The Legend 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Legend 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Corey Yuen's The Legend (original title: Fong Sai-Yuk, 1993) is being released as part of Shout! Studio's ten-disc box set, The Jet Li Collection.

My colleague Jeff Kauffman covered two Blu-ray editions of the film: Vivendi Visual Entertainment's 2010 BD-25 and Ronin Flix's 2023 BD-50. To read Jeff's thoughts on Fong Sai-Yuk and his impressions of the discs' a/v transfers and extras, please consult the linked reviews.

The Governor of Kau Man and Fong Sai-Yuk square off.

The Legend 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout!'s two-disc 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and standard Blu-ray marks the first official Hong Kong Cinema Classics edition for the label. (HK 1 is printed on the spine.) The 1.85:1 presentation appears in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) on the BD-66 (actual disc size: 63.4 GB). The Ronin Flix and Vivendi discs present the abridged international version, which is about ten minutes or so shorter than the longer cut included here. I did some research on 1993/94 theatrical release of Fong Sai-Yuk in the US and it was confirmed in a Chicago Tribune review by Richard Christiansen that the longer international version played in the States. Christiansen lists a runtime of 104 minutes. (The movie was not formally rated at the time by the MPAA.)

The UHD and Blu-ray sport a brand-new 4K scan and restoration. I have included ten virtually identical screen captures from the Vivendi BD-25. There is definitely a night-and-day difference in image quality. Vivendi's transfer could very well date back to the master used for Dimension's 2000 DVD. This Dragon Dynasty Blu-ray has what appears is a mixture of video noise and grain baked into the image. It is at least a shade brighter than Shout!'s discs. Check out how much more definition there is in the extreme close-up of Fong Sai-Yuk's upper face and eyes in Screenshot #17 compared to the old Blu in #16. I noticed at least a couple of discrepancies in color temperature. For example, the background behind Fong Sai-Yuk's father has a purple push in frame grab #26 compared to the darker blues in #s 27 and 28. Moreover, the bricks on the wall have a light blue tone to them on the Vivendi in #32 while they're gray on the Shout! discs (#s 33 and 34).

The remastered picture on the Shout! UHD and Blu-ray has the most pure and unmanipulated flesh tones. By comparison, the actors' faces have been brightened on the Vivendi. The primary colors look bold and vivid on the Shout! The D.V. and HDR clearly provide extra depth between the actors and their environments. While Shout!'s 1080p transfer perhaps doesn't generate the same sense of depth, it is still remarkably sharp while remaining film-like.

The feature on the UHD delivers an average video bitrate of 79.9 Mbps and an overall bitrate of 83.2 Mbps. Shout!'s MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 carries a standard video bitrate of 34000 kbps. Vivendi's BD-25 delivers a mean video bitrate of 22964 kbps.

Screenshot #s 1-15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, & 40 = Shout! Studios 2025 4K Ultra HD BD-66 (downsampled to 1080p)
Screenshot #s 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 29, 32, 35, & 38 = Vivendi Visual Entertainment 2010 BD-25
Screenshot #s 27, 30, 33, 36, & 39 = Shout! Studios 2025 Blu-ray BD-50 (from a 4K restoration)

Shout! has provided seven chapter stops on both discs for the 106-minute film.

The Legend 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has supplied a Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono mix (1574 kbps, 24-bit). I am pleased to report that this lossless track is a vast improvement over Dolby Digital 2.0 track on the Vivendi that Jeff reviewed. Dialogue does not sound at all boxed in, muffled, or compressed. It is consistently crisp and audible when played at normal listening levels. I don't have the Ronin Flix disc but while Jeff indicates that the Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0 is at least a moderate upgrade over Vivendi's lossy mix, he observes that music on the English track sounds more vivid than on the native mix. Fortunately, the score (written by three musicians) demonstrates some fine high dynamic range.

Shout!'s discs come with newly translated English subtitles. I spotted one instance where the translation differs considerably. (Cf. #24 on the Vivendi with #25 on the Shout! track.)

The Legend 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Both the Vivendi BD-25 and CineAsia 2011 UK BD-50 contain an audio commentary with Asian cinema expert Bey Logan, a 20-minute interview with director Corey Yuen, and a 13-minute interview with writer Jeff Lau. Ronin Flix's Blu-ray from a few years ago features a commentary track by Chris Poggliali and Frankie Balboa. Shout! apparently didn't license any of those bonus materials as they're nowhere to be found on either disc. Shout! did record a recent commentary with a movie critic and a new featurette with a Hong Kong cinema scholar.

DISC ONE: 4K Ultra HD - FONG SAI-YUK

• NEW Audio Commentary with James Mudge - Mudge is a Hong Kong film critic at easternKicks who also runs a Hong Kong film festival in the UK. In the first part of this feature-length track, Mudge details Born to Defense (1988), Jet Li's only directorial feature to date, which was released when the actor was twenty-five. Mudge professes that he is a major fan of Hong Kong martial arts films of the early '90s, productions of which he brings up periodically throughout this track. He conducts some scene analysis and discusses the film as a wuxia exemplar. He critiques Corey Yuen's technique of choreography and describes the style of performance in Fong Sai-Yuk. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Audio Commentary with James Mudge - Mudge is a Hong Kong film critic at easternKicks who also runs a Hong Kong film festival in the UK. In the first part of this feature-length track, Mudge details Born to Defense (1988), Jet Li's only directorial feature to date, which was released when the actor was twenty-five. Mudge professes that he is a major fan of Hong Kong martial arts films of the early '90s, productions of which he brings up periodically throughout this track. He conducts some scene analysis and discusses the film as a wuxia exemplar. He critiques Corey Yuen's technique of choreography and describes the style of performance in Fong Sai-Yuk. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW A Legendary Achievement: Leon Hunt on a Jet Li Classic (20:40, 1080p) - Hunt is the author of Kung Fu Cult Masters and co-editor of East Asian Cinemas. He traces the history of the Fong Sai-Yuk character dating back to the Qing dynasty. Hunt discusses the Fong Sai-Yuk legend ranging from its first incarnation in a silent film to the Shaw Brothers productions. He also spends a section of the interview discussing Jet Li's star persona and in particular his on-screen charisma. He covers a variety of films that Li has performed in. In addition, Hunt talks about the movies Li made with director/stunt choreographer Corey Yuen, including when the two worked together in Hollywood. Hunt also devotes parts of his interview on wuxia and Hong Kong films that fuse elements of action and comedy together. In English, not subtitled.

• Trailer (2:03, 1080p) - a fully restored original theatrical trailer for Fong Sai-Yuk presented in about 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. This Eastern Productions trailer boasts a mean video bitrate of 33988 kbps and accompanied by a Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono mix (1593 kbps, 24-bit). Subtitled in English.

The Legend 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The main reason to watch The Legend (aka Fong Sai-Yuk) is for its absolutely stunning visuals, which are given justice by the excellent 4K restoration. The fight choreography is all truly remarkably but I fully agree with Jeff's description that this is a goofy martial arts film. There are some redundancies in the script that could have been pruned. For example, Tiger Lui refers to himself as a man of "virtuous persuasion" so many times that the phrase becomes a broken record. If you owned either the Vivendi or Ronin BDs, you will be dazzled by leaps and bounds with the upgrades the picture offers. A VERY SOLID RECOMMENDATION for the movie and discs.