Punishingly long, director Kang Woo-suk’s “Fists of Legend” does not scrimp on the mixed martial arts action and eccentric sentimentality for observers of contemporary commercial South Korean filmmaking. Three men who had been street fighting rivals in high school are pitted against each other again in an epic reality TV fighting competition. It’s an odd, affectless hybrid that plays as much like never-ending television programming on an obscure satellite channel up in the high 600s playing out on a tavern television as anything else. With Hwang Jung-min, Yu Jun-Sang, Yoon Je-moon, Lee Yo-won. 153m. (Ray Pride)
“Fists of Legend” opens Friday at River East. The U.S. trailer is below.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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