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: .............. ***/*****

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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.

**/*****