AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Alison Beggar Su is a folkloric kung fu hero, and "True Legend" is Su's story told in epic form, from esteemed general to madman to drunkard to hero. Vincent Zhao is the titular hero, who after rescuing a kidnapped prince, returns home to his wife Ying (Zhou Xun) and young son, rather than becoming a governor as the prince offers in reward for his service. Instead, he hands the governorship over to his foster brother Yuan (Andy On), thinking to share his good fortune with the man he thinks of as a brother and who is in fact Ying's actual brother. He doesn't realize that Yuan is full of hatred and vengeful feelings for Su's family, because Su's father had killed Yuan's real father many years earlier, to prevent that rampaging man from killing more innocent people. Five years later, Yuan has control of an army, and he is seeking vengeance....That is only the opening section of this film, directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, who is best known in the West for choreographing the fight scenes in "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." "True Legend" is full of fight scenes, some of the quite funny, some of them quite beautiful; and it is also full of cameos of kung fu superstars such as Gordon Liu, Michelle Yeoh and, in his last role, David Carradine. I find that a little kung fu fighting goes a long way, but if you're going to see a kung fu film, you couldn't find better than this.

sAfuRos Let me start off my review with the good part: the wushu and action is brilliantly choreographed. It's not particularly over-the-top or flashy, but a more classic take on martial arts, and one of the best i've seen in a while.However, the whole of the movie has no idea what the hell it is doing. There are, essentially, three arcs in this movie. 1) Short, builds up the character 2) The vast majority of the movie and with the real plot 3) What the hell?In fact, let me qualify. The first and second arc together would be quite good alone if the third was not a part of the movie. Su, respected soldier, declines an offer to become governor and instead settles down with his pretty wife and has a kid. He recommends his foster brother (Yuan) - also his wife's brother - to the post, and leaves hoping his foster brother will be happy (Yuan has always seen himself living in Su's shadow). A few years later, unfortunately, Yuan is a bitter man and comes to kill Su and his foster father after perfecting the evil Five Venom Fists, and kidnaps Su's kid. Su ends up on a mountain with his wife, training to right the wrongs. Nothing brilliant, but oftentimes wushu movies are not the most plot driven, so it's OK. And i'll admit that the plot actually had me interested, even though it was fairly corny; i was under the impression that it was kind of a feel good movie with lots of ass kicking.The problem arises with the ending of the second arc and the beginning of the third into the end. You would think the second arc would end in a certain way (to avoid spoilers), given the way the whole movie works. But it ends unfittingly dissatisfying for no particular reason. And i This was absolutely not a movie that should have had the ending it did (for the second arc). In fact, excepting the very ending and the third arc, the fighting and the acting were good enough that i considered giving this movie an 8, because it was simply very solid for what it tried to be (until it started to be idiotic). There were even elements of plot that could have been more interesting and explored further, i thought, but ultimately were cast aside lazily. Primarily, i refer to Su meeting one "God of Wushu" as he trains on the mountain. His encounter not only appears entirely ridiculous - it's made apparent that actually, Su is going insane, and instead of having found a master of martial arts, is instead getting extremely drunk and rolls around injuring himself. At the same time, however, you know that Su will eventually go to fight his brother to reclaim his son, so there's actually a bit of potential - the movie has definitive elements of the fantastical already, so i was willing to accept some sort of Wushu god plot line, or perhaps some sort of revelation/epic training thing - but no, apparently Su IS insane, yet apparently his drunken rolling has actually turned him into the master of kung-fu he was deluded about? It would work if there was some sort of element of the God of Wushu being NOT a total delusion, but in fact he was, and we are even shown Su rolling around like a drunk - so it really makes no sense.And that is really the crux of the problem with the movie - again, it has no idea what it wants to be. It's as if the screenwriter had a brilliant idea, but decided he didn't really give a damn about it making sense 4/5 the way through. I'll try and make an analogy: say you are skiing down a slope. It's a double black diamond - steep, mogul covered, all that jazz - and you have wrecked the slope, looking great the whole way down. At the end, as you enter the flat part of the mountain, just coasting to a stop, you suddenly fall down and break your leg - and then, deciding that you might as well, beat yourself to death. Really, it's an achievement in the sense that i have rarely seen a movie fall so hard on its face so quickly.Anyways, this indecision leads into the absurd third act. Aside from the fact that the movie should have ended prior, it has nothing to do with the first or second arc, plot-wise or thematically, and offers nothing worthwhile. It also indulges into stupid stereotypes, clichés, and just is all around terrible, as well as having this sort of strange "funny or serious or what the hell is this?" atmosphere. I wrote this review with the hopes that i could describe how bad the movie becomes, but I sincerely believe i could write a legitimate college thesis on it and am unable to do so in this review. This review probably sounds very harsh but again, it's really the last fifteen-twenty minutes that ruin the movie, and it's still boggling my mind. If you wanted to see the film already, don't let this deter you - see it - what's good is quite good, but simply be prepared for the awful conclusion. In fact, you may want to consider turning it off after the second arc and pretending the second arc ended the way it should have, because it doesn't.This review ended up being a lot more jumbled and unclear than i had thought it would, but i can only hope that my sense of confusion enlightens you as to the confusion that the movie will bestow upon you.

blackmamba99971 For some time now, since the idea of Drunken boxing came to fruition, it has been widely disregarded as a martial art. But after seeing this film, I came to understand that Drunken Boxing has its place among the ideals between the masters. Su Can (Man Cheuk Cheiu) an ex general who led many countless battles to victory dreams of settling down with his son and his wife. But through sheer happenstance, his adopted brother takes his revenge on Su's father for killing his own father in previous years before. Now with a new battle ahead, Su must save his son from the clutches of his step brother Yuan Ying (Xun Zhou). Except his step brother has mastered a martial art called the five venom fist. A technique that uses poison in battle. All seemed lost until he comes across in exile with his wife two beings called the god of Wushu (Jay Chou) to learn even further and hone his martial skills. And an old sage drunk (Gordon Liu) who I thought was a great addition to the team. Although I wanted to see more of Gordon, the story however revolves around Su's well being and state of mind. During his exile and his retraining with the gods, his wife has seen that he might be losing his mind. She has seen that he trains by himself and makes the wounds to look like he has taken on the gods. She leaves to find their son, and in so doing Su finally takes his revenge on his step brother after his wife writes him a letter on her voyage. Now with a new resolve, he finds and fights Yuan and defeats him, but all for nothing since Yuan buried his wife in a box. Now with her death even after finding her, he loses all hope and falls again to the wine. With his son beside him they come across a deadly battle for which men get killed. Now an old friend named Ma Quing Feng (Xiaodong Guo) must fight for his life and attain fame to call himself the best Wushu martial artist. But to battle wrestlers is another thing altogether. Now with a mean spirited team Captain (The Late David Carradine) Ma faces his toughest challenge. But as he sees his defeat in the midst, Su comes to the rescue with his patented Drunken Style which vanquishes the enemy team. A great and Wonderful display of martial arts since Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Or Ip man. Michell Yeoh is as always, such an attractive addition to any film that graces the silver screen. Her abilities of acting is next to none, but sad to see her as only a doctor. I would have loved to see her in action once again. But I guess it wasn't in the cards this time around. All in all, a great film, excellent music, and beautiful styles of fighting I have ever seen for some time. Yuen Wo Ping really delivers. A must see.

mmushrm 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.