True Legend (2011)

I'll freely admit I'm not a lover of martial arts movies, so this movie isn't geared towards me. But with a protagonist this bad, it lost all chance of enjoyment. I've never seen a character waste so many dramatic turn-arounds in my life.While many parts of the movie are beautiful and visually attractive, the movie spends so long focusing on the plot that it really should have spent some time developing likable characters and an interesting plot. The main story ends about 75% of the way through, and then it just kind of dribbles on. And the ending ... it makes less sense than the rest of the movie.Never. Again.

I am very much disappointed in the movie. It started off with so much promise then got progressively worse until the end where it felt like I was watching a totally different movie.The movie can be divided into 3 parts. The 1st part is rather good, it reminded me of the 70-80s style martial art movies. The fighting was good although the bad guy seemed over done.It started going bad for me in the middle part where our hero is training to fight the bad guy again. HORRIBLE CG work, I mean really bad. Also repetitive and add to that not very good martial arts. It also left me confused as to ...is it real or only in his head. The main plot line is concluded in the middle section. Baddie dies but a phyricc victory as hero's wife dies as well. Hero becomes a drunk which brings us to...Part 3. I guess this is where it shows him as the mythical drunken beggar. Problem is it just shows him as a weak pathetic drunk until he has to fight the whitemen ala FEARLESS style. Basically the movie looked like it jumped very far ahead in time. The "feel" and the look of the movie totally changed. It went from old time china to suddenly westerners walking around everywhere and participating in fights. The fight scenes were long and formulaic, westerners ganging up and cheating etc. The guy gets drunk and throws out some break dancing moves.For me the movie was too disjointed, add very bad CG and fights and I have to say give this a miss. Watch fearless instead or one of the drunken master movies.

"Don't you ever touch my sister like that."This is the story of a Chinese general who abandons his military and political carrier, choosing to pursue the simple life of a family man and teacher of martial arts. His decision works out well for him, until the day his half brother returns, determined to avenge the death of his father.The first part of the movie delivers what it promises: a family drama with dark and surreal overtones, balanced by a romantic atmosphere of devotion and unconditional love, set in an age of heroes and legend. And it works well - very well, in fact - until the writers decide to make it go "Puff!" in the middle of the movie, smashing the whole thing to pieces.The fighting is decent (even though Bruce Lee they're not) and you'll spend the entire time shouting "The vase!... The vase!... Watch the... vase".The special effects are not that terrible, the music is OK (in a non-irritating way) and the mood of the movie swings from soft and beautiful to angry and dreadful or desperate. The camera work is unusual, the framing and the angles are a bit strange and it takes a while for the viewer to get used to them. The scenery is beautiful and the sets are very convincing.The characters are simplistic, stereotypical and rudimentary. The hero is the protector of the family, the woman is the beautiful, devoted and loving wife and mother, and the villain is the monster who doesn't care much for anything, except his obsessions. The kid is... the most irritating kid I've seen, in a while.True Legend. As a martial arts movie it is OK, I guess, but the story requires massive improvement. 5/10.

This movie is a work of art in many ways.The Martial Arts displayed are really one of the best I have seen in a long time, yes it relies on flying and jumping everywhere, yet the fight scenes feels visceral enough not to feel to much like a dance.The actors are really awesome, and they managed to make one of the BEST antagonist of all times.Now let's get to the part that almost ruins it : The Pacing.The flow of the movie suffers greatly from a bad editing, and it is too bad because it had the potential to be a true masterpiece.This movie should have started backwards, beginning at the end, and having Su telling his story.Instead of that, the pacing can be hard to follow, and at the end I was left with a strange feeling of incompletion.Otherwise, the movie is still one of the best martial art movies of the past years, and if you are a Martial Arts fan do not miss it !