True Legend Review

The Deal...

     I was in Walmart the other day checking if the Enter The Dragon blu-ray had dropped from its astronomical price of $35; unfortunately it hadn't. While I was there I scanned the shelves for other kung fu movies that had a more reasonable price tag.
     As luck would have it, there were blu-ray two-packs on sale for $12. While digging through stacks of movies that I didn't care about, I happened upon True Legend and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. I hadn't saw either movie, so i figured there was no harm in buying them and adding them to the ol' collection.

The Case Design/Movie Poster

     Yesterday I popped in True Legend because I liked the cover better. Yes, I really did judge the book by its cover. The picture on the front of the case was reminiscent of an old Shaw Bros. poster from the 60's. Hoping and praying that this would be an entertaining film, I pushed the play button.
   
The Praise...

     True Legend is a film that can be enjoyed by everyone,but especially so by fan-boys of HK cinema. Undetectable by the average viewer, True Legend drops hints at being the sequel to Five Deadly Venoms and a prequel to Drunken Master.
     The plot is essentially a retelling of the life of Chinese folk hero, Beggar So. If you remember correctly, Beggar So is the old red-nosed master of Drunken Fists style kung fu in Jackie Chans Hit Film, Drunken Master. The film starts with So, not as a beggar, but as an honorable Qing court warrior.
    So that the audience understands how great he is, the first scene is of Su Can (soon to be Beggar So) wrapped up in a daring plot to save a princess. Success seems to follow the guy wherever he goes, and after the rescue, is offered a promotion which he promptly turns down. Opting to settle down and start a family, he hand over his promotion to his adopted brother, Yuan.
     Fast forward, Su Can finds five years of bliss and happiness married to Yuans only sister interrupted by Yuans not so friendly home coming. Yuan, who is now a governor/warlord shows up unannounced and looking mighty pale. Arriving with a virtual army on the day of Su Can's fathers birthday, Yuan cuts down his adopted father and all of his servants.The reason for this extreme behavior is revealed when a dialog between Yuan and the Su Can takes place. It is uncovered that Yuan was adopted as a boy, out of sympathy, by Su's father after he had killed Yuans biological father. Yuans Father was the infamous leader of the Five Venom's Clan, a group of five martial arts experts who mastered the poisonous style of the toad, centipede, snake, scorpion, and lizard. Basically they did many bad things, killed a lot of people, yadda yadda... classic Shaw story lines.
   Yuan, looking for revenge, trained himself in all five styles which involved poisoning himself with the venom's of all five creatures. To top everything off, his poison filled body is covered in gold armor that is sewn directly to his skin. Ultimately he avenges his fathers death by killing his adopted father and tossing Su Cans beaten body into a raging river.

Gordon Liu looking like a drunk Pai Mei

     Su Can is able to survive the rushing waters with the help of his wife and the local medicine woman (Michelle Yeoh), but loses his kung-fu skills. The following sequences are the healing, re-learning, and semi-insanity of Su in a picturesque mountain setting. Two major names (well, more like one and a half) that pop up during the training settings are Gordon Liu as the "Old Sage" and Jay Chou as "the God of Wushu". The God of Wushu, with his over the top costume, helps Su Can develop his drunken style boxing while the old sage sits by and laughs/taunts the oft defeated Su. Any appearance by Gordon Liu makes me nerd out and, in my opinion, can save even the worst movie (kill bill vol.2). Jay Chou is simply not one of my favorite actors, and his role should have been played by someone who would have done the title "god of wushu" a little more justice. Nevertheless, he does ok, and with a little wire assistance manages to pull off the part.

The Complaint...

     Every party needs a pooper, and unfortunately this pooper comes in the form of the final 1/3 of the movie. Up to this point there has been some great old school style Shaw Bros. style filming, story telling, and acting. If True Legend would have kept this trend, the film would have been truly legendary. Much to my dismay, after the death of spooky uncle Yuan, the film takes a bizarre twist and tries to transform itself into Fearless, Ip Man 2, or a myriad of other politically driven films that HK has produced. Somehow the film shifts from a classic "You killed my teacher/family " revenge flick to a "the white devil is destroying our land and killing our buffalos" film.
     I suppose this was done to set up the scene showing the completion of the Drunken Fist style, but man oh man could they have done it better. In fact, the movie ends feeling like a completely different film than you started with.

Conclusion...

Though it has its flaws, I really do love this movie. Director Yuen Woo-Ping does an overall great job on the film. I would love to see more movies done in this style, but that would actually stick true to the genre. I think we could be on the verge of something special and have a possible re-vision in the world of martial arts films in the near future. I suggest you give this one a watch! HIYa!!!