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Great Film overall

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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.

Americans have grown accustomed to a certain kind of Chinese martial arts film. Ever since Crouching Tiger, the Chinese MA film has gotten more attention beyond whatever Hollywood effort is churned out to force a Jet Li or Jackie Chan sub-par effort on American audiences. Crouching Tiger was followed by films like House of Flying Daggers and Hero, while those with bigger interests in the subject certainly sought out more films that most Americans might not know.True Legend seems to pick up on this. Yuen Wo Ping, who is no stranger to Hollywood martial arts films, having dabbled his hand in a number of Hollywood efforts, seems to have taken some of what he's done for American audiences and applied it to this film. He has, after all, been attached to several big U.S. productions, most notably Kill Bill and The Matrix series of films. These and other notable Chinese MA films, which saw American audiences, between True Legend and his last directorial effort, Tai Chi Boxer (1996). So, it may not be surprising that he's incorporated some more Western friendly elements. That may be far reaching, but True Legend is certainly no traditional Martial Arts film.For Chinese MA fans, this is a mixed bag. It starts out with several powerful action sequences, the most notable being the opening rescue scene. Sadly, this is Ping putting his best foot forward and the film never truly rises above it in terms of impressive action. That doesn't mean the film doesn't contain some other outstanding scenes that, at least, left me with a few 'oh snap' moments. And the combination of fantasy elements that you might see in older films, like the 5 Venom Fist style MA, and more modern concepts, like mixing break dancing with drunken fist boxing, give the film it's own identity. Sadly, this creates a bit of an identity crises. We're given a historical context for the film, and the story presents itself similarly to Fearless, another MA biopic, but the film isn't grounded in reality and some strange turns are taken, those most notable being main character Su's encounter with The Wushu God. It's a bizarre, CGI heavy intermission between the more grounded first and final acts. But the entire tone of the film seems to be a mix of the two: the more traditional Chinese MA film and the modern, special effects and wire laden Chinese MA film, the kind that Western audiences might be more accustomed to. And reading about the production of the film, you can certainly see that Ping did want to go beyond the traditional film to create something more modern.Despite this seemingly jumbled style, the film is full of Ping's mastery. Fantastic camera work, editing, and special effects add to the impressive set pieces and choreographed action sequences. Again, there are a ton of 'oh snap' moments, and in a MA film, that is a wonderful thing to have. The opening scene is an incredible display of talent, action, special effects, and choreography that will most likely go down as one of the great modern MA action scenes. There are plenty of other fantastic action sequences, and thankfully Ping knows how to shoot a proper action scene as opposed to so many other directors who think all the action has to be confusing and up close, and all the editors who think that it requires cuts by the second. This film reaffirms that, even after all these years, Ping can still produce something that is entertaining and exciting, that he is still a master of the MA sequence.Whether you enjoy this film or not will depend entirely on how much you can enjoy the fairly odd mix of styles along with the inclusion of a fifth act to end the film. It does take a bit of a right turn with the final act, but it's none the less very entertaining, and includes a cameo (most likely our last glimpse) of David Carradine, who you might know worked with Ping on Kill Bill. However, I would recommend this film to any MA fan. It's unique blend of quirky style, fantastic action, and masterful filming technique all make up one entertaining Chinese MA.

"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.

I am basing my 9 stars for two reasons. First, the choreography is top notch. Second the cinematography is top notch. Simply put, this a very beautiful movie to watch. As for the story and plot...it's an action movie with a fairly simple story. It was designed to entertain with action and composition so the story is not the main vehicle which it uses to engage the viewer. If you are looking for extremely beautiful images, super insane kinetic choreography and fight scenes, you have come to the right place. The fights are on par with and perhaps even surpass Crouching Tiger, or Hero. Woo Ping just keeps improving on his choreography. I don't know how he does it, but he does it in every new movie. This is a definite purchase on bluray for my collection.