JING WU MEN (1972)
Director: Wei Lo
Cinematographer: Ching-Chu Chen
I’ve had to take a break from this entry in my Bruce Lee boxset, as the nonstop punching and kicking sound effects are starting to get on my teabags. I’m sure I’ll be in a better headspace later when I return, but I just couldn’t take any more.
There’s no English dub available this time, which is a shame. Some movies are just better with cheesy dubbing. The disc player does acknowledge an “ENGLISH” track, but it just seems to be another Cantonese/Mandarin one. Hmmm. It does sound slightly different though, so I’ll keep checking back in to see if the English kicks in.
Still, what with my experience of watching foreign films without a translation, I’m fine with it. I did role my eyes somewhat when I read a short synopsis, which implied the film would just be about two martial arts training centres bickering. I could predict the entire movie in its studio-bound dullness. So far, I have not been proven wrong.
As far as I can tell, Bruce Lee is playing the villain in this one, which is a surprise. If I am completely wrong, then I have clearly become deaf to the language of cinema. As well as blind. His character keeps viciously beating up a lot of downtrodden-looking people already, which isn’t very heroic.
The film is also lacking the cute melodrama of The Big Boss, which I am surprisingly missing. It’s just fight after fight after fight in these claustrophobic training centres. I’d get more entertainment out of admin staff fighting over a free buffet at a health & safety brief.
Now there’s a pitch!
Regardless of my own personal tastes, there has already been loads of pretty framing by the cinematographer, one of which you will find above.
I don’t know how Fist of Fury, its English title, stands in Bruce’s filmography in terms of quality and fan approval, but so far it feels the lesser of the only two I’ve experienced. Well, one and a third.
We shall see…
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
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