Previously played by Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury and Jet Li in Fist of Legend, the role of Chen Zhen is being redefined in Andrew Lau’s Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen (精武風雲.陳真). Produced and scripted by Gordan Chan (director of Jet Li’s aforementioned Fist of Legend), the spiritual sequel also stars Shu Qi, Anthony Wong and Huang Bo.

While some of the initial production shots of this movie seemed somewhat off-putting to some degree (with Donnie Yen sporting a well trimmed ’stache of all things), this first teaser trailer really shows a lot of potential for what seemed to be a risky concept–one that has our titular protagonist looking like a superhero. On the other hand, what isn’t risky is having Yen kick a ton of ass, which from the looks of it will be a recurring theme in this one too!

Official synopsis:

While China is traumatized by military cliques during the Warlord Era in the 1920s, Shanghai is the cynosure of all eyes. People see it as both Hell’s Kitchen and Heaven’s Gate. One of the city’s most memorable heroes has to be Chen Zhen, who single-handedly avenges his mentor’s death by killing all the Japanese at a dojo in Honkou, only to be showered with bullets while making his legendary flying kick. Vanished from the public eye ever since, he has taken for dead though his body is never found.

Seven years later, a wealthy entrepreneur called Koo returns from abroad and makes a grand entrance on the Shanghai social scene by befriending the notorious mafia boss of the city. This mysterious man is none other then Chen Zhen in disguise who dwells in a world of nefarious means in order to infiltrate the criminal empire. He soon discovers a clandestine collusion between the mafia and the Japanese.

Disguised as a caped crusader at night, Chen sets out to dismantle with his martial arts skill the evil collusion that plaques the country. One of his foremost missions is to ferret out the assassination list prepared by the Japanese.

Check out the trailer:

Check out the trailer below:

No need to spoil the fun with extra words. I’ll just let Donnie Yen’s hands and feet do the talking:

Official synopsis: The investigation of a prostitute homicide brings headstrong, heavy-handed Detective Manfred in an unlikely collaboration with sly, man-of-the-world Inspector Kee from the Narcotics Bureau. When the DNA samples of one of Manfred’s fellow officers are found at the crime scene, implicating him as the prime suspect, Manfred must look beyond the obvious to get to the truth. Meanwhile, Kee’s uncanny eagerness to lend a helping hand every step of the way outside his own turf is beginning to smack of evil. In the line of fire between high levels of corruption and possible malice, Manfred must solve all the twists and turns of the mystery, trying to figure out who his enemy is and how to save his innocent partner from unfathomable disgrace. Unwittingly, he is about to open a Pandora’s Box that will threaten to upend the entire Hong Kong Police Force.

Check out the action-packed teaser trailer below:

So now we finally get a teaser trailer, and boy those it do a good job of setting the stage for an eventual full trailer and the movie itself. Featuring an excessively original staging of what looks like a tournament-style showdown between kung fu masters and a satisfying coolness to Yen’s Ip Man, this trailer has our appetites fully whet.

Check out the trailer below:

As expected, this sequel looks as action-packed as its predecessors and seemingly showcases even more elephants. Let’s hope this film manages to tie up the loose ends found in Ong Bak 2 in a satisfying manner.

Check out the trailer below:

It’s been a while since I wrote a Blu-ray wish list feature, but as we commence this new year, I felt compelled today to revisit it simply because of the wonder and hope that it brings me when I start pondering the idea of seeing some of my favorite movies on high definition.

As I began to narrow my list of films for this article, I started looking for seminal works that could potentially help usher in a new wave of releases for Asian films on Blu-ray. I did not have to look very hard. In my previous Wish List article, I referenced a classic film that stood at the top of the Asian crime genre, a film so influential that it helped define the rules for countless action films (and video games) that followed–not to mention turning a director and actor pair into pop culture phenomena of their own.

That movie is John Woo’s The Killer.

Released in 1989, the Chow Yun Fat vehicle is today one of the greatest and most beloved action movies of all-time. But the film is not just about the creativity of its bullet ballets and inspired action set-pieces, it is also a labor of love, and it is that sense of dedication and artistry that permeates every frame. Each shot is crafted to perfection and each movement coordinated with a purpose. This is the kind of film I want to see on Blu-ray.

Blu-ray Release Prospects: Average -> It is hard to imagine a film of this stature not get some kind of 20th anniversary treatment on home video, and it is this fact that gives me the most hope for a Blu-ray version to be released in 2009. Not to mention the fact that John Woo has just successfully resurrected his ailing career with the Red Cliff movies. Of course, I could be totally wrong, and the suits making these kinds of decisions may pass on the idea–but that, to put it bluntly, would be a killer mistake.

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Blu-ray Wish List Explained: It’s fair to say that at this junction in the growth of Blu-ray, the slow trickle of new Asian Blu-ray releases can sometimes feel unbearably slow. But as we begin to see a trend towards day-and-date DVD and Blu-ray release dates (or close to it) for new movies, we can start to find great new titles like Warlords and Red Cliff getting the HD treatment. In our Wish List feature, our aim is to shine a light on upcoming theatrical releases or noteworthy catalogue titles that we think would rock on Blu-ray. And we also provide a score on a scale of 1 to 4 (Poor > Average > Good > Excellent) to give our opinion on the chances of that movie actually making it to Blu-ray.

What is on your Asian Blu-ray Wish List? Drop us a line or comment and tell us about it. The more buzz and demand we put out, the easier the decision to release these titles on Blu-ray becomes for the movie companies involved.

Of course, as many of you probably know, only The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Police Story, and Once Upon a Time in China have been released so far. But the good news is, although we do not have any release dates for the remaining titles, we do have some cover art scanned from an insert/booklet included with a copy of the Police Story blu-ray (apparently, not all copies contain this insert–we’ll investigate further).

Let’s hope the wait isn’t too long for the rest of these!

Check it out:

As we reported in late May, Fortune Star and Kam & Ronson announced that they were joining forces to release a slew of blockbuster catalogue titles this June. The list? How about: Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury. Jackie Chan’s Police Story Trilogy. And Jet Li’s Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy.

So what happened? No one’s really telling, but more importantly, when is it coming out? For the first time, a source privy to the proceedings stated that Fortune Star has pushed back the titles until Mid-July. Is this set in stone? Well, this is really just a timeframe rather than a fixed date. Besides, based on the track record for Hong Kong releases in general, let’s not hold are breathes just yet. On the other hand, it certainly makes us feel better about the prospect of seeing these movies on blu-ray sometime this summer.

We’ll keep you posted.

The picture will also star Michelle Yeoh, Jay Chou, Andy On, Cung Le, Conan Stevens, and the late David Carradine.

Based on this first teaser, which is mixed with film footage and behind-the-scenes footage, this one should be an action-packed ride.

Check out the teaser below: