Rise of the Legend (2014) - Wong Fei-Hung Reboot

[TheGrimReaper]

What can I say about that movie...

I saw it yesterday as part of my regular movie marathon during my off days and overall i was not impressed, sure there was some moments of sunshine in cinematography and design, but in martial arts department it was quite plain and flat, despite some slow-mo thrown in to emphasise the action and the general "power" within WFH.

But that main character lacks the quilities that made other portrayals of the master in the likes of Jet Li, Hwan Tak Hing and some others.

It's just that Eddie Peng wasn't very convincing in the martial arts section IMO. he was trying to be righteous, full of moral principels and all, but it was just like a patch to the whole martial arts picture.

At some point when the love romance kicked in I got bit bored and the final fight was (putting it midly) a CGI/wire mess...

It is ok for one viewing, but I won't repeat the process... Once upon a time in Shanghai, Kung fu jungle and even not so famous Brotherhood of Blades were far more interesting to watch and had more entertaining value for me

3/10 for the effort or revitalizing the legend and because of the end credits song - it is catchy

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

A new adventure of everyone's favorite chinese folk hero is always something that diserve to be of interest so I decided to give this a chance.

From the get go, despite the flaws, I liked what I saw. I liked the somewhat grittier tone and I was very surprised by where they were taking the character. Hell, I even surprised myself involved in the plot!

Even the action, satisfied me (minus the fact we're served the same fight twice in the first twenty minutes). It was simple, flashy, very gimmicky, obviously done by non-martial artists but it was well put together and good enough to keep me entertain.

Then the shit hit the fan... At the halfway mark, we're treated with the first fight involving Sammo Hung. We're then treated with some of the most abysmal wirework choreaography I've ever have the pain to witness. You've got a bunch of people non-sensicaly flipping, flying and sliding in ways that defy any logic. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind wirework when it's used properly, but this is not it. At almost every take I was going with stuff like "WTF!?! Why would he slide backward on his knee?" Seriously, it ruined any ambition I had to finish the thing. Corey Yuen needs to be put in a place where he can never aproach any level of involvement in a fight choreography. Ever.

[AlbertV]

Well Go USA is releasing the film sometime in May. 

[Iron_Leopard]

Good enough to see once. But I don't see any reason to watch it again.

I'm ready for sequel. Can it be as good as OUATIC II?

[DrNgor]

I'm still waiting for this film to get a release here. I want to see if Corey Yuen has regained his step!!!!

[DrNgor]

What is Eddie Peng's martial arts background, if it even exists?

[ShaOW!linDude]

1 hour ago, DrNgor said:

What is Eddie Peng's martial arts background, if it even exists?

None. According to his IMDB page, He had no formal training prior to taking on the role. He's apparently very much the method actor, so he sold his fights pretty well.

[DrNgor]

4 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

None. According to his IMDB page, He had no formal training prior to taking on the role. He's apparently very much the method actor, so he sold his fights pretty well.

Thanks for the quick response. I still want to see this badly. I know that Corey Yuen still has a few more projects of 80s/early 90s calibre still left in him.

Edited December 30, 2017 by DrNgor

[ShaOW!linDude]

26 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

Thanks for the quick response. I still want to see this badly. I know that Corey Yuen still has a few more projects of 80s/early 90s calibre still left in him.

It's okay. Think I caught it on Netflix. I was leery about dropping any coin on it, and I'm glad I didn't. There's some good grounded choreography in it, but it has a healthy dose of wire-fu, too. The end fight has its moments. It's worth an initial viewing.

[DrNgor]

Rewatched this today. I think I enjoyed it a little more the second time. It is refreshing that despite the subplot of selling illegally-acquired labor to foreigners, this is more about the Chinese's inhumanity to other Chinese. And reading recently about the 19th century in China, it really was a hellish place to live at the time. This film effectively brings out that side of history, even if it's only focusing on gang activity in a single city.

My original review:

Rise of the Legend (2014) - So, this is like Once Upon a Time in China by way of Batman Begins. Structurally, both movies are similar (the earliest exploits of the heroes intercut with flashbacks to said hero's childhood and training), and both films deal with an (almost)-lone hero venturing into the dark criminal underbelly of his/her hometown. Both films come with a harder edge, especially where the violence is concerned, than its predecessors. And both men (Wong Fei-Hung and Bruce Wayne) lose their fathers at a very young age. The problem is that Batman Begins is a good movie, this one isn't.

Chronologically, the film more or less begins with a young girl who's friends with Wong Fei-Hung being sold into prostitution, presumably to satisfy her mother's debts. Wong Kei-Ying (a cameo by Tony Leung Kar-Fei) beats up the loan shark responsible, but refuses to deal a killing blow. Later, the ruffian and his men set Po Chi Lam afire, resulting in Kei-Ying's death. Wong Fei-Hung and his friend, Fiery, are taken in by a monk and taught kung fu. Years later, Wong Fei-Hung infiltrates the Black Tiger Gang, led by Sammo Hung, to bring it down from the inside. Helping him from a distance is the Orphan Gang, led by Fiery.

Despite a 130-minute running time (much like the original OUATIC), the film never feels as deep or rich on the character side as its predecessor. Part of the reason could be is that film takes itself way too seriously, and thus deprives itself of the opportunity to establish each character's quirks and flaws and thus give them an extra dimension. The bad guys are irredeemibly bad, the good guys are righteous and stoic. The film isn't quite so shallow as the same year's Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, but if you watch OUATIC, then you'll remember things like Master Yim's compromising his values in order to raise money for his school, Leung Foon's being torn between what's right and being a filial student, or the desperation that Ah So feels when he can't read the Chinese labels on the medicine during an emergency. It's not necessarily how long the film is, but what you do with the time you have.

The action is brought to you by Corey Yuen and his crew, who do a decent job. Eddie Peng isn't a martial artist, but had starred in the MMA drama Unbeatable the year before and was in great shape. Much like Norman Tsui and some others of old, he can do everything the choreographer asks him to do, which is fine. The showstopper is a prolonged battle in an alleway between Wong Fei-Hung and dozens of gang members armed with choppers and axes. A swordfight with the son of a slain gang boss is also pretty good, while the finale is a one-on-one duel against Sammo Hung that reminds us that Hong Kong hasn't learned its lesson from The Touch about unconvincing CGI flames. Speaking of CGI, there's a lot of Matrix-esque slo-mo, shots of objects being broken in such a way that you can practically count each and every individual splinter, and even a dated "let's-stop-the-image-and-spin-the-camera-around-the-actors" bit that I thought had gone out of style in 2003. This artificial dressing may be occasionally pretty to look at, but it also keeps the films from delivering any all-time classics. Like Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, the film was nominated for Best Action Choreography, only to lose to Kung Fu Jungle.

[DarthKato]

I watched Rise of The Legend (2014) today and I thought it was pretty good. The story was fine, but man, the characters were fantastic. I liked all our heroes (Especially the character Xiao Hua, a lovable courtesan played by Angela Yeung Wing aka Angelababy). Eddie Peng, who plays our main hero Wong Fei-Hung, is a badass in this movie and he has amazing onscreen charisma that I haven't felt from an action star in a long time. The story itself, as mentioned, was fine. Nothing really new to see here. It was your standard "Hero rises to save the People" story you have seen a million times before, but it's done fairly well here. So, I wouldn't count that as a negative, because a solid enough set of characters can make just about any story good. Or even great, for that matter. And this movie has a very strong set of characters, as I mentioned before. 

So yeah, I was pleasantly entertained, and it never felt like a movie that was over two hours long (2H11Min to be exact). The action scenes were, for the most part, pretty good and well-choregraphed. I loved how every punch and kick really felt like it had some weight behind it and that people were really getting messed up. The only problem I had with the action was the Slow-Mo. I hate when movies have pointless Slow-motion that feels tacked on for the sake of looking "cool". It's not cool. It just slows down the action and nearly ruins what would otherwise be really fun action scenes. Other than that, it was a pretty solid movie. So, I'll give it a 4/5. Any MA fan should come out of this movie fairly pleased.