Matti-Man Overall, a pretty poor attempt to do "The One" on a Hong Kong Budget. Sammo Hung and an almost unrecognisable Yuen Biao are wasted in pivotal roles as the Hero's mentor and evil father, respectively.The irony is that while the characters joke about Sammo having put on weight, it's Yuen Biao who needs the metal mask to cover his chubby jowls.I thought that with Cory Yuen on Action Choreography we'd at least have some interesting fights, but it's mostly characters "gesturing hypnotically" while the SPFX guys add in all kinds of cheesy lightshow effects.Disappointing.

bs3dc Avenging Fist opens with the premise that the average human can only use 10% of their brain and the "Power Glove" can unlock the other 90% leading to greatly increased combat ability. However there are side-effects and designed for elite police units there is the potential for disaster if they fall into the wrong hands...The futuristic setting is based on CGI, which largely holds up to the challenge, though there are limitations such as some of the fight scenes where the moves appear blurred rather than powerful. Otherwise it is well realised.It had been many years since Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Chin Kar-lok had appeared on screen together and they appear to have aged well though their presence cannot guarantee success here. They and other well-known faces in Hong Kong cinema such as Gigi Leung, Cecillia Yip and Roy Cheung also make their presence known among the newer faces such as the uncharismatic lead Stephen Fung.The acting is surprisingly good in places, especially Roy Cheung as the lead villain and Sammo Hung making the most of his limited screen time and a rare serious role. The main trouble is the plot which is supposed to have been originally based on the Tekken computer games - rarely a good sign as the 'Tomb Raider' and 'Doom' films recently proved. The changes mean that sometimes the story makes little sense and one point seems virtually stolen from 'The Empire Strikes Back' minimising any impact it may have had.Overall, Avenging Fist is a patchy and ambitious effort that fails to reach it expectations despite the best efforts of director Yuen Kwai and his mixed cast. There are some solid performances and the film generally improves during its running time, but fans of Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao may do better looking elsewhere. Avenging Fist is certainly unlikely to bring them many new admirers.

NIXFLIX-DOT-COM AVENGING FIST was supposed to be the live-action version of TEKKEN the video game, but apparently no one bothered to tell creator Wong Jing about that little thing called "copyright infringement". Hence the re-title, even though the whole movie is really one big mishmash of other, better sci-fi films, mostly lifting plot points and gimmicks directly from Lucas' STAR WARS films. (i.e. Young boy accepts fate, learns skill, faces brainwashed father. Sound familiar?)Notable are the special effects, which are quite good. Some of the fights are not too bad, although they are heavily manipulated by CGI, up to a point where you can't say a single person in this movie actually knows kung fu.Sammo Hung has a funny cameo, playing up his weight angle. A good looking film, but highly unfocused and too derirative for its own good.4 out of 10.

Jordan-M "The Avenging Fist" is one of the many HK Special Effect movies to come out over the last few years. It stands out on its own points, though - like the fact that it takes place in the future as opposed to the present or past - which means that there's characters jumping around on flying cars and through neon lights.The main focus of the story is that of Nova, an agressive young man who feels the need to fight (don't we all?) and is trying to get his hands on a "Power Glove" - not of the Nintendo variety - which increases the user's fighting ability considerably. Nova also has a father who disappeared during the development of the Power Glove, who left Nova records of a fighting style called, of all things, the "Avenging Fists."After several events, Nova manages to obtain a power glove and proceeds to unleash serious adolescent justice upon faceless baddies. Of course, Nova can't do it all by himself - so a bartender/street fighter by the name of "Iron Surfer" comes into play.Personally, I think the movie should've been about Iron Surfer (Stephen Fung). Not only does he look a lot more cool and intense than Nova, but he also doesn't have all of the family melodrama that's included in Nova's story. Iron Surfer's just a guy who wants to love a cute girl and beat the life out of anyone/thing that gets in his way... even a surprisingly well animated CG monster. Unfortunately, Iron Surfer just gets turned into a crutch for Nova to take on the main villain with.Yuen Biao has a decent sized role in this movie, but I was wanting to see more of him. Perhaps there should be a prequel with him and Ekin Cheng (who has a cameo as a younger Sammo Hung) that better explains the origins of the prevalent power gloves/avenging fists... It's unlikely, though.Regardless, this movie very well accomplishes the SFX action spectacular it set out to be. You could go without seeing it and sleep comfortably at night, but if you're a sucker for these kinds of movies, give it a thorough viewing. "The Avenging Fist" is just fine.