Rise of the Legend Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Rise of the Legend Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 24, 2016

If as you watch Rise of the Legend the story seems awfully familiar, it may be because you’ve seen it before—repeatedly, in fact. It’s probably more than just a little ironic that Rise of the Legend’s trailer talks about Ip Man, for like that martial arts hero who has become a regular character in films and television (Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Ip Man 3, The Legend Is Born: Ip Man, Ip Man: The Final Fight, The Grandmaster), Rise of the Legend’s focal character Wong Fei Hung has been featured in literally scores of Chinese films (and, later, television outings) since the late 1940s. While many of these offerings will be at least relatively unknown to many Western audiences, at least a few of them were sizable international hits, including Drunken Master, The Legend of Drunken Master, and Once Upon a Time in China. Several other perhaps lesser known but still recognizable films fold Wong Fei Hung (or some version of him, anyway) into somewhat improbable storylines, including Around the World in 80 Days and Badges of Fury. Wong Fei Hung’s story may be so well known that some curmudgeons (ahem) may wonder why (as in the case of the repeated Ip Man entries) yet another version of the tale needs to be told. While the actual narrative in Rise of the Legend is no great shakes, the film’s stylish treatment of well worn tropes means that the film is a largely pleasurable viewing experience, at least for audience members who are willing to set their expectation bars a bit on the low side.

Like many real life heroes whose exploits have entered the realm of folklore and/or folktales, Wong Fei Hung’s life has become increasingly fancifully handled in any number of entries over the years. Separating fact from fiction has similarly become harder to ascertain (something that also tends to play into the many Ip Man offerings), to the point that those who have seen previous Wong Fei Hung related films may have really ceased to care about what’s “real” and what isn’t. That relative apathy may actually end up working toward Rise of the Legend’s favor, though ironically the film wants to posit a kind of down and dirty, gritty and grimy socioeconomic morass from which Wong rose to become a Chinese Robin Hood of sorts.

Writer Christine To and director Roy Chow waste little time in thrusting the viewer directly into a fight scene, in the first of several ping ponging narrative gambits that may appeal to the ADHD crowd but which in fact tend to interrupt a more organic feeling unfolding of events. Wong Fei Hung (Eddie Peng) is facing an insane number of combatants in this first sequence for reasons which are not immediately clear, and perhaps defying expectations of global martial arts fans, he gets his rear end handed to him, ending up bloody and disheveled in a torrential downpour. Could this film be starting with Wong Fei Hung’s demise? Hardly, since the real life Wong lived to the 1920s and the film is set in the late 1860s.

A turf war between competing gangs has made the port city of Guangzhou (Canton) a treacherous place to live, with the Black Tiger gang not hesitating to kill anyone, competing gang member or not, who dares to stand in their way. Black Tiger’s nefarious leader is Master Lui (Sammo Hung, an actor who himself has played Wong), who is shown to be a sadist of epic proportions. That said, he’s more than willing to appoint an acolyte as a “fourth son”, an heir apparent of sorts, and that role seems to appeal to Wong, who has infiltrated the gang as something of a mole for reasons which are ultimately unspooled courtesy of a series of interruptive flashbacks.

Wong’s hardscrabble past repeatedly folds into the “present day” narrative, with some fairly cliché ridden tropes that ultimately dovetail, including a romantic triangle of sorts featuring Wong’s buddy Chun (Wang Luodan) and a beautiful courtesan named Orchid (Angelababy). Various conspiratorial allegiances rise and fall, leading to an expected showdown between Lui and Wong (and we all know how that one is going to end). Rise of the Legend is in fact pretty resolutely predictable from the get go, but Chow’s visual flourishes and the typically excellent fight choreography from Cory Yuen keep the film moving briskly even when the next expected plot point plops right into place exactly where you think it’s going to. Peng strengthens his growing reputation as the martial arts star of his generation, and he brings both the requisite athleticism as well as a rather appealing vulnerability to this by now iconic role.

Rise of the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rise of the Legend is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. While certainly nowhere near the levels seen in the botched domestic release of The Twilight Samurai, there are some troubling brightness and contrast issues here which may (emphasis on may) indicate a fowl up somewhere along the way in the production line. Deficits in black levels are obvious from the first moment, when what should be "true" black backgrounds for brief credits are kind of milky gray, easily distinguishable from the black bars creating the 2.39:1 frame. As soon as the actual imagery pops into place, the film's often quite lustrous palette helps to alleviate at least some of these concerns, but throughout this presentation there's a hazy mist like ambience that overlays almost all of the scenes, giving the many yellow graded sequences a pretty gauzy appearance. All of this said, the overall look of this transfer is appealingly detailed, with the fineries of fabrics in sets and costumes precisely rendered. This may in fact have been what Rise of the Legend looked like in theaters, but if so, it's an odd stylistic choice and one which at least partially detracts from what is a rather sumptuous physical production.

Rise of the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rise of the Legend features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes in both Mandarin and English. As is my usual recommendation in situations like this, the Mandarin track is easily preferable to the dub unless you're genetically prone toward refusing to read subtitles. The 5.1 mix is replete with great surround activity in the set pieces, with bone crunching effects dotting the side channels and some nice sweeping pans when wire work hoists kickers and punchers into the great beyond. A later scene involving a fire also includes some nice ferocious surround activity as well some fulsome LFE. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly and is well prioritized throughout the presentation.

Rise of the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of

  Characters (1080i; 2:11)

  Eddie Peng (1080i; 1:51)

  Injuries (1080i; 2:11)

  Cinematography (1080i; 2:19)

  Special Effects (1080i; 2:10)

• Trailer (1080p; 1:44)

Note: As tends to be the case with these Well Go USA releases, the supplements have been authored to follow one another automatically (despite no "Play All" option). The above listed supplements then segue automatically into previews for other Well Go USA releases, previews which also appear at disc boot up.

Rise of the Legend Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're going to tell a story that's been told hundreds (thousands?) of times before, you'd at least be well advised to do it stylishly. The good news is that's pretty much exactly what Rise of the Legend does. The narrative here works in fits and starts, but is repeatedly hobbled by too many flashbacks and sidebars. What does work is Chow's arresting visual sense, as well as a kinetically alive camera that flits and darts almost as much as Wong Fei Hung himself. Video is slightly problematic, but audio sounds great. Recommended.