Chin long chuen suet

Donnie Yen's debut as a director has taken a lot of criticism and was a fairly big flop upon its initial release. Is it a flawed film? Sure. But, is it worth spending an hour and a half watching? Yes.

Legend of the Wolf tells the tale, all in flashback (one of its unfair criticisms) of a how a mythic killer came to be who he is. The film belongs in the classification of 90's arty-swordplay dramas, like Ashes of Time or The Blade, heavy on atmosphere, style, lightweight philosophical musings, and blurry combat. One of the reasons, no doubt, that it was a flop was due to this particular Hong Kong genre already being tired by the time Legend came out. It looks great and has some fantastic cinematography. Although I am not a fan of the close-up, hyper paced fight scenes, Donnie directs them well and with more clarity than most directors of this style. There are two great fights, one inside a hut with a guy who has a huge length of chain wrapped around his arm, and another with a monkey or tiger claw fighter in the woods, the latter being one of the better duels I've seen. Based on those two fights and the cinematography alone, I can recommend Hong Kong action fans seeing this.

Where Legend of the Wolf fails is in its story. Unfortunately, like other films in the modern swordplay genre, it tries so hard to be dramatic, with overemphasized music, crazy camera work (though some very stunning), and ponderous plotline, it falls deeply into muddled characters and weepy melodrama. Donnie Yen should be commended for being as bold and as skilled as he is. Instead of making his debut with a straightforward no-brain action flick, he tries to tackle something of more weight. It is less than perfect, but it is admirable, just the same.

How my fellow martial arts fans can speak so warmly about this movie, even calling it their favourite, and the best martial arts movie ever made, is completely beyond me... :-/ I've watched hundreds of martial arts movies, both new and old, and I'm a huge fan of Donnie Yen, in everything from his classic awesome movies like Iron Monkey, to his newer awesome movies like Flash Point and Ip Man. But c'mon, this movie is clearly rubbish? The fights are nothing but high speed closeups, so you can't really see what is going on most of the time, how is that impressive or cool? I'm really glad Donnie grew out of this kind of movie directing in his later movies (he directed Flash Point, which is pure awesomeness), because this is not how you do fighting in movies, or in real life, for that matter. I couldn't care less about the lame story either. Not a passing grade from me.

Legend of the Wolf is amazing. Donnie Yen made what is one of the best martial arts films from the 90's. Visually the film has a great colour-scheme (green/yellow, very saturated). The photography doesn't look low-budget at all, and there's a nice village and forest where the film takes place. The action is surreal and brutal. You must lose yourself in the mayhem to fully appreciate the action scenes. The story is simple and very direct. The narrative has a story-book feel to it. The music is quite brilliant too -- at times it forces certain emotional responses from you and other times it's simply haunting or furious. Do not miss this film, it's art.

I'm sorry martial arts fans, this is not good quality martial arts. Its good in some bits but thats about it. Its not Donnie Yen style which is good I reckon because its showing us that he is challenging viewers.

The storyline is pretty good, has a bit more of a plot. However the fighting just wasn't that good, too violent for someone like him.

Plus the ending was just shocking especially the fight scene with the Bandit leader.

Not bad if you wanna see something different from Donnie. And to the person that mentioned that this is the best film ever. No bloody way! Drunken Master 2 is way better, so is Armour Of God. Once upon a time in China is better, so is Enter The Dragon.

(***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.