True Legend (2011)

Directed by: Yuen Woo-ping
Written by: To Chi-long
Cast: Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Jay Chou, Michelle Yeoh, Andy On, David Carradine, Guo Xiaodong, Feng Xiaogang, Cung Le, Gordon Liu, Leung Kar Yan, Jacky Heung

It's fairly common to see a humble warrior rise to greatness in film - especially within kung fu movies - but it's not quite as common when the rising warrior is also completely and utterly out of his mind.

Su Can (Vincent Zhao) has it all together when things are going reasonably well. He's just led an army through a crushing victory as its general, and is on his way to being promoted to governor. Humble to a fault, he instead passes the promotion onto his brooding foster-brother, and returns home to study his beloved Wu Shu and spend time with his wife and son.

He might have made a better choice; it turns out that his foster brother, Yuan Lie (Andy On), has a long festering grievance with his adopted family. Yuan's father had been killed by the man who ultimately adopted him, due to the senior Yuan learning the dreaded Five Venom Fists and going on a slaughtering rampage. Su's father raised the orphaned Yuan as his own son; however the killing was never truly forgotten or forgiven by the young man. Yuan has practiced long and hard, and has now also perfected the same awful poisonous technique as his long dead father.

Yuan returns to the family home and promptly kills and decapitates the old man. He then nabs Su's wife Ying (Zhou Xun), who is also Yuan's sister, along with their young son Feng (played initially by 5-year-old Li Zo, and then later in the film by 8-year-old Suen Hanwen). When Su learns of the attack he goes ballistic; he chases after his evil foster-brother in an effort to recover his family and avenge his father's brutal murder.

He's only partially successful; he manages to leave the fight with his wife (or, maybe it's more the other way around), but his evil brother steals off with his son. Su is painfully defeated, and his right arm nearly ruined. It is now, when things aren't going so well, that madness strikes; in his attempts to recuperate from injuries sustained in the battle with his foster-brother, Su begins rigorous training with veritable hallucinations in the incarnation of the God of Wushu (Jay Chou) and Old Sage (Gordon Liu).

Su does eventually go after his brother, and things go pretty haywire from there. The sinister Yuan is more than your average bad guy. He's more of an 'ultimate' bad guy. Saying "he's evil" doesn't really do the guy justice and he's also just as insane as his drunken and hallucinating brother. You might think that "Five Venom Fists" would be some sort of metaphor to describe the underhanded nature of his attacks. The truth isn't that subtle. Part of Yuan's training is actually dipping his hands into piles of scorpions, snakes, spiders, and other poisonous critters and somehow 'absorbing' their combined venom which he can then use against his opponents. It gives his skin this unholy sheen, and he can poison his opponents by striking them to deliver his deadly toxins into their blood.

That's crazy enough; but the guy has also stitched armor into his own skin. I'm not exactly sure what it is - dragon scales maybe - but when Yuan rips his shirt off he reveals his torso is covered with armored monster scales that he somehow embedded into his own flesh. This is a non-trivial body modification.

The struggle with his foster brother is enough to send Su into full bloomed insanity, yet also puts him on the path to discovering a new form of fighting. True Legend is a little bit more than just a story of warring brothers; it's the origination tale of 'The Drunken Master', also known as 'Beggar Su'. While Su is busy going nuts, he's also doing a lot of heavy drinking, and with additional training he learns to incorporate his intoxicated posture and stumbling body movements into some really deadly - and funny - kung fu.

True Legend has loads of such kung fu, and it is filled with excellently choreographed and colorful battles. Part of this color and character is just by working with such imaginative personalities. There is an interesting contrast between the good Su and the evil Yuan when held in juxtaposition; one of them ultimately finds his strength through alcohol, and the other through literal poison. Both of these philosophies imbue the men with unique combat techniques and styles that are simply a riot to watch. If I were to pick a philosophy, I would have to think the guy who drinks loads of wine and who doesn't sew pieces of dragon flesh onto his chest and who also doesn't stick his hands in beds of scorpions and spiders probably has a better time of things; I'll leave that for you to judge.

True Legend does have some of the same slick styles and wire work as other Chinese kung fu films that have had some success in the US over the last decade, such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Like these films, True Legend feels akin to a fable. We're watching the origination of one of great master's of kung fu legend here, and thus such masters sometimes can defeat aspects of reality that plague most of the rest of us, such as the really annoying laws of gravity. The 'average' warrior in True Legend doesn't do any flying around - it's only the masters and the heroes. However, unlike the other films mentioned, True Legend has a definite tone of fun and light-heartedness. It is well aware when it is being outrageous, and often does so for intentionally comedic effect. When you laugh at a scene in True Legend, it is likely that it is laughing right along with you.

A lot of this "whacky" kung fu comes with Su's fall into insanity as well as his ultimate perfection of the Drunken Master style. The initial introduction of the God of Wushu and Old Sage is pretty out there, and just may leave you wondering if Ying put a little something extra in Su's wine. The Drunken Master style - which is eventually perfected by Su - is really crazy stuff, full of strange spinning, posturing, and general maddening chaos. He even often stops mid-fight to drink more and recharge. Finally, a combat style for the rest of us!

True Legend is an entertaining film, and this will be especially true for anyone who has a predilection for the genre. If I might go further, it's a complete must see for those who enjoy strange kung fu. There have definitely been far weirder kung fu films (such as Master of the Flying Guillotine and Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky), but True Legend does have a definite funny bone.

Rating: (4 out of 5):