True Legend (2009)

[Charuto]

I don't even dislike wire-work, but it was really misused in this movie. Using it to assist some guy flipping over a fence or taking a long stride are just instances where you should get a more athletic actor/double.

[Ronin]

I really enjoyed the film, the choreography is very typically 90s style - reminded me of Iron Monkey a lot with the bending of reality/gravity and use of wires.

I think so long as you go in expecting this style of exaggerated choreography there's a lot of enjoyment to be taken from it. Some exchanges are brilliantly done, and while the story is basic and the final 30mins does feel like the start of a new film I still enjoyed it as an entertaining action film.

As a side note some of the cinematography and landscapes (especially the fight near the raging rapids) are just beautiful.

Pretty much agree with ghevans - really enjoyed this film and want a blu-ray of it ASAP! It was great seeing Chiu Man Cheuk (Vincent Zhao Wenzuo) in a lead role again and Andy On was excellent as the main antagonist. Another awesome film from Yuen Woo Ping!

[Heywood Jahitme]

I had still held out a little hope, but this turned out to be awful in a lot of ways. They should use this as an example of how not to use wires, slow-mo, and special effects.

The last half of the movie I was thinking, "Maybe I should break out 'Hero Among Heroes' for later on this week." I don't remember it being anything great, but I do remember liking it a whole lot more than this.

Andy On's character looking cool might literally be the highlight of the entire affair..

Pretty much agree with this.

The overuse of wires, slow mo and special effects (in this case filming some of the fight scenes to take advantage of 3D more than anything else) takes the rawness and reality away from the kung fu action which is usually portrayed through the choreography and actor's ability. There's some moments of YWP brilliance in there but unfortunately it's overwhelmed by the other stuff.

I preferred Hero Among Heroes too, which at the time I thought overused the wires. But at least it didn't overuse slow mo or have sfx to distract you even further.

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

I'm on the disliked side...

First the movie reaks patchwork from Fearless. And tho whole thing is so stupid, first, honestly, do you know a mother that will abandon their child to a psycopath, in order to maybe save her husband who has fallen to an almost certain death? After that we have a movie with pacing problems, that drags for to long and should've ended after the fight with Andy On...

But the main problem is the choreo. I like the early 90s kung fu movie period, so I don't mind wires. But this is to much. Almost every flip or jumping kick is wire assisted, and very apparently so. There are a couple flashes of greatness but it all ends to quickly. It's all about 3 or 4 moves, and then someone is sent flying in a wall or whatever piece of props needs to be destroyed. Fights never get a good flow and rythm. And I'm not even mentionning the final fight against David Carradine's skill less wrestlers, wich is a total bore.

One of my favorite part was Jay Chou as a drunken master... That's not a good sign:squigglemouth:. Oh and Andy On's character with his sewed armor and the way he maintains his special Five venom power is stupididly great. All in all a very disapointing effort for once the top guy in the buisiness. Despite some good flashes, it appears Yuen Woo Ping has lost his luster... Let's hope he can regain his composure in his next effort, had been after all the most consistant fight choreographer in Hong Kong...

[rdenn]

It's all about 3 or 4 moves, and then someone is sent flying in a wall or whatever piece of props needs to be destroyed. QUOTE]

totally agree that was my main gripe with this movie, it just was happening to often, 3 exchanges and crash through a wall, table, etc... just go so boring and no one could get off the floor without being lifted by a wire we all know Chiu Man Cheuk can do that by himself, they need to find the wireman that worked on long road to gallantry to learn how to use them properly and at the right time not for every movement.... bring on gallants with bruce liang and chen kwun tai.

[QueMuchita]

I thought this movie was awesome, I've now watched it a few times, each time its better .

[VenomsFan]

I have a feeling that if this was a Donnie Yen pic people would swear it was awesome!

We need to take these films for what they are. I am checking it out this weekend, but knowing it's a Woo Ping vehicle I cannot be dissapointed.

These chinese epic films which sparked a rebirth since Crouching Tiger are like a genre of their own. They will have wires, tales of love and betrayal. What's interesting is how the story is told THIS time around.

I hear it was released in theatres 3d and that had to be a visual feast nonetheless.

[dopemonkie]

i feel yuen woo ping shouldnt have been the director for this film but just as a fight choreographer.. this was his first directorial effort in like a decade.. shouldve gotten someone else to direct it.. maybe it wouldve been better.. i enjoyed it, im a big vincent fan.. was hoping this would be his comeback break through for him and be huge like how ip man was for donnie.. hopefully his next project will be better

[DiP]

We need to take these films for what they are.

Of course, to decide if you like it or not. Not everyone likes everything that's being made.

[daTOAD]

Agree with Ghevans, reminds me more of a 90s Jet Li flick. I personnally have been searching for this type of movie again. Most evrything coming out now is like Crouching Tiger- artsy/martial fantasy scene. Who played the drunken master at the inn[i love drunken styles and this scene was my favorite ]. And for a person like myself who LOVES fake beards, Beggar Su's look was perfect. Tone was a liitle weird in the end ,but action was good. maybe setting up for sequel.

[LeRolls]

Any word on a Blu-Ray release? Want to pick this one up along with 14 Blades.

[nectarsis]

Just finished this a bit ago. While I do agree there was def to much "Fearless" at the end that made the last part feel a bit disjointed...I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would going in to it.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

And word on an upcoming Blu Ray release of "True Legend"?

[wizard12220]

Too many unnecessary wire-works, slow-mo "Matrix" style fighting ruined the overall movie. It should be better without all of that.

[Ramji]

Just watched it last night. Had a great time. Overuse of wires? Yeah it was looking that way at the beginning but when things first started kicking off between Vincent Zhao and Andy On it had me gripping my hands together in excitement. Some of the pacing during the training scenes did seem a little off with some strange cuts which took a bit of the punch out of things. The 3rd act for me wasn't a problem as in some ways it was nice to see Begger Su's story continue although I was fearful of what people are describing as the Fearless syndrome (soon to be seen in Ip Man 2). Am getting fed up of the cliched muscle bound westerners screwing up there face bearhugging people to death. At least don't make them out to be idiots and you'll have a better fight on your hands. Even though the fight didn't contain too many extended bouts of intricate choreography I personally enjoyed and found it more stimulating than the Li Jones fight in Fearless. Definately worth a watch (and a buy) and to pass this one because of some negative criticism would be a shame as it's a full on fight fest that you don't see so much of nowadays from Yuen Woo Ping himself.

[David Rees]

Good film, great cinematography, but found it very difficult to get emotionally involved with the charaters. Not sure if its to do with Vincent Zhou's acting or just the general direction of the film.

Andy On has matured now into a great action actor , although his venom fist was a little too over the top for my taste.

Yuen Woo Ping is without doubt a great choreographer but you should know what to expect with his fight scenes after Iron Monkey, he loves inventive wirework. It was ok for this movie but i kept wondering how better it would have been if say Sammo Hung would have been in charge and made it a bit more grounded and realistic.

Good to see Gordon Liu and Michelle Yeoh in cameo's even if they didnt fight and a strange last appearance by David Carradine in charge of the wrestler types at the end which did drift into Fearless territory i must admit.

Overall i give it a 6 out of 10.

[DiP]

Watched the movie earlier today. Liked most of what I saw from the action. It's still the same consistent style from Woo Ping yet the overall choreography was very different, had another feel and look to it. Loved it. That said, I think they could've used some better opponents for Vincent (minus Andy On, Cung Le, and Jiang Lu-Xia, they were fire). As a movie, it was quite disjoined, some places needed better writing.

[Drunken Monk]

I finally watched this last night (part of a double bill with “Ip Man 2”) and all I can say is, what a mess. Even after the bad reviews I hoped it would still be great. It’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I was mildly entertained and I didn’t think it was AWFUL but it was pretty close. It’s like Yuen Woo Ping lost all focus and just decided to throw as many useless gimmicks and cameos our way as possible. The cgi, slow motion shots, people crashing into countless objects and ridiculous bout with wrestlers were all unnecessary.

I don’t know, the whole film just felt wrong. Andy On’s character was great…so was his style. Everything else was a mish-mash of concepts and ideas that don’t blend together at all. Sure, there were moments of Woo Ping genius but they were few and far between.

**SPOILERS**The fights he has with imaginary characters, while interesting in parts, were ridiculous as an idea**SPOILERS**

I can’t believe how disappointed I was with this. The whole third act felt forced and Beggar Su was a wholly unlikeable character.

By the way, the credits claim that Woo Ping didn’t actually do the choreography for the film. Is that true?

[One Armed Boxer]

Just got through watching this one and have stayed away from this thread until now to keep my opinion clean! Have to agree with what many people have said...it`s a very middling movie, not too bad but nothing special.

The ending is ridiculous though, and I doubt it would even exist without `Fearless`, yes I read it was similar before but I didn`t realize exactly how similar, only it doesn`t match the quality or the emotional punch that `Fearless` does.

The final fight should have been between Vincent Zhao and Andy On, not a bunch of beefed up western meat heads on steroids. I also preferred Su`s fighting style before he developed drunken fist...which for the record he seemed to create in the space of about 2 minutes from some guy in a restaurant...it looked like Yuen Wo Ping had decided to check out `Raging Phoenix` before making this movie, or perhaps re-visit his old classic `Mismatched Couples`. This isn`t the drunken style Beggar Su teaches to Wong Fei Hung in `Drunken Master` thats for sure!

I now have a sense of dread about watching `Ip Man 2` after reading that movie also veers off into similar territory in the second half.

I realize choreography evolves, but spinning around on your back with over the top "swirling" sounds didn`t really do it for me.

[Guest ekisha]

Damn, after reading all these posts i won't allow myself to watch this.

[Space]

Damn, after reading all these posts i won't allow myself to watch this.

There's some clips of it on YouTube, that should be enough to know whether it's for you or not.

Personally....hated it!

[GWB]

Damn, after reading all these posts i won't allow myself to watch this.

Personally . . . I enjoy it !!!

The moutain view is really great, the acting is corect, the fighting is much more better than "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" or the more recent "Storm warriors" of which I felt asleep , yes there is wire, yes the plot is "fearless" like, but the movie is still entertaining to me !!!

[daisho2004]

OK I just finished watching this movie and like most everyone on here I do agree there was too much wire-fu used. But the action scenes were totally awesome! I cannot believe there was so many negative reviews about this movie! The fight scene between Vincent Zhao and Andy On was off the hook! And I'm glad it was in the middle of the movie. Yes it did have a glimpse of Fearless in it. But so what it was a different style of fighting. I've always been a big fan of Vincent Zhao so I was glad to see him back in a main stream HK film. I was hoping to see a fight between Vincent Zhao & Gordon Liu I think that would've been great. Andy On's Venom style was nastily wicked. Some of the CGI wasn't used right but that really didn't bother me. I thought it had an excellent storyline and Awesome Fight scenes. So anyone who has been holding back from seeing this movie you need to pick this up and watch it ASAP! I'm hoping to see some more great movies in the next year coming out of HK!

[lillippa328]

I cant believe so many negative comments about this fantastic movie!!This movie was extremely good!!!

Yea there are some wires, special effects, fantasy, and 3d type spots, but, who cares? Not every movie has to be 100 percent realistic, take it for what it is, and you'll love it!!

The wires are used, but deff. do not take anything away from the amazing fight scenes....awsome camera work and long cuts between shots, the styles were amazing....

and they have TRAINING SEQUENCES!!!!I WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE REAL TRAINING SEQUENCES! Thank you so much Woo Ping!!

Drunken style was crazy, and loved when he learned it.....

jay chou really impressive....as was andy on....Vincent Zhao is still a personal favorite of mine and im glad he got such an awsome role to show is skill....

ONLY complaint: *tiiiny tiny spoilers*

they didnt give any of the legends a fight scene! Gordon Liu, Beardy, Michelle Yo, David Carradine...none of em....

but still good to see them....loved this movie

[FrankBolte]

as a movie I liked it better than yip man 2...the fights were unrealistic but awesome,so far one of my favies for 2010...