I’ve said this before, but each home video format has brought improvements regarding Hong Kong movies. VHS made it possible to see them in the U.S., albeit often with the subtitles cropped off and blending into the background. DVD brought proper aspect ratio and ledgible subtitles. Blu-Ray was a revelation. 4K is beyong what these movies ever looked like. I’ve only seen film prints long after their original release, but they just weren’t taking care of the negatives. They were cranking them out.
So the clarity of the five Jet Li movies in this collection is 2025, but the martial arts is the ‘90s. The modern-day Bodyguard from Beijing was contemporary Hong Kong and the period pieces were still ‘90s era sets. Of course, modern Hong Kong movies look digital, so these preserve the film aesthetic in digital clarity.
The occasional scratch they couldn’t fix is context for the magnitude of the overall restoration. I did still see some wires, especially in the elaborate Fong Sai-yuk contraptions. so I’m glad they didn’t retouch them to erase them. When the wire showed that’s part of the fun. More often than not they’re hidden in impossible moves. Drop frame slow motion can show layers as it was probably reprinted from the negative.
This was the era where any element of the envirronment became a weapon, so Fong Sai-yuk II has fighters kicking shingles and walkway stones at each other, fighting with giant umbrellas and kicking the logs out of rafts. Tai Chi Master is a little grainier than the other four films but I never got to see that grain on VHS.
Fist of Legend is a remake of Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury so Li actually does some Bruce Lee moves. Tai Chi-Master is the kind of insane choreography that got Yuen Woo-ping hired in Hollywood. Anything is a potential foothold and fighters can balance on any surface, whether it’s attached to something or not.
Bodyguard from Beijing let’s Li perform his graceful moves in modern settings, and play around with guns and cars. The Fong Sai-yuk movies are a little more playful than his trademark Once Upon a Time in Chinas, but has setpieces like a fight where both opponents stand on people’s heads in the crowd.
New and archival extras offer equal parts interviews with the filmmakers and analysis by experts. James Mudge gives a commentary for each film. He notes the improved translations, especially the one that distinguishes Fist of Legend from Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury, and the connections between all the talent.
This is only the beginning. Shout! Studios has the John Woo films coming up next and a whole archive of Hong Kong classics.