Movie Review: True Legend

By Angela Roberts

Aug. 9, 2011

True Legend poster

Chinese high-fantasy adventure True Legend is Wuxia fun at its finest. The film stars Vincent Zhao as Beggar Su, one of China’s most famous literary and legendary kung fu figures, most famously portrayed by Jackie Chan in the comedy Drunken Master. True Legend is not a comedy, however, but a drama peppered with comic moments. The English translation of the title is oddly appropriate. The film is a bit of a paradox; a mix of comedy and tragedy, a film that calls itself true yet is enthusiastically fantastical, a film that tells the ‘legend’ of a drunken madman. But the ride is worth it.

It all begins with a dizzying descent into a dark and treacherous mine swarming with savage warriors. Our hero, Su, is an accomplished military officer leading a daring rescue of a prince from the wild enemies occupying these caves. The prince offers great rewards to Su, including a governorship, but Su declines, asking that the rewards be passed on to his foster brother, Yuan. He just wants to retire, live out his life with his family and start a Wu Shu school. Fast forward five years, and Yuan comes to visit Su’s happy family, which consists of his wife Ying (Yuan’s sister), young son, and father. But all is not well; Yuan is coming to seek revenge on Su’s father for killing his own, an act perpetrated by Su’s father because Yuan’s father had been dabbling in the forbidden, Five Venom Fists, an evil martial arts technique that Yuan has now mastered. Yuan decapitates Su’s father and kidnaps his sister and nephew to take them to a ceremony honouring his father and proving revenge has been taken.

Su discovers his father’s corpse, survives an attack by Yuan’s cronies the Iron Twins, and races to the docks to battle Yuan, only to be soundly defeated by Yuan’s horrible technique and horrific self-improvements. Through the intervention of his son, Su is thrown to the river rapids rather than killed on the spot, and his wife plunges in after him. Believing his sister dead, Yuan adopts his nephew as his last living relative. But Su and Ying have not died, and Ying takes him into hiding on a remote mountain inhabited by a hermit herbalist played by the ever-recognizable Michelle Yeoh. He recovers, but descends into drunkenness when he discovers that his right arm is useless. On the mountain, he also meets what he believes are two mythic figures, who train and challenge him to get back his strength to defeat Yuan and save his son. But are they only in his mind? Is he going mad?

There’s more, with many a touching scene between father and son. True Legend is a long film, perhaps overly long because it extends past the climax of the conflict it’s spent so much time on. If the film had ended with Su defeating Yuan, it probably would have worked better. But then we wouldn’t have seen Su become Beggar Su, or begin practicing Drunken Fist. So, the portion of the film after the climactic battle is important to the character, but because of the structure, it makes the film uneven, like something has been tacked on. Like there are two films. Or like the first three quarters was just back story, and the last quarter was the real story, but there just wasn’t time for it. Which is just lazy writing.

So, if you’re going to watch True Legend, it would be best to see it for the spectacle. See it for the beautiful vistas and costumes; see it for the spectacular CGI and wire fu fights; see it for the Wuxia melodrama. Heck, see it for Michelle Yeoh, who steals every scene she’s in with her characteristic beauty and grace. She’s given some of the most awkward and blunt lines, and she delivers every single one with immense grace. These are the strengths of True Legend, and if you like these elements, you’ll greatly enjoy your experience.

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