Legend of the Wolf

1997
5.8| 1h34m| en| More Info
Released: 14 June 1997 Released
Producted By: Bullet Films
Country: Hong Kong
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Wolf is a war veteran who recounts the tale of his legendary youth to a young upstart killer. Flashback to a post-World War 2 time when the young Wolf is wandering the Chinese countryside in search of his missing memories. He only knows to meet someone at an abandoned temple. He ends up hooking up with a local villager, who intends to guide the Wolf to his destination. On the way, they find Wai-Yee, who’s been waiting for Wolf for quite some time. However, Wolf still can’t remember anything, until the bad guys come to find him, and they bear the terrible secret of the Wolf's past.

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Reviews

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
gridoon "New Big Boss" / "Legend Of The Wolf" is certainly an ambitious film. With its flashbacks-within-flashbacks, occasionally philosophical dialogue, a passionate love scene, a constant "poetic" music score, etc., it's obvious that Donnie Yen was trying to make something more than a simple martial-arts film. Unfortunately, he bit off more than he could chew, and the result is awful. You know something is wrong when a movie is 3/4 of the way over and you still haven't got a clue what's going on! I could easily put up with all this arty crap if there was at least some good action. But most of the fight scenes in this movie are laughably excessive (Yen runs through entire armies of villains like the Tazmanian Devil, punching people left and right), and even those that could potentially be good (like one where the opponent has chains wrapped around his right arm, or the final showdown) are spoiled by the cartoon-like, hokey sound effects. To say that this is "the greatest martial-arts movie of all time" is downright preposterous.
The_Dead_See I will keep this very short and simple...You have never seen a jet Li film as good as this. No, not even fist of legend.You have never seen a Jackie Chan film as good as this. No, not even drunken master 2.In fact you have never seen *any* other martial arts film that even comes close to this. If you are a martial arts fan... then rent it. And if you can't rent it then buy it. If you can't buy it then steal it.'Nuff said.
dtn4b When I finally got the chance to see this movie, it lived up to and surpassed most of my expectations. Donnie Yen is both excellent as an actor and a director. Legend of the Wolf is definitely one of the best kung-fu flicks since Fist of Legend or Iron Monkey. It effectively recaptures a genre that has not been effectively done since the late 80's and early 90's.The movie contains at least 5 or 6 amazing fight scenes that complement the slightly confusing, yet thoughtful story, well. The speed of the fight scenes is lightening quick and all of the action is intense, the only downfall being that a little editing was necessary for some of the earlier fights. However, this film overcomes all of its flaws and provides a thrilling experience that should please all martial-arts fans. final score 10/10
Riche-3 (***1/2 out of ****)After first seeing still shots from this in an article in Bey Logans' wonderful Impact magazine, I was really looking forward to the day when I could see this film. I was disheartened to hear that it did very bad box office in Hong Kong. Especially considering it was Donnie Yens' directorial debut. Donnie set out to make a kung fu film. That it certainly is. Not in the traditional sense though with crane and snake stances, but in a Bruce Lee kind of way. If Bruce had been born 2 decades later and approved of a lot of under-cranking, then I can fully imagine him doing this type of film.So, what is it really like? Well, very good actually. The film is told in flashback. Many people have criticised the film for having flashbacks with flashbacks. I disagree with this. Why is it wrong? After all it only shows what the character is thinking. I did not find it confusing, and it bent the rules of film making quite well in my opinion. Anyway, on with the review! The film tells the story of a legendary character called the Wolf (Yen) and his sidekick. In the beginning we are introduced to an un-named character who is looking for the Wolf in the present day. He is brought to the Wolfs' 'office' where we see him as an old man sleeping. Donnies' sidekick starts to tell the stranger the story of how they met and the legend was born. To give too much of the plot away would be silly considering how sparsely told it is. Nothing about the way the story is told is 'in your face'. Everything is very subtle. Again, something I disagree with that most people have said about the film! Yen has certainly mastered the art of cinematography. The camera angles, colour and editing is very well done. As far as the fighting is concerned, could we expect anything less than brilliant from the Yenster? He seems to be paying homage to kung fu stars past and present. He tips his hat to Tan Tao Liang by putting hopping kicks into modern fight choreography, he moves around and side kicks like Bruce Lee, does his trademark multi-kick jumps and then puts in what seems to be a new type of choreographic brilliance. This involves some quite close in shots of the two opponents arms flailing as they block and parry. So blurred are the movements that only the sound effects give us clues as to the blocking and hitting. It works very well. Donnie shows that he can take choreographing of the martial arts another step towards, and beyond an artform. A few reviews I have seen on this film have said that there isn't much fighting. If ever there was a totally false statement, that is it. Much like Mr Nice Guy, Legend has action by the bucket load. All of it hand to hand fighting. There is one forest fight about a third of the way in to the film that could easily be a prelude to Yen facing up to the main fighting villain of the film at the end. Another fight not long afterwards could very easily be an end fight on its own! A few more fights are just as big. This film has no less than 3 big fights at the end. One against multiple opponents in a village and a forest, then there is the fight against a man known as Monkey which is probably one of the best screen fights I have seen. The last fight is very brutal.For people who hate wires (me included), this film stays well away from them. Extreme under-cranking is used only on occasion rather than all of the time. This lets in more traditional choreography. Its surreal and uses dialogue sparingly. I think that this is one film that although people are criticising the hell out of it at the moment. In the future it will get its due.