"Donnie Yen, looking all ripped, as Chen Zhen."

Here’s the official teaser trailer for Donnie Yen’s latest, Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen:

Donnie Yen reprises his role of Chen Zhen from Hong Kong’s 1995 television series Fist Of Fury.

The masked superhero elements, a la the Green Hornet (also, Jet Li’s Black Mask), are new, as are the parkour/freerunning-inspired moves seen in the trailer.

Looks promising, and definitely one for fans of martial arts films and Hong Kong cinema to keep on the radar.

Legend Of The Fist: The Return Of Chen Zhen arrives in theaters in Hong Kong September 23rd of this year.

Interestingly, the character of Chen Zhen, a fictional disciple of real life martial artist and Chinese national hero, Huo Yuanjia, has a long and varied history in the Chinese cinema:

The role originated with Bruce Lee in the 1972 film, Fist Of Fury (formerly The Chinese Connection), Jet Li later portrayed Chen Zhen in the 1994 film, Fist Of Legend (one of my all-time favorite Jet Li films), and twelve years later, Li starred in Fearless, a film based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, Chen Zhen’s master.

I’ve always relished the neat little symmetry at work here: Jet Li in his younger days playing the role of the star pupil avenging the death of his master and later in his career revisiting the subject matter, in a prequel of sorts, as the master.

As if that wasn’t enough of a “Chinese Connection,” we now have Donnie Yen’s Ip Man 2, released earlier this year, in which Yen plays Ip Man, a Grandmaster of Wing Chun, whose most famous student was none other than the legend himself, Bruce Lee!

-

I’m a big fan of Donnie Yen’s work.

He’s a talented martial artist, having trained from an early age under the guidance of his mother, Grandmaster Bow Sim Mark. With his leading man good looks and onscreen charisma, Donnie Yen has managed to build a career as a credible action star with true acting ability, as evidenced by his Best Actor nomination in the Hong Kong Film Awards for his work on 2008′s Ip Man.

On a personal note, I actually studied Tai Chi briefly with his mother, Bow Sim Mark, founder of the Tai Chi Arts Association and recipient of the World Martial Arts Federation Lifetime Achievement Award!

"My Old, Beat Up Instructional Books By Bow Sim Mark"

"My Red Tai Chi Dragon Fan For Forms Training"

Here’s the trailer for Merantau, an Indonesian martial arts flick starring Iko Uwais, a practitioner of the Indonesian martial art Silat:

Not sure when we’ll see a North American release, but in the UK, the movie, retitled Merantau Warrior will be out on video June 7th.

The action in Merantau looks to be very Tony Jaa-like, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s nice to see the traditional Indonesian martial art of Silat (specifically, Silat Harimau) getting more exposure internationally, as well.

Here’s a cool behind the scenes look at the fight choreography in Merantau:

Poster For Ong Bak 3

Here’s the second official trailer for Ong Bak 3 (a word of warning, the trailer begins with a fairly brutal torture scene):

Looks pretty crazy.

Interestingly, it seems Ong Bak 3 will be delving a bit into the supernatural with what appears to be evil spirits possessing the golden-armored main baddie from Ong Bak 2, as well as the already creepy-looking, black-clad “Crow Ghost” (played by Dan Chupong) from the previous entry in the series.

While Ong Bak 2 wasn’t what I had hoped it would be, this new trailer has me pretty excited to see the story’s conclusion.

You can check out the first full trailer for Ong Bak 3 here.

Ip Man 2 Official Movie Poster

Here’s the teaser trailer (with English subtitles) for the sequel to 2008′s Ip Man, one of my favorite martial arts films of all time:

And here’s the full theatrical trailer (also subtitled) which is chock full of Wing Chun awesomeness courtesy of Donnie Yen:

The movie comes out April 29th.

Can’t wait until I can watch it stateside!

Poster For Ong Bak 3

Here’s the new trailer for Tony Jaa’s latest, Ong Bak 3, which debuts in Thailand May 5, 2010:

No word yet on a U.S. release date.

You can check out the teaser trailer here along with some of my thoughts on Ong Bak 2 and other two-part sequels.

Despite being somewhat disappointed by 2008′s Ong Bak 2, I’m still looking forward to seeing this year’s followup; after all, Tony Jaa’s always a lot of fun to watch, even if we have seen his signature “elbow(s) to the top of the head” and “super high jumping double knee to the chest” moves a bajillion times.

Story-wise, it’ll be nice to see Tony Jaa’s Tien go toe-to-toe again with the “Crow Ghost” character (played by Dan Chupong) from the previous installment.