True Legend

cover

AKA: The Legend of Beggar So

Year of release: 2010

Genre: martial arts

Director: Yuen Woo-Ping

Action director: Yuen Woo-Ping

Producers: William Kong, Zhang Zhen-Yan

Writer: Christine To

Cinematography: Zhao Xiao-Ding

Editing: Wenders Li

Music: Shigeru Umebayashi

Stars: Zhao Wen-Zhuo, Zhou Xun, Jay Chou, Michelle Yeoh, Andy On, Cung Le, Feng Xiaogang, David Carradine, Leung Kar-Yan

Rated IIB for violence

This movie is available to purchase at www.sensasian.com

Sensasian

Movie Review Index
Main Page

True Legend  True Legend

True Legend  True Legend

Yuen Woo-Ping steps into the director's chair for the first time since 1996's Tai Chi II with True Legend, which tells the story of So Chan (aka Beggar So), a Chinese folk hero who is said to be the person that perfected the drunken fist style of martial arts. With such an important character and Yuen's world-class reputation, expectations for this film were high.

The lynchpin for a film like this is oftentimes the star, which in this case is Zhao Wen-Zhuo (aka Vincent Zhao). Zhao was an actor who first appeared during Hong Kong's production blitzkrieg of the early 1990's that never seemed to attain major stardom, even after replacing Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China series. Over the past decade, Zhao has been appearing much more on TV series from both Hong Kong and the Mainland, where he has found success -- but in many ways, True Legend can be viewed as his comeback.

In his film career, Zhao has always seemed to be an actor who works much better with directors of higher caliber. Thus, when he works with hacks like Aman Chang, we get the poor Body Weapon. Throw Tsui Hark into the mix, and viewers are treated to The Blade, which is considered a modern martial arts classic. True Legend doesn't attain those lofty heights, but it's obvious that Zhao and Yuen Woo-Ping worked well together.

From the dramatic scenes to the numerous fights, everything in True Legend flows together, and there doesn't seem to be much wasted time, even though the movie clocks in at around two hours. Zhao makes So a convincing and compelling lead character, and is paired well against his nemesis in the film, his adopted brother, Yuan (Andy On), which makes the second act (the training segment) actually fun to watch, rather than feeling like a chore. By the time the end fights occur, your pulse rate had better be going, or else you should seek a physician.

Sadly, True Legend falls prey to what is becoming much too common in recent Hong Kong and Mainland films: bad-looking CGI effects. In particular, the amount of time spent in front of greenscreens during the training scenes undermines what should be the real special effect people are looking at -- the performers. Thankfully, there isn't too much of an emphasis on wannabe big effects outside of these segments. Unfortunately, there is a terrible kid actor (who plays So's son) that permeates the whole movie whose screeching and whining may have you reaching for some Advil, a cold beer, or maybe (in this reviewer's case) both.

In the end, though, True Legend is nothing earth-shattering, but fans of high-flying wire-fu will find a lot to enjoy here. It's a picture that will reassure the viewer that Yuen Woo-Ping still has the goods, and might just convince them that Zhao Wen-Zhuo is a possible breakout star in the martial arts film world.

RATING: 7.5

Note: the original theatrical version had a few scenes that were presented in 3-D. Most reviews reported that the effect was underwhelming to say the least. To date (July 2010) no home video version has been released that contains the 3-D footage.