Fist of Fury Part II (1976) Review

“Fist of Fury Part II” Theatrical Poster

Director: Lee Tso Nam
Cast: Bruce Li (aka Ho Chung Tao, James Ho), Lo Lieh, Tien Feng, James Nam Gung Fan, Suen Lam, Philip Ko Fei, Cho Kin, Chan Wai Lau, Lee Kwan, Sit Hon, Jimmy Lee Fong, Shikamura Yasuyoshi, Robert Tai Chi Hsien, To Wai Wo
Running Time: 104 min.

By Ian Whittle

1976 saw director/producer Lo Wei locate to Taiwan to produce a sequel to his box-office smash Fist of Fury, which was also his second and final collaboration with Bruce Lee. A talky, 2 hour slog, which underused Lo’s new discovery, Jackie Chan, New Fist of Fury was an underwhelming attempt to rekindle past glories – this was made even more obvious by another Taiwanese sequel to Fist of Fury, produced the same year, which ended up feeling a lot more like the original than the sequel from the actual director of the original did!

Fist of Fury Part II follows on from the original at the funeral of Chen Zhen (Bruce Lee), represented by a photo of Lee from…Way of the Dragon. Since Lo Wei represented Bruce in New Fist of Fury with stills from Enter the Dragon, I suppose there must have been a lack of FOF photos, except this film has an opening montage of stills from the original. Since Nora Miao was off making New Fist of Fury, here her character is played by a double in mourning garb…who [ Spoiler Alert ] promptly flings herself on the grave and stabs herself! [ End Spoiler Alert ]

Since FOF2 couldn’t get Nora, the film settles for Jing Wu survivors Tien Feng and Lee Quin – and also Sham Chin-Bo, who played a Japanese fighter in the first film, but is now a Jing Wu student! The Japanese, now led by Mr Miyamoto (Lo Lieh) have taken defeat graciously…by forcing Tien to sign over the Jing Wu school to them by turning him into an alcoholic and torturing the surviving students with branding irons! Just in case we were in any doubt that Miyamoto is not a nice man, he feeds a pet bird to a lion!

One recurrent trend in FOFII is to slavishly copy elements from the original, and in these early scenes it becomes obvious, as the Japanese have a new bespectacled, moustachioed interpreter – Mr Wah (Chen Hui-Lou) – an obvious clone of the original’s Mr Wu (Wei Ping-ao). Later on, we get a new police inspector (Tsao Chien) who endlessly says a lot and does nothing. Yes, never mind Bruce Lee clones, this film has a Lo Wei clone (albeit a considerably skinnier one)! It’s funny how all the different FOF remakes, sequels and rip-offs include a weasly quisling and a dithering inspector, but none of them to my knowledge have included a re-creation of the original’s corking geisha stripper scene. More’s the pity.

Ah yes, Bruce Lee clones. It takes nearly a full half hour for this film’s one to show up: Bruce Li plays Chen San, the never-before mentioned twin brother of Chen Zhen (a plot-point that Jackie Chan’s dubious “autobiography” falsely attributed to New Fist of Fury!). And he’s here to kick butt!

I’d probably go so far as to say this is Li’s best performance (if not his best film), and considering he is meant to be reminding us of Lee, he does managed to craft a unique character of his own. Whilst Lee was screaming and grimacing in that way only he could get away with, Li goes for a colder, darkly humorous character. Although it is fun to see him insulting the Japanese villains early on (“I’m trouble…I’m trouble for the Japs!”), his reactions to his fellow Chinese are rather alarming: his words of consolation for a character whose brother has just been killed? “You’re the one who caused it, because you’re too weak, because you’re a coward!” Ouch!

The final confrontation between Li and Lo Lieh is an effective one, the two discussing the merits of Chinese art before duelling. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Quentin Tarantino is a fan of this fight (and overall prefers this film to the original), and it’s certainly effective and dramatic, with a satisfying closure. For once, Lo looks martially competent – for all his years in kung fu films, he often seemed lost without a sword.

So when you want to watch Fist of Fury again, but feel familiarity is starting to breed contempt, send in the clone! And if you’re lucky like I was, you might even find a copy with the elusive nunchaku scene! (the UK video censored this, and the US DVD just used the UK master!)

Ian Whittle’s Rating: 8/10