Review of True Legend (2010) by Jesse O — 22 Nov 2014

A good martial arts movie that peaks 75 minutes in. Which is unfortunate considering that there are close to 40 minutes left in the movie by this point. Martial arts movie have never really been about the story as much as they have been a showcase for some really badass action sequences and showcasing different fighting styles.

This is no different. Of course that means that the story, understandably, takes a backseat. But I still stand behind what I said that the movie peaks about 75 minutes in and the rest didn't really need to go as long as it did.

Essentially, Su gets his revenge, but at the same time he loses someone very close to him. After this, he lets himself go...he becomes a drunk and lives on the street with his son. He's lost his confidence even though we saw him go through that after his first battle with Yuan.

I suppose the idea behind this being that he regained enough of his confidence back the first time, and it cost him the person he loved more than his son due to his own thirst for vengeance. But to repeat that again, Su regaining his confidence to save his son this time, just isn't as satisfying because you had literally just seen it less than an hour prior.

The climactic action scene isn't particularly satisfying because, he's fighting some big muscular motherfuckers, so they clearly aren't as agile. So these scenes aren't particularly satisfying because these other guys can't really do much.

There's a cool scene here where it's shown how Drunken Fist style, supposedly, originated. This is easily the best scene after the movie peaks. The fighting itself isn't particularly complex, we're not talking about The Raid type stuff here, but it is satisfying.

Su and Yuan's final fight is really good and bloody. I'm really surprised I rated the movie as highly considering how truly uninspiring the last 40 minutes are. It's obvious that they were struggling and they felt the story was incomplete, even though it had reached its natural conclusion, so they stretched it out much longer than it honestly needed to go.

I realize it would feel like there were some unresolved issues, but the movie would've been much better. It's still good though, but it should've been better. If you're going to watch the film, shut it off after Yuan and Su's final fight.

You will thank me for it, the film doesn't fall apart, but it decreases in quality greatly. Might've given it a good score, but this was very disappointing.