Synopsis: Set during the days of the Japanese occupation of China in World War 2, Jackie plays a young thief and general ne’er-do-well who steals a valuable set of nunchukas from a group of Chinese freedom fighters. Both the freedom fighters and a rival school which is in league with the Japanese want Jackie to join them, but he resists both until he is finally confronted with the danger that the Japanese pose to China. He finally joins the freedom fighters in their resistance against the invaders.

Debbie's Review: In his early twenties, Jackie signed a contract to work for Lo Wei, the man who had directed Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury (in which Jackie worked as a stunt man). In the wake of Lee’s death, every filmmaker in Hong Kong was scrambling to find the “next” Bruce Lee, and Lo Wei thought that Jackie might be him. If you watch this movie, you will probably wonder what on earth Lo could have been thinking! Physically, Jackie just doesn’t look the part…his stocky build and putty nose are comically out of place in what could have been a respectable performance, had he not been cast in Lee's shadow. There are some tiny glimpses of humor in the early scenes when his character is still ignorant of Kung Fu: during one fight he dings himself on the head with the stolen nunchukas. But this comic moment quickly gets lost in the grim, dark story line. Not only does Jackie not know how to fight throughout most of the movie, but he gets beaten up by practically everyone in the film. Exactly how, I wonder, was this supposed to make him into the next Bruce Lee?

The training scenes in this film are lackluster, and the fights aren’t terribly interesting either, until the final battle in a Japanese martial arts school. The last battle goes on a bit too long, in my opinion, but it is pretty well staged. The only interesting thing about this movie is that a little glimmer of Jackie’s own personality does manage to peek through early in the film, but it’s quickly suppressed. And in case you don’t get it that Jackie is the next Bruce Lee, there’s a scene where Jackie is proudly carrying the sign of his Martial Arts school across his shoulders: the director actually flashes a picture of Bruce alternately with Jackie’s face. I’m a little afraid to say that Jackie suffers from the comparison in this instance.

Score: 4/10

Reader Reviews

Anonymous Review: one of my all time favorite martial arts film wich became the first collabriation between directoR lO WEI AND Jackie Chan after the death of bruce lee BY THE WAY A GUY WHO WRITE A REVIEW ON THIS SITE Asked about the names of some actors in the film AND SENCE NOBODY HAS WRITTEN I WHILE. THE OLD MAN WHO IS AT THE JING WU SCHOOL AND TRAINS JACKIE WHAS NAMED IN REAL LIFE han-Yin Chieh and also starred in the bruce lee film The big boss also known as FISTS OF FURY IN AMERICA. HAN-YIN ALSO HAD A ROLE IN THE OTHER BRUCE LEE FILM CALLED fIST OF FURY also known in america as the chinese connection.THe main female n the film who is IN NEW FIST OF FURY WHO ASLO TRAINS JACKIE IN THE FILM IS IN REAL LIFE NAMED Nora Miao and had the leading role in way of the dragon also known as the return of the dragon. and finaly the main japanses villian in the film isamed Chen Sing and also stared in the sammo hung film iron-fisted monk wich you can buy at the amazon web-sites. that is all and i hope that you Debbie answer the reviewers questions if you can answer the question. [I think you just did! Thanks. - Debbie]

Score: 10/10

Chan-o-rama's Review: On an unusual contrast from other Jackie movies, this sequel did not work. It had all the items from the original, most of the actors, same director, just missing one thing. THE DRAGON! BRUCE LEE!! You cant just replace the biggest name in martial arts with newcomer jackie. i just doesnt work. You get bad fight scenes, bad story. Its just ridiculous. RIP Bruce.

Score: 1/10

Drunken Review Master's Review: Well what ever grain of respect I had for Lo Wei's work went down the toilet with this joke of a sequel,still having Bruce Lee on the brain Lo Wei expected a guy who looks nothing like Bruce Lee to make this an even bigger & better movie than the first one,no way in h***.Even if he did look and fight like Bruce there's still the problem of a god awful and very boring storyline,the picture quality was also god awful made it look like a 5year old picked up a home movie camera and started playing with it.The only thing making this movie worth reviewing is Jackie Chan's style of fighting rearing it's lovely head a little in a couple of fight scenes.P.S-I have this movie for sale for anyone who wants to buy it,just pay for an airplane ticket,fly down to Shinnston,WV and get it out of the dumpster across from my house.

Score: 2/10

Paul l's Review:  This Movie is GREAT the fight's are really good i have seen heeps of jackie chan movie and this is one of the best.

Score: 10/10

Steven Neal's Review: I own this movie at home and I can't believe the reviews that it's getting. Okay, we all know that Jackie Chan isn't Bruce Lee, he even said so himself during an interview on T.N.T. when the station introduced Chan-a-Rama to promote his 1998 film Rush Hour. New Fist of Fury is still a good action yarn and Jackie Chan has used this movie as a message that a person should never give up the good fight in the battle for freedom. Here's how the story goes:

Jackie Chan plays a young thief named Ah Lung who lives in China which is occupied by Japanese warriors intent on becoming the main superpower. Ah Lung at first isn't please with this and neither are the other Chinese villagers that live in his home. By chance, Ah Lung meets Ms. Lee (played by the lovely Nora Miao) and she inspires him to learn martial arts. Now at first, Ah Lung isn't interested because he thinks it's a waste of time. But when a Japanese warrior, his daughter, and his students threaten the reputation and integrity of the Jing Wu school, Ah Lung is convinced that he must step in and fight the good fight against prejudice and corruption in the society he lives in.

Ms. Lee is amazed at Ah Lung's bravery when he brings back the Jing Wu school sign after the Japanese daughter ruthlessly knocks it off the school and breaks it. Ah Lung's training began and he learns the famous "Fist of Fury" style. When Ah Lung is ready for combat, Ms. Lee, her brother, her master, and the Jing Wu students go to the Japanese warrior's dojo to talk about the future of the schools and how they should be run. The Chinese warriors see that time is running out for them, but the Japanese warrior gives them an opportunity to object to his methods by challenging them to a dual with his students. The fight is to the death and the window for freedom won't last too long.

The master of the first Chinese school is beaten too easily and his entire school is slaughtered the moment they try to leave the dojo. Finally, Ms. Lee's brother steps in to fight the good fight. He gets a few good blows in but he is double-teamed and beaten. The Master of the Jing Wu school fights the two Japanese students and defeats them easily, but when the Japanese warrior's daughter decides to step in, all bets are off. The daughter fights to her heart's content and her father even helps her cheat a little. When the Jing Wu master is badly injured, Ah Lung jumps into the fray.

Ah Lung gives it all he's got and proves to be a worthful advesary. Four times in a row, Ah Lung drop kicks the Japanese daughter in her chest and on the fourth blow, she dies automatically. The Japanese warrior is enraged at this and decides to take on Ah Lung himself. The two warriors exchange blows and even use weapons like sais and the three-sectional-staff. No matter how hard they try, neither warrior can get the upper-hand on the other. Only then, does Ah Lung realise that his true fight has begun.

This movie was an excellent one, but I am curious to know the names of some of the actors and actresses in this film. Back then, many Hong Kong martial arts films didn't give a full cast review on who played who. What I want to know is, who played the Japanese karate girl with the fast feet. That girl was rough, tough, and ruthless and she has some serious skills. If anyone knows who played that karate girl please let me know. I liked to get some info on her and learned where she got her kicking skills.

I don't want to tell the whole movie because it might spoil it for some of Jackie' viewers. But don't knock this movie until you've tried it and keep in mind, if you're renting this movie in hopes that it will be a sequel to Bruce Lee's "Chinese Connection", forget about it. This movie is 100% Jackie Chan!

Score: 9/10

Joe Cool's Review: Very ordinary early film from Jackie. The film just does not click as a whole, it is sadly quite boring in parts and does not flow well, and the fights are dull, poorly choreographed and not particularly enjoyable. This film has little going for it, I don't think a whole lot of it.

Score: 2.5/10

Cristopher's Review: This is a good movie. the only thing that is such a turn down is that Lo Wei trys to do JC in to Bruce Lee. Jackie should not look like Bruce Lee in this movie.
Lo Wei does it in other movies but this and Snake In The Eagle Shadow and Drunken Master are the only films that is possible to watch. those are also the only films made in the 70 that I can watch.

Score: 7/10

Øivind Aas' Review: *CONTAINS SPOILERS* I'm from Norway and I have seen this movie from my cousin. Unfortuenaly (does I spell it right?) some scenes were cut (the nunchaku scene). The fight scenes aren't bad, but there is one scene that really sucked: the end scene where Jackie Chan gets killed! (oops thats a spoiler). I am gonna buy it on dvd soon where no scenes are cut. You see I'm a big Jackie Chan fan. I did enjoyed the film but it was the end of the film that was so bad. Did I mention that this movie was the sequel of Bruce Lee`s action packed classic "Fist of Fury?

Score: 6/10

Brendan's Review: Man, This movie has the worst storyline of any film I have ever seen, even worse than MASTER WITH CRACKED FINGERS. Read my review of that film if you don't find that statement to be too powerful. The fights are just plain bad- I don't know what happened with the choreography. Jackie is a Bruce-Lee -type character, but not even Bruce (RIP) would have been able to make this utter shambles of a film any better. As with most of Jackie's early efforts- don't blame him, blame the people that made this. Sorry Jackie, but this sucks.

Score: 1.5/10

Adam JC fan's Review: This movie was not that good. Good fight scenes, but a dumb story.

Score: 4.5/10