part of the story gets a bit convoluted at times, but never distracted me from my enjoyment! In sum, some time in the distant future when the ozone layer is all-but destroyed and people travel by flying scooters and cars (a la "Fifth Element") scientists have developed a way to tap into the unused portions of the human brain. By utilizing a "power glove" a crack team of 100 police were used to experiment with this glove but there were side effects and all but three of the original gloves were destroyed. Apparently man shouldn't be messing so much with mother nature, but experimentee Roy Cheung doesn't have a problem with that, steals a glove and starts an evil cult! Gotta love the classical evil cult in HK cinema! Anyway, skip ahead 20 years and we have the carefree twins Belle and Nova (Kristie Yang and Leehom Wang) who just love to speed around on their scooters and hang out while buddy Chin Kar Lok tries to keep them out of trouble. (This made more difficult by the fact that Nova has powers and likes to fight and Belle has powers and loves to flirt!) Don't want to give too much of the plot away (it's not as confusing as some reviews I've read on line make it out to be! Too many people suffer from the "wahhh, I just can't understand science fiction so it must suck" ailment!) Like "2002" this movie has a bit of everything, a son's angst over the loss of his father at a young age, a frustrated single mom (Cecilia Yip is really fantastic as the long-suffering mother!), a great looking cast, interesting use of CGI in a futuristic setting, fun fight scenes, Roy Cheung TOTALLY hamming it up as the bad guy, not to mention Yuen Biao in a role that turned out to be bigger than I expected! Oh, and don't forget Sammo in a cool silver hat doing wire fu with special effects! Cool cool cool, really loved this film!

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 03/03/2002 Summary: Fun, Thrilling and thoroughly good looking popcorn movie Wheeeeeeeeeee! What a fun movie! Like a rollercoaster or a heart attack, Avenging Fist grabs you by the collar and whisks you all around and up and down and leaves you kind of breathless at the end. I have to admit I was quite prepared for the worst before watching the movie, which doubtless contributed to me actually enjoying it so much. Andrew Lau & Corey Yuen are not directors who are exactly known for well developed characters or coherent plots, but I found that Avenging Fist was above average on both counts. I found the story quite intriguing - somewhat convoluted and/or contrived, yes - but in a fun way. Characters may not be quite 3 Dimensional but do at least have personality enough that I cared for them, and the actors are quite believable in their roles. It's definitely Leehom Wang's movie overall, and I thought he did a pretty good job for his first role. Stephen Fung probably gave the best performance though, although Cecilia Yip was really good as Leehom & Kristy Yang's stern but sexy mother too. Actually, it's probably less Leehom Wang's movie than it is the special effect's movie. Like LEGEND OF ZU, THE AVENGING FIST shows that Hong Kong has really got its head around CGI, and can give Hollywood/Industrial Light And Magic a good run for their money. The effects here are much better than in X-Men, for instance, and there are much much more of them. Must be over 50% of shots are at least CGI enhanced, sometimes completely CG dominated. I'm a sucker for special effects, I have to say, and the swirling twirling pulsing glowing explosions of... stuff... that fills the fight scenes in particular had me positively drooling. Editing and cinematography and effects are used extensively to give the fights their feel and impact. Almost exclusively in fact - in the couple of shots where they don't surround the actors in myriad effects, it's quite clear that they're just swinging their arms around. Add in the CG though, and you've got fights of the kind of scale no wuxia movie ever dreamed of. I know the movie's come in for a lot of flak - everybody seems to have had some expectation or other that it failed to meet. Maybe it's because I work in computer game development that I can appreciate the talent & beauty of a really nice special effects sequence, but I think it's a shame that so many people are going to say "oh, it's just CG" and dismiss it. I'm sure people will find plenty of other reasons to hate it too (Yuen Biao-philes will probably want to blame the fact that he's crap here on the movie rather than him/his age, for instance). But buggr'em... Sure, it's not a perfect movie - if I were a Disney executive looking to change the movie around a bit, I would trim pretty much any shot in a fight scene without CGI, and streamline the last couple of reels by removing a bunch of dialogue/melodrama/schmalz and making the final fight about 5 times longer. Leaving the rest of the soundtrack/dialogue/subtitles intact though, I would happily release it on a US public with a million dollar advertising campaign, and sit back and watch the multiplexes fill up. Are you listening Disney? Here's your chance! Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 02/26/2002 The Avenging Fist had some anticipation among Western viewers as the filmed version of the popular video game Tekken. Unfortunately for fans of the game, Wong Jing "forgot" to secure the rights before shooting began, and was sued by the game's creators. Of course, Wong wasn't willing to let a little thing like a lawsuit stop him, and so progressed on with a new script. Well, perhaps, "new" might be a misnomer -- this is Wong Jing after all. The Avenging Fist's story might not be based on Tekken, but it sure has a lot of similarities to another popular video game, Street Fighter II, a game Wong already used for inspiration in City Hunter and Future Cops. Taking place in a bleak, Blade Runner-eqsue future, The Avenging Fist centers on a young man named Nova (played by newcomer Wang Lee Hom) whose father, Thunder (Yuen Biao), disappeared at an early age, and so spends his days fighting. Thunder was involved in the development of a device called "the Power Glove" (which in another Wong Jing classic, was actually the name of an old Nintendo peripheral) which enhances a fighter's "internal arts" and makes them near-invincible. An evil general known as War 21 (played by Roy Cheung, in a role swiped from the character of M. Bison from Street Fighter II) is looking to perfect the Power Glove by capturing the world's best fighters and taking their "psychic energy," and Nova and his friends become prime targets. Well, okay, the story isn't exactly earth-shattering, but remember that this is Wong Jing and Andrew Lau -- the kings of Hong Kong "pop" filmmaking -- we're talking about here. Their collaborations are known for style over substance, and being basically brainless entertainment. While none of their movies could really be considered "artistic" or "masterpieces," at their best, they deliver solid, if unchallenging, entertainment. The big problem with The Avenging Fist that there is so little substance, so little for the view to care about, that it ends up feeling a bit flat and dull. I will grant that The Avenging Fist is an incredible-looking movie. US films almost have seemed to hit a roadblock in terms of special effects -- even big-budget affairs like Arnold Schwarzengger's Collateral Damage look cheap nowadays -- but each "big" HK movie seems to be getting bigger and better in terms of visuals. The Avenging Fist is especially impressive, since HK typically has not been known for producing good-looking science-fiction movies. But just one look at the sweeping shots of the future noir city should tell you that HK can really no longer be considered a "bit player" when it comes to special effects. The fights -- aided by these effects -- are also pretty exciting. I'm not saying every movie should use CGI in the fights (in fact, I tend to not like using computers to replace real martial arts ability), but in the video game-inspired world of The Avenging Fist, it works. And, of course, this being a Wong Jing movie, some of the best looking things in the movie are the young actresses, such as Kristy Yueng and Gigi Leung (I suppose female viewers would like Stephen Fung and Wang Lee Hom, but then they also get guys like Chin Kar-Lok and Roy Cheung). However, all the best "eye candy" in the world can't save The Avenging Fist from its' worst enemy -- the script. The movie starts out with a bang, with several fight sequences, but then slows down to a crawl as the story is ever-so-slightly drawn out inch by inch -- there are attempts to create suspense, but really any viewer should be able to see the "twists" a mile away, and so the "suspenseful" moments just become boring. Of course, there is also a romantic subplot, which is handled with all the style of your typical soap opera. There were some bits which were just unbelievably cheesy (flying around in the clouds and crud like that) that almost made me wretch and wish for the "good old days" of Ekin Cheng romancing Hsu Chi in the Young and Dangerous movies. Though to its' credit, The Avenging Fist's finale is fairly exciting stuff and manages somewhat to make the viewer forget the crap that proceeded it. It's a bit sad really, because it shows that if it was put together right, The Avenging Fist could have been a tight 90-minute action movie. Instead, like many recent Hong Kong movies, it tries to be everything to everyone and loses something in the process.

Reviewed by: magic-8 Date: 02/26/2002 Summary: Future Shlock Andrew Lau's "The Avenging Fist" is more like the offending dis for audiences that see this turkey. Lifeless acting and limp choreography are featured in this CGI laden film. "The Avenging Fist" makes one yearn for Lau's earlier films like "The Storm Riders" or any of the Young and Dangerous movies. The earlier films, by comparison, seem head and shoulders above this fetid pile. But, Lau isn't the only one to blame, Corey Yuen's overrated choreography only shows his limitations by co-directing. Yuen has always been on the over-the-top, cartoon side of martial arts choreography, much better suited to films with some humor, which this film does not have. His problem is that he has the actors go through the paces well, but he doesn't have a clue when is comes to blocking for the camera. Couple that with Lau's, over-use of blue screen with panning and circling camera movement and lackluster direction and we notice his by-the-numbers approach to filmmaking. Every one of Lau's films has the same overly ponderous, cold feel. The few moments that have any genuine excitement are those scenes that combine "Blade Runner" and "Future Cops" CGI in the future Hong Kong. In the end, nothing could save this movie from being the complete mess that it is. Wang Lee Who? Having Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao appear in "The Avenging Fist" was a big waste. If there was ever a thing called chemistry, then this film needed it. Like "Storm Riders" and "Gen-Y Cops" (renamed as "Metal Mayhem" on Sci-fI channel), and so many recent Hong Kong films, this one will show up on American cable tv and give HK films a bad name and most likely also leave a bad taste in viewers mouths for some time to come. Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 02/13/2002 Summary: Ummm........... It's funny, but the cgi SFX actually ruined this movie!! Just because it's new technology doesn't make it good if it isn't put into good use (like STORMRIDERS didn't go overboard with it's CGI SFX like this movie) Maybe audiences are getting tired of the hk standard of fighting, but this cgi sfx isn't the way to make it mroe exciting. Your more likely to go, whats happening!! Story is standard and the character development is minimal. All you need to know about these characters is that they can fight!! Funny enough, the veteran actors take center stage in this movie. It's good to see Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung on the big screen again. They are about the only reasons to watch the movie. The other young actors did a ok job, but WAng Lee and Stephen Fung seem wrong in their roles. They just didn't seem to act that much!! They seem like dead weight!! I had a feeling the ending would end like it did. What a MAJOR disappointment. A feel generous giving this...... 5.5/10 Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: AV1979 Date: 02/05/2002 Summary: Could've been better I bought the VCD this weekend of this action packed film, supposedly based on the video game "Tekken", but I was overall disappointed in the final result. The film relied on too many special effects and not enough hand to hand combat. But I was impressed with some of the acting talents of Leehom Wang and Stephen Fung, during some of their dramatic scenes. It was great to see Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung together in a film again as Thunder and Dark and the most surprising was Ekin's cameo as young Sammo!!! An okay action film, but could've been better. AV1979's rating: 2.5 out of 4. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: danton Date: 02/04/2002 I'm not at all familiar with the game this movie is supposedly based on, so I cannot say whether story elements and/or characters would be recognizable to Tekken fans, but I can say that I had a hard time following what was happening. The movie does a poor job introducing the main characters and their relationships with each other, and the storyline relies heavily on some overly complicated background information that needs better explaining. Specifically, the movie introduces concepts such as the "forbidden zone" (some kind of hidden part of the human mind that gives people superpowers when accessed, but which is also dangerous and hard to control), Powergloves (glove-like devices that help harness some of this power), genetic engineering and the "Avenging Fist" fighting style. The movie starts in impressive fashion - SF setting reminiscent of films like BladeRunner and 5th Element. The special effects are not quite on par with those movies, but are still pretty impressive. HK has come a long way since Storm Riders, and it shows. Unfortunately, all the drawbacks of extensive use of CGI that made LoZ so annoying are in full force here as well: the POV camera shishes and darts all over, and the visual eye-candy at times completely overwhelms the viewer. The story is kind of hard to figure out at first, but eventually it started to make a little sense: a pair of siblings and some of their friends get entangled in a plot that is centered around the secretive Red Dragon Army led by Bat 21 (Roy Cheung) trying to take over the world by means of acquiring the "Avenging Fist" fighting technique as well as some of the genetic enhancements done on the two siblings Nova and Belle (Kristy Yang and some bland young fella). It turns out their father (Yuen Biao) was part of a genetic experiement that has given them some special abilities (none of this is explained well in the film) before he supposedly died. Extensive flashbacks start revealing some of this, as well as the relationship between Yuen Biao, Roy Cheung and Sammo Hung, who plays a detective. Those three are the standouts in the cast - the youthful leads remain pretty bland. There's some romance, lots of fancy special effects work and lots of effects-enhanced fighting. Not badly done, but not very gripping either. Ekin Cheng only has a tiny cameo (playing a young version of Sammo Hung's character) and Yuen Biao's role is pretty small too, even though his character is central to the story. Overall, I found the movie less visually impressive than LoZ, but overall more watchable. Not a great film for sure, but a pleasant little movie none the less, if you're looking for 90 minutes of eye candy. The VCD has good picture quality and the film is shown in the original aspect ratio, but the subtitles are poorly timed: a lot of them just fly by, which may in part explain why I had difficulties following some of the more intricate parts of the storyline. Marginal recommendation.

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 01/16/2002 Summary: Better than expected... ...But then, considering this is a video-game movie directed by Andrew Lau that was delayed for a long time, you can guess how high my expectations were. What this is, in the end, is Storm Riders in the future. Like Andrew Lau's big breakout movie, the only thing worth looking at here are the special effects, only here there is the slight (for Hong Kong) novelty that the effects are simulating futuristic technology and powers instead of ancient ones. As the star attraction, they are a mixed bag; some of the cityscapes are beautful, (if not convincingly "real") and most of the effects at least achieve the level of "good for Hong Kong," though there are a few clunkers. As a light show, it's not bad, but as a movie it fails. Wang Lee Hom is simply not up to carrying a leading role in a major film yet. He is particularly weak when reacting to special effects. Most of the cast isn't given much to do and comes out unscathed, with Stephen Fung being the only one with flashes of "real acting." The women's roles- par for the course in an Andrew Lau film- aren't even worth mentioning, and their presence feels like padding. I strongly suspect that Lau has never known anything like love, since it seems to be something he has a very poor understanding of. Poor guy. In terms of plot... Well, unlike, say, "Legend of Zu," I can at least give this one credit for effort. But in the end, as expected, it's just bland good guys versus really-really-bad guys. The biggest disappointment, considering that the film is based on a one-on-one fighting game, is the action. There's about thirty (mediocre) seconds that resemble any kind of coherent fight scene; the rest is SFX and editing. When are they going to get it? HK audiences may be tired of the staight fighting that native filmmakers are so good at capturing, but there must be a middle-ground. As Shaolin Soccer proved, combining the strengths of both HK and Hollywood movies can give audiences something they've never seen; Avenging Fist, on the other hand, is like watching a friend play a video-game. All in all, Avenging Fist is probably worth one watch for the special effects and the novelty of the rare Hong Kong sci-fi movie. Other than that, it's a dud, albeit a relatively painless one. Note: Ekin Cheng really only has a cameo, as (believe it or not) young Sammo Hung!

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 01/12/2002 Summary: Tekken Well, it's been done before...a little too much. We've seen the Street Fighters, the Mortal Kombats...they never work like one of the other reviewers said, BUT, this one is slightly better than those, based on the Japanese video game Tekken. It's certainly not the most original idea anyone has had, and when I first heard the rumours of this movie a few years ago, I didn't beleive it really would be done. The cast list IS pretty impressive, I mean you have GIgi Leung, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, even Roy Cheung, and directed by Corey Yeun. It's a big cast list, but I think if a little more time had been spent on this, and a few cast members left out, then this might have been better. Sammo Hung does play his part well, but does look a bit over the hill now I must say. He's not left us yet though, just like Jackie Chan he has several movies in the back of his pocket still waiting to be made, so anyone who doesn't like him...tough, 'cus he's going to be around a lot longer (I do like him, unlike a lot of others). I'm not usually into bootlegs or anything, but I got to see a bad copy of this a few days ago, and thought it wasn't bad. It would appeal to the younger viewers more I think, but it's great to see Yuen Biao & Sammo Hung in another movie together. I don't know what that other reviewer meant about Yeun Biao looking bad or whatever, because I think he was the best choice for the charcter he played. All in all, considering it was a bootleg I watching, I'd say this is probably not a bad little movie to see, but I will await for the VCD release to be sure. Not many good action movies have been released for a while in Hong Kong, but this one makes up for it a bit. Still, don't expect to see anything new in this, no new ground is broken. But if you get the chance to see it, go for it. Rating: 3/5 (This rating is based on the year & genre, so don't think it's based as a comparison on new releases etc.) Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: KC Woman Date: 11/22/2001 Summary: Matick01 - please check your facts "First looking at the actor list, most of these actors wouldn't fit the role. Come on... Sammo Hung as Heiachi and Yuen Biao as Katzuya? UUUuuummm...? Yeah... Let's say one is too skiny and small and one is too fat. I mean no offense..." Matick01, you obviously haven't seen the pictures of Yuen Biao which show how he "beefed up" his body for the role Kazuya. Here are some URLs related to a tv interview he did on a rehearsal set of the film for you to check out. http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~biao/image/tokubetu/8/04.jpg http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~biao/image/tokubetu/8/05.jpg http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~biao/image/tokubetu/8/02.jpg http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~biao/image/tokubetu/8/06.jpg http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~biao/image/tokubetu/8/08.jpg http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~biao/image/tokubetu/8/07.jpg http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~biao/image/tokubetu/8/09.jpg I am really looking forward to the reunion of 3 the the Seven Little Fortunes: Biao, Sammo, and Corey Yuen!

Reviewed by: Matick01 Date: 04/29/2001 Summary: Tekken Movie? Tekken Movie...? Ok which HK idiot thought of this up. OK...! No problem... With all the great characters and stories, there ought to be a movie made for it. Like all the other fighting game movies, they always a failure. First looking at the actor list, most of these actors wouldn't fit the role. Come on... Sammo Hung as Heiachi and Yuen Biao as Katzuya? UUUuuummm...? Yeah... Let's say one is too skiny and small and one is too fat. I mean no offense... They are great martial artist, but they don't fit the role. Maybe Stephen Fung can play hwalwang, but that is it. Something relative... He shouldn't be the main character because most of the Tekken 3 does not revolve around him. It revolves around Jin, Katzuya, Heiachi, and Jun. What were you guys thinking... Sometimes HK people just comes up with Half butt scripts. Jeeeezzzz... Take your time and write something everyone could appreciate.