True Legend Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

True Legend Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 23, 2011

Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, Yuen Woo-Ping’s "True Legend" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; standard making of featurette; and a music video for the theme song from the film. In Mandarin and English, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Beggar Su

Yuen Woo-Ping’s True Legend is formally divided into two halves. The first follows martial arts legend Beggar Su’s (Vincent Zhao, Once Upon A Time in China) confrontation with his half brother, Yuan Lie (Andy On, Mad Detective, Bad Blood), who decides to kill him after he retires from the Imperial Army and goes back to his home village.

Some years later. Lie masters the "Five Venom Fist" style of fighting and goes after his brother. The two meet not too far away from Su’s home where Lie kills his father and takes his son prisoner. Su’s life is spared, but he is thrown unconscious into the nearby river. His wife, Yuan Ying (Xun Zhou, Perhaps Love, Confucius), jumps after him.

Su and his wife are saved by the mysterious Sister Yu (Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Reign of Assassins). She manages to drain Lie's venom from Su’s body and he regains his strength. Eventually, he starts training again and vows to defeat Lie, but begins drinking - and possibly even losing his mind. High into the mountains, Su befriends the God of Wushu (Jay Chou, Initial D, The Green Hornet), who encourages him to polish his "Drunken Fist" skills.

Time passes by and Su and Lie meet again. This time around, however, one of them dies.

The second half is titled "A Drunken Fist" and begins in Heilongjiang, along the Chinese-Russian border. Su is a wandering drunk who has lost his desire to live. He is followed by his very young son, who somehow always manages to find food and wine for his father and a place where they could spend the night together.

One day, Su is approached by an old friend who offers to help him get back on his feet. First, however, he manages to get him inside a large venue where people pay to see fighters from all over the world kill each other. There are plenty of Chinese fighters, but the winners are always foreigners (they also happen to be Caucasians who speak English). Su’s friend challenges one of the foreigners but rather quickly ends up on his back. Su enters the arena to defend his honor.

There are two serious flaws with this film. The first one pertains to the fact that its tone is wildly inconsistent. Portions of the film feel as if they were scripted to be part of a serious biopic. They offer valuable information about the martial arts legend and the socio-political environment in China during his time. Other parts of the film, however, focus on pointless fights that reveal next to nothing about Su and important characters that enter the story but then quickly disappear without a trace. Yeoh’s Sister Yu is a perfect example.

Su’s relationship with his brother is also needlessly overdramatized. Lie is transformed into a near superhero whose fighting skills are as unbelievable as is his hatred for his brother. For some strange reason, most of the time he also looks like a junkie who desperately needs a fix.

This being said, the various fights, and especially those from the first half of the film, are impressively choreographed. The special effects are also top-notch. Obviously, this isn’t surprising because as a martial arts choreographer Woo-Ping has contributed to such now cult films as the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix, Gordon Chan’s Fist of Legend, Daniel Lee’s Black Mask, Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and, of course, directed Quentin Tarantino’s favorite Iron Monkey.

Note: Last year, True Legend was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.

True Legend Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Yuen Woo-Ping's True Legend arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.

The visuals are rather impressive. Fine object detail is very good, clarity excellent, and contrast levels consistent throughout the entire film. There are plenty of CGI effects that look impressive, and in particular Su's sessions with the God of Wushu. Edge-enhancement is not a serious issue of concern; neither is macroblocking. I also did not see any traces of excessive noise reduction. Color reproduction is very good, with the variety of blues, greens, and brown looking particularly strong. Heavy banding and aliasing do not plague the transfer. Lastly, there are absolutely no stability issues to report in this review. There are absolutely no transfer-specific anomalies either. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

True Legend Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Mandarin LPCM 2.0 (with portions of English). For the record, Optimum Home Entertainment have provided imposed (they cannot be turned off) English subtitles for the main feature. They split the image frame and the black bar below it.

I don't have any major reservations - the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track enhances the viewing experience very well. The bass is potent and punchy, the rear channels intelligently used, and the high-frequencies not overdone. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. There are no balance issues with Shigeru Umebayashi's exotic score either. I also did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hissings to report in this review.

True Legend Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for True Legend. In Mandarin, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• Making of - a standard featurette with plenty of raw footage from the shooting of the film, as well as interesting comments by various cast and crew members. In Mandarin and Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles. (28 min, PAL).

• Music Video - "Wandering Heart", the theme song from True Legend. Performed by Xun Zhou. In Mandarin, with imposed English subtitles. (6 min, PAL).

True Legend Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Visually, this is an impressive film, but I expected much more - perhaps a serious biopic, which True Legend most certainly isn't. What really bothered me, however, is the unusual structure of the film. It simply does not work well for its narrative. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment, looks and sounds very good. It is, however, Region-B "locked". RENT IT.