On Tuesday September 13th, Indomina Releasing will be bringing director and legendary martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo Ping’s latest film, True Legend, to Blu-Ray and DVD. Yuen Woo Ping is the man behind the action in The Matrix, Kill Bill and tons of other action films, making him one of the most sought after action choreographers in the world.
True Legend stars Vincent Zhao as Su Can, the man who becomes the founder of the martial arts style the Drunken Fist. In the film, Su Can’s life is turned upside down when his adopted brother, Yuan (Andy On), takes vengeance out on his family after mastering the extremely dangerous Five Venom Fists. When defeated by Yuan, Su Can and his wife are separated from their son and become determined to get him back. After recovering from the fight in Michelle Yeoh’s isolated home and training with the God of Wushu (Jay Chou), Su Can returns to his home to challenge his brother in a rescue effort in what is known as the climax of the first part of the film. Without spoiling the plot, part two of the film features Su Can turning into a drunken beggar, wandering the lands in search of solace. It is during this second part where his skills as a Drunken Master shine and where we get to see David Carradine in his final on screen performance.
When the credits started rolling I was emotionally torn. I really wanted to like this film but it was just another average martial arts film. Some people seemed to rave about the opening sequence but I thought it was rather cheesy. The effects weren’t that great and the swordplay actually sucked, especially when all the wire work fighting was taking place. Additionally, the evil brother and his use of the Five Deadly Fists was too mythical for me, especially when he had armor sewed into his body so he could be invincible. I was hoping for some sort of realism when it came to a movie about a real man but this just came off too fantastical up until the second part where Su Can became the drunken beggar. Lastly, when Su Can was training with the Wushu God on the top of a mountain, the green screen effects looked awful. It seemed like it was done by amateurs with the inability to blend the people with the artificial background. Even if the fighting was good during those moments the bad effects definitely took away from some of my enjoyment. In the end, True Legend tries too hard to be something much bigger than it actually should be.
Although I have many complaints about True Legend, there are aspects of the movie that I absolutely loved. As a big fan of the drunken fist style I thought Vincent Zhao did a great job learning and channeling the martial art form. You could see his style evolving throughout the movie with his efforts culminating into a stunning fight sequence between David Carradine’s massive wrestlers and Su Can at the end of the film. It’s also important to remember that True Legend is rated R and with that comes some very brutal fights but, even more importantly, gore. This was surprisingly gory from what I was originally anticipating and that helped add at least one touch of realism that I was hoping for.
As for the disc itself, I thought True Legend looked fantastic in Blu-Ray despite my distaste for some of the effects and the way it looked on my screen (the aforementioned bad CG). Also, the disc is chock full of special features which is one reason you should own this film. There are five original featurettes, two storyboard to scene sequences , a music video, and an international trailer. If you ask me, some of the content and interviews in the special features actually clear the story up a lot and make it much more coherent than the film does. I didn’t do much thinking as I was watching the film but there are a lot of subtle moment where, if you really do pay attention, have an effect on the story and change the way you look at it. Furthermore, it was really cool to see in the storyboard to scene featurette how a film can be turned from simple drawings into full length, effects heavy battles with body parts flying and blood splattering everywhere.
If you are a fan of Yuen Woo Ping then I would suggest you pick up a copy of True Legend, if you’re not that crazy about him but love martial arts then I would recommend at least renting it for your Sunday night fix of drunken action. At times True Legend can be a very fun and exciting piece of Asian cinema but at other moments it falls into the pits of mediocrity.
Rating: A martial arts picture that hits both sides of the quality scale. My advice is to approach with caution but enjoy the special features (5.5/10)
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