Here he plays another legendary martial artist, Fong Sai Yuk, but Fong is a precocious, mischievous lad rather than a no-nonsense master. He gets into fights for the love of fighting, falls in love with the daughter of a well-to-do merchant who initially is a collaborator with the Manchus, before finally emerging as an anti-Ching fighter.

There is plenty of wirework involved, as elements of slapstick comedy, but there are still some exciting fight scenes, such as the one where Fong battles a woman while running on top of people's heads. Fong also has some tough fights against the lead villain, a youthful Manchu military commander played by Vincent Zhao.

A major element in the plot is a bizarre case of double mistaken identity. It's kind of complicated to explain here. You'll have to watch the movie to get it, and it's an extremely contrived, implausible situation. However, without it the film would be hardly more than a series of fights strung together. Therefore, I don't rate this quite among Li's top work, as I much prefer the Wong Fei Hung series, especially Part 2, or even the "Shaolin" trilogy he did in the 1980s, but it's still plenty of entertaining fun.

A much more evenly paced film than the sequel, the story moves along in an acceptable fashion, and Yuen Kwai's action scenes are, quite simply, stunning.

Jet Li, Chiu Man-cheuk, and especially Josephine Siao all perform well. Chiu Man Cheuk's wushu training shows, as he easily keeps up with the frenetic pace of his duel with Jet Li, and Li himself shines in what is, perhaps for Western audiences, an easier to understand role than Wong Fei-hung (he's fun-loving, aggressive and arrogant, but balanced with a strong sense of justice, rather than purely stoic and righteous). Josephine Siao herself manages to steal the film from everyone, in her role as Fong Sai-yuk's mother. She's funny, and a hell of a fighter.

The comedic elements actually work well with the darker, more violent elements, which is something the sequel doesn't quite manage to do.

All in all, if you can only get the dubbed version, it's still worth buying, as it's a fantastic film, but do try importing [the subtitled] version.

Fong Sai Yuk enters the competition, but when he gets a glimpse of Ting Ting's homely maid impersonating her, he throws the competition.

This forces his mom to take part as Fong's brother to restore the family name. She easily defeats Lee Wan, who then falls in love with her, while Tiger Lu demands she marry Ting Ting.

As if this wasn't enough, the emperor's army have come into town looking for members of the revolutionary Red Lotus Society, a group of mercenaries who want to overthrow the government, and Fong's father just so happens to be a member of.

Another period piece in fashion of Once Upon a Time in China series, but in this Fong Sai Yuk is less serious then Wong Fei Hong.

The fight between Fong and Tiger Lu's wife, he fights her in the competition, is pretty cool. Though the running and jumping on people's heads gets a little tiresome after awhile.

The fight when Fong's mom is fighting Tiger Lu's wife is friggin' awesome!! Intense... heated.... someone is gonna get f**ked up, kinda fight!

And this brings me to another thing about Fong Sai Yuk, Josephine Siao. In my opinion, a gorgeous sample of a women. Not to mention a brilliant fighter.

What is completely mind-blowing in this movie is the end fight. Fong Sai Yuk and a General fight underneath a platform probably 3 feet high! Got to be seen, to believe!!

If you prefer the more serious martial arts film, then this is not for you, but if you prefer some comedy, martial arts action, accompanied with the story and script then this is the one you've been looking for.

Another thing to mention is its innovativeness, simply because wirefu is used a lot, its makes the fights look spectacular to watch again and again.

If you want even more comedy then you should also buy the sequel Fong Sai Yuk 2 (The Legend 2) because it's even funnier!

You hardly ever get to see Jet Li doing action comedy in a Jet li film, so dont miss this chance to see him do his job. Jet li usually plays a serious role in his other films, so this fong sai yuk film is kind of unique to all his other films!

By the way the humour appeals more to the chinese audience, but it can still be laughable to the western audience. Go buy it now to find out for yourself!