Watch The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk For Free

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This wilfully demented martial arts comedy is a mixed affair. Set some time in the past - sorry folks, Chinese history is not my strong point - when Empire was all, this sees a group of dissidents attempting to overthrow their evil overlords. Jet Li, acting as Executive Producer as well as the main star, plays Fong Sai-Yuk, a cheeky chappy with amazing Kung Fu prowess who falls in love with the beautiful daughter of an influential businessman and must prove his worth to the judgemental Patriarch. That's all I could really glean from the haphazard plotting, but it mattered not one jot as this is all about the fight scenes, which are many and varied. Going the Jackie Chan route of making use of scenery, this sees Jet leaping about on bamboo scaffolding, dancing on rooftops and even fighting on the shoulders and heads of the eagerly watching crowd. Whilst the comedy element quickly becomes tiresome and irritating the action is dazzling though be warned, it is all wire work, so if that annoys or disappoints this may not be the chop-socky movie for you. Whilst far from great, this nevertheless passed the time efficiently enough. Oh, and try to get hold of the subtitled version if you can as the dubbed voices on the version I watched are almost unbearable at times.

The Fong family live under the rule of a land-grabbing Governor who is keen to be liked by the people – despite being challenged by an underground movement for Chinese freedom called the Red Lotus Flower Society. When the Governor offers the hand of his daughter to the man who can defeat his wife in combat, Sai-Yuk Fong enters, only losing the fight on purpose when he spots who he thinks is the daughter. His mother enters (dressed as a man and passing herself as Sai-Yuk's brother) in order to win and, in doing so, accidentally wins the heart of the Governor's wife. With the Fong's already in trouble for this imaginary brother turning down the daughter's hand, things get worse when the Emperor comes to town to expose and destroy the members of the Red Lotus – a group that Father Fong is a key member of.As the plot summary suggests, this is a very busy little film with a plot that is very simple but at the same time filled with lots of little things going on. In a way this is a problem because many of these things are by the by and only serve to fill a movie who's basic plot is 'Fong fights with bad Emperor', but here it doesn't matter so much because this patchwork of little events fit well into this basic frame of a story and make the film enjoyable. Each little bit works well to create a film that is actually fun to watch. The script throws up plenty of well written lines – not jokes, but actions and dialogue that is witty and fun to listen to. I was caught up in the light tone it had for the most part and really enjoyed it; only in the final quarter does the tone turn harder and it is done a bit too suddenly for the film's own good – damaging the sense of fun it had garnered up until then. Aside from this, the overall plot is nothing more than a frame and I can understand why some viewers would be bothered by both the lack of firm foundations as well as the comic tone.For me though, the comic tone was a big reason I loved it – just like I felt it made Once Upon a Time in China 3 so much fun to watch. With physical action, the humour could have been lazy slapstick but it wasn't; instead it is witty dialogue woven into the story through funny characters. The physical work is good too – just not for comedy though. The fights are impressive and make good use of the actors' skills as well as effective wirework. Much is made of the fights in trees of Crouching Tiger, or the lake fight of Hero but, while these look beautiful, it is a lot more fun to see the fight here that occurs on top of a crowd of people! There is no one fight that stands out as a really great one (indeed the climatic fight is probably the least of the film) but generally they are all of a high standard and are great fun to watch. Li is a great martial artist and he makes it all seem so natural and easy; he also shows that he is a leading man of great charisma and presence – something that the swaggering 'gangbanger' movies he has made in the US have not allowed him to show. He is likable, serious, fun and charming and this film shows why (along with the physical skills) he has become such a star. Siao is just as good and is very funny, even with her 'romance' is just filler. Chu is solid as Father Fong, the Governor is an enjoyable clown even if the Emperor lacks real menace. Performances were hard to judge for me as I saw the dubbed version, but the dubbing is not that bad and, while not great actors, the voice talent (as the credits call them) all do well to capture the tone and style of their characters – certainly the dubbing fits with the jocular tone of the majority of the film. Overall this is a really fun film. Admittedly not a really great film but certainly one that I will enjoy watching several times again. The script is funny and witty for the most part and the serious turn doesn't do too much to detract from this. The fights are good and the plot is busy and lively, even if some of it is just filler and the actual narrative flow is not all it really could have been. With Jet Li back in people's minds recently, now is as good a time as any to revisit this film and enjoy it for what it is – a well written and fun film that doesn't take itself too seriously.

I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of this movie, and all I can say is WOW! Wow, because I didn't understand what the hell was going on for the whole movie, the subtitles were so badly misaligned. But mainly WOW! because it didn't matter a jot that I couldn't tell what the plot was as the film is just one amazing "fight" scene after another. This film defies belief, and description. If you like martial arts movies, check this out. If you enjoyed Crouching Tiger, check this out. If you love MAD films check this out.There is a scene in which Jet Li fights the mother of the woman he has a crush on entirely on the HEADS of a crowd! Then HIS mother has a fight with the first woman.From the opening scene you will see that this is a piece of genius. The plot doesn't matter. This is pure spectacle.When you see these people move you will realise that the USA can never invade China. They just have all the tricks in the book. They wrote the tricks. I wish I had seen this when I was 9. It would have changed my life totally.

Essentialy a kung fu comedy, this film was quite enjoyable. Jet Li and especially Josephine Siao give good comic performances and the martial arts while extremely silly and unbelievable are very well done.Two problems prevent this film from being a martial art classic for me. Director Corey Yuen or the cinematographer for some reason shot much of the film with medium shots with a wide angle lens. This has the effect of obscuring the action in the many fight scenes. The last thing anyone should do is obscure Jet Li moving around. Also the film starts with a very graphic fight scene and ends with several comic characters getting killed. This is very out of line with the lighthearted nature of the rest of the film.Otherwise it's a great rental. Get it on DVD if you can.