Film Review: True Legend
Tuesday, 17 May 2011 18:40
Film Review: True Legend
Martial arts choreographer and Hong Kong legend Yuen Woo Ping returns to the director's chair after fifteen years in his latest wu xia adventure, True Legend
After 15 years since occupying the director’s chair, master Hong Kong action choreographer/director Yuen Woo Ping returns with his latest film True Legend (courtesy of Indomina Releasing). The action director, perhaps best known to Western audiences via his trademark wire-work kung fu in projects including The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Kill Bill 1 and 2, is an institution to Hong Kong cinema. Besides his recent projects, Woo Ping can also be credited with helping discover Jackie Chan via his first two features, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master. True Legend succeeds less as a visionary new direction for the martial arts genre though and more as a comfortable, compendium of tropes that any moderate martial arts fan will recognize, while showcasing the high energy, yet gracefully flowing action that the filmmaker has spent over thirty years perfecting.
The tale unfolds in mid-19th century China; as the Qing dynasty is under attack and Western influences creep onto the mainland, martial artist/army general Su Can (Vincent Zhao) leads an elite group of warriors to retrieve the royal prince from the clutches of a rebel tribe. Showcasing ninja-like stealth, the fighters clash with the Mongolian look-alikes in a frenzy of swinging swords, slashing spears, and kung fu. Yuen wastes no time in introducing us to his main characters through action rather than word; as the melee of warriors battle within the cavernous, mountain lair, one is reminded of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in terms of scale and a desire to depict epic action within an underworld.
As a reward for his service, Su is offered governorship of an important province but defers the prize to his foster brother Yuan (Andy On). Raised by Su’s father (along with his younger sister Ying) after their father’s death; Yuan lives within his foster brother’s shadow until finally reaching a position of power. In the intervening years, Su marries Ying, has a son named Little Feng, and lives peacefully at his father’s martial arts school to perfect his skills.
Yuan returns one day though, to reunite with his sister and seek vengeance against Su’s family, who murdered his father eighteen years before. Mastering the supernaturally deadly Five Venom Fists (not so subtle allusion to another martial arts classic, Five Deadly Venoms), Yuan overpowers Su and casts him off seemingly to his death. What follows is a standard tale of the hero surviving, retraining himself after calamitous injury, and learning a new, powerful form (the Drunken Fist) to counter his enemies’supernatural technique. Frankly it is the same formula seen again and again in film, however, there is comfort to be had if one accepts the plot template and concentrates instead on the fighting.
It is here that Yuen excels by combining swordplay, wire-fu, MMA, and other fight techniques to showcase as varied a palette as possible. Combined with average yet effective CGI, period clothing and production design, True Legend suffices as any solidly made wu xia entertainment. Dramatically though, the film is able to infuse a moderate level of psychological complexity by framing much of its emotional arc around Su’s loss and quest to regain his confidence as a fighter and man.
After suffering defeat after defeat, both physical and spiritual, Su reaches an alcoholic rock bottom that Zhao is able to imbue with sufficient diffidence. Countering Su’s despair though is Yuan’s thirst for vengeance and desire for family, which On portrays with conviction. By allowing glimpses of his softer, inner life and hope to reunite with his sister and nephew, On is able to provide the villain with an understandable justification for his treachery. While he is undoubtedly evil, Yuan reminds the viewer that he was made this way, not born into it.
Structurally, the film’s single most narrative flaw is the abrupt shift in direction it takes two thirds into it as the plot line adjusts from Su’s inevitable battle with Yuan to bringing down a corrupt Western-run arena featuring wrestlers killing martial artists for sport. Even stranger to behold is David Carradine (in one of his final roles) as the ringleader, goading his fighters on in an impromptu tournament reminiscent of The Quest. Carradine looks and feels nothing but uncomfortable in this underwritten, woodenly delivered performance.
This last act should have been removed entirely in favor of expanding the main plotline and elevating the stakes further. However, the action sequences once again occupy center stage long enough to distract from these issues and with cameos including Michelle Yeoh, Gordon Liu, and Cung Le, director Woo Ping delivers on the promise of his technical mastery. Again, the world of martial arts has not been redefined within this film but it is still enjoyable with popcorn and bemusement nonetheless.
To learn more, head over to http://truelegend.indomina.com
