True Legend (2010)

True Legend: Directed by Woo-Ping Yuen. With Wenzhuo Zhao, Xun Zhou, Andy On, Xiaodong Guo. China, 1861: After rescuing the Qing prince from rebels, General Su retires to start a martial arts school. His foster brother betrays him and Su barely survives. Su has a new enemy to defeat.

“TRUE LEGEND marks the first Chinese made film to take advantage of 3D technology as well as returning Yuen Woo-Ping to the directoru0026#39;s chair for the first time in fourteen years. Unfortunately it seems that the legendary action choreographer has failed to utilise the new technology with any sense of skill and has also lost his way somewhat in the plot department.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film follows Vincent Zhao as Beggar Su, a fabled folk hero in China and creator of the legendary Drunken Fist style. After his father is killed by his brother-in-law, Su goes into hiding where he is trained by an unconventional Wushu master. Itu0026#39;s a bog standard kung fu murder/revenge plot thatu0026#39;s been done a million times before but now with the novelty of teeth grindingly bad 3D. The new technology – only used in selected scenes – is jarring and in no way immersive, adding a strong argument to the negative effect 3D can have on a film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, as messy as the 3D is, it is not as detracting as the final third of the film. After concluding the revenge plot, it suddenly shifts into a completely new narrative regarding western imperialismu0026#39;s encroachment on Chinese culture. Itu0026#39;s an untidy mixture of Jet Liu0026#39;s Fearless with Jackie Chanu0026#39;s Drunken Master with an all too brief cameo by the late David Carradine.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUltimately TRUE LEGEND is a disorganised film that poorly uses every martial arts cliché in the book. A couple of decent action sequences aside, there is little to recommend, even to the most avid kung fu fan. 3 out of 5u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCambridge Film Festival Daily”