Jet Li has acted in two films adapted from Jin Yong's martial arts works, one is "Evening Heaven and Slaying the Dragon" and the other is "Invincible in the East" ("Swordsman"). Both films are very classic, especially "Invincible in the East" is even more outstanding, Jin Yong even praised Jet Li and performed the best Linghu Chong.
"Invincible in the East" is directed by Tsui Hark, starring Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, Guan Zhilin and Li Jiaxin. The story is naturally related to the plot of "Swordsman and Swordsman", but Tsui Hark made a certain adaptation on the basis of "Swordsman and Swordsman", and the protagonist also prefers Brigitte Lin's undefeated in the East. The movie
caused a great sensation at the time. The box office in Hong Kong alone reached 34.78 million Hong Kong dollars, ranking seventh in the box office of Hong Kong movies that year. Outside of Hong Kong, this film has made extraordinary achievements. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, and all Asian regions were released at a very good box office. In the end, "Unbeaten in the East" won a total of US$26.21 million at the box office and became the best Chinese film at the time.
Jet Li also received recognition from many industry insiders and audiences because of this film. Mr. Jin Yong, the author of "Swordsman" praised Jet Li and said that only Jet Li played the role of Linghu Chong. And audiences from other countries and regions also knew Jet Li because of this movie.
At that time, in Mainland China, except Jet Li, almost no one was able to challenge Hong Kong's "two-week success" in terms of film appeal. Jet Li used such a movie as a medium to announce to the world that actors in mainland China are no worse than anyone.
However, this movie also heard some negative sounds. Although Mr. Jin Yong praised Jet Li, he cursed the director Tsui Hark. He believed that changing the Oriental Unbeaten into a female character was disrespect for the original work, and he would never let Tsui Hark change his work.
But in any case, the movie "Unbeaten in the East" has become a classic, and in addition to Jet Li's Linghu Chong, Brigitte Lin's Unbeaten in the East has also become a classic role.
