Su Qi-er
Tags: insanity, revenge, violence

Plot synopsis:
Su Can (Vincent Zhao) is a general who leads a military force to save a prince from a large fortress of enemies in the mountains. In return, the prince promises that the Emperor will make him governor of Hu Bei. Su's step brother Yuan is envious of Su, but Su loves him and asks the prince to make Yuan governor instead. Su wants to leave the military and lead a life pursuing the perfection of Wu Shu, eventually in the hopes of starting his school and teaching his skills. Su gives his great prestigious sword to a comrade Ma, then tells Yuan of his plans. Yuan expresses that he is always in Su's shadow but accepts the governorship. Early next morning, Su leaves on a horse.Five years later, Su and his wife Ying (Zhou Xun) (Yuan's sister) have a child, Feng. Su's father informs them that Yuan is returning from the military to be a governor. He warns Su that Yuan may not have come back simply to reconcile with family but to seek revenge. This is because years ago, Su's father killed Yuan's father when the latter went too far in learning a evil martial arts technique called the Five Venom Fists. Su's father then took Yuan in, but he harbors concern that Yuan is still vengeful. Su is naive and assures his father that everything will be alright.When Yuan returns, a homecoming party is held. Yuan greets his sister Ying, Feng, and Su's father. Su's father knows what is impending and asks Yuan to take his revenge on him alone, sparing Su and his family. Using his mastery of the Five Venom Fists, Yuan kills Su's father and decapitates him. He expresses his desire to be with his sister (Ying) and her son Feng as a family. When Su hears the news of his father's murder, he rushes to the scene of his father's death and is attacked by the Iron Twins. He chases them to a rapid where Yuan is offering Su's father's head to his real father as a symbol of revenge taken. A battle ensues between Yuan and Su. Yuan has a dark armour sewn into his body, making him partially invulnerable to blades. Using his Five Venom Fists, Yuan deals a deadly poisonous blow to Su who is defeated. Feng begs for Su's life and Yuan spares him but throws him into the rapids. Ying jumps into the rapid to save Su and Yuan is heartbroken at the loss of his beloved sister. He takes Feng in as his only family.Ying awakes in forest area and tries to bring her husband to civilization and safety. They are found by a herb researcher and wine maker, Dr. Du (Michelle Yeoh), who treats Su's wounds. Su comes to consciousness but is broken to find his right arm severely weakened with all tendons torn. At first, he is desperate and turns to drinking, but with Ying's support, he focuses on training in order to save Feng. He meets Wu Shu God (Jay Chou) and an old sage and asks to be their disciple. At a sacred site, he trains with the Wu Shu God for years, always trying to defeat him but never able to. Later, by checking Su's pulse, Dr. Du reveals to Ying that Su is going mad and that there is probably no Wu Shu God or Old Sage since she is the only one living in the area. Ying follows Su into the forest one day and finds him fighting (seemingly) with himself, oblivious to the fact that he is only battling with the Wu Shu God in his mind. Ying pleads with Su to come to his senses but he does not believe her. By the time Su realizes the truth, it is too late. Ying has left to try and save Feng by herself.At Yuan's palace, Ying is now a captive of Yuan. Su arrives shortly after and fights his way through the guards. He also battles the Iron Twins and with his improved skills, impales both on a satay, a saber-like spear. Yuan orders his men to bury Ying alive in a box and then kills the men who buried her so that only he knows her location. A crazed Su battles with Yuan in his training chamber and ultimately defeats him, even gnashing though a poisonous snake in the process. Feng screams that Yuan must not die because only he knows Ying's location, but a maddened Su delivers a fatal blow to Yuan's throat, thus executing him in anger. Realizing the words of Feng, he rushes out and a dying soldier reveals the vague location of Ying. Su and Feng rush to search for her but manage to dig her out too late. Ying dies from lack of air.The era changes from the dynastic to the colonized. Su has lost his mind after the loss of his wife and the previous delusions he had. A homeless Feng leads his father through the streets by rope and takes care of him. A Kung Fu master is killed in a fighting arena - part of a foreign (caucasians) club - leaving Su's old friend, Ma, as leader of the Wu Shu Federation. The arena is a stage below which tigers lurk freely, waiting for any unfortunate fighter to drop below.In the meantime, Su goes into an inn and creates trouble by stealing wine and countering people bent on stopping him with martial art moves. He then meets a fellow drunkard (Wu Shu god, Jay Chou in disguise) who spars with him and gives him a few philosophical tips. The two of them start using Drunken Fighting (Zui Quan) techniques, and Su regains his sanity. The inn lady calls Ma to deal with Su and Ma recognizes Su. They have a talk and Ma gives Su back his sword. Su asks Ma to take care of Feng since he is unfit to be a father but Feng persists in the boy (Feng) staying with his father instead.The next day, Su and Feng show up to support Ma in his arena battle. Su goes about drinking in the club's bar area, oblivious to Ma receiving a serious beating in the ring. When Feng tries to save Ma from being killed, the opposing wrestler grabs Feng and holds him in the air. Feng screams for help from his father. His son's cries awake Su from his drunken state and Su rushes into the arena. As Ma and Feng are being taken out of the arena by bystanders, Su battles and defeats the wrestler. Anthony, owner of a wrestling stable, orders his lot to pour into the arena, resulting in a mismatch of three wrestlers to one (Su). Using the drunken martial arts technique learned from his fellow drunkard in the inn, Su's defeats the fighters although he is heavily injured. At the end of the battle, the other fighters are either dead or unconscious, and only after a vision of Ying and the dramatic cries of Feng in an otherwise silenced arena, does a semi-conscious Su manage to stand up. He is declared the winner.The film ends with a seemingly restored Su practising his moves of old but with long hair reminiscent of the insane period of his life, with Feng observing. Su has seemingly found his passion.

Review: This movie is a work of art in many ways.The Martial Arts displayed are really one of the best I have seen in a long time, yes it relies on flying and jumping everywhere, yet the fight scenes feels visceral enough not to feel to much like a dance.The actors are really awesome, and they managed to make one of the BEST antagonist of all times.Now let's get to the part that almost ruins it : The Pacing.The flow of the movie suffers greatly from a bad editing, and it is too bad because it had the potential to be a true masterpiece.This movie should have started backwards, beginning at the end, and having Su telling his story.Instead of that, the pacing can be hard to follow, and at the end I was left with a strange feeling of incompletion.Otherwise, the movie is still one of the best martial art movies of the past years, and if you are a Martial Arts fan do not miss it !.
I loved the whole concept of the film, it was booming with creativity and not to mention the fight sequences were bloody brilliant.The story line is actually very consuming once you become endeared by the characters, whom I might add are supremely crafted.
Crouching Tiger was followed by films like House of Flying Daggers and Hero, while those with bigger interests in the subject certainly sought out more films that most Americans might not know.True Legend seems to pick up on this.
That may be far reaching, but True Legend is certainly no traditional Martial Arts film.For Chinese MA fans, this is a mixed bag.
We're given a historical context for the film, and the story presents itself similarly to Fearless, another MA biopic, but the film isn't grounded in reality and some strange turns are taken, those most notable being main character Su's encounter with The Wushu God. It's a bizarre, CGI heavy intermission between the more grounded first and final acts.
This film reaffirms that, even after all these years, Ping can still produce something that is entertaining and exciting, that he is still a master of the MA sequence.Whether you enjoy this film or not will depend entirely on how much you can enjoy the fairly odd mix of styles along with the inclusion of a fifth act to end the film.
It does take a bit of a right turn with the final act, but it's none the less very entertaining, and includes a cameo (most likely our last glimpse) of David Carradine, who you might know worked with Ping on Kill Bill.
It's unique blend of quirky style, fantastic action, and masterful filming technique all make up one entertaining Chinese MA..
They are truly breathtaking: brilliantly composed and shot.Action from the beginning to the end in this modern fighting movie with some Asian tragedy.
TRUE LEGEND marks the first Chinese made film to take advantage of 3D technology as well as returning Yuen Woo-Ping to the director's chair for the first time in fourteen years.
Unfortunately it seems that the legendary action choreographer has failed to utilise the new technology with any sense of skill and has also lost his way somewhat in the plot department.The film follows Vincent Zhao as Beggar Su, a fabled folk hero in China and creator of the legendary Drunken Fist style.
It's an untidy mixture of Jet Li's Fearless with Jackie Chan's Drunken Master with an all too brief cameo by the late David Carradine.Ultimately TRUE LEGEND is a disorganised film that poorly uses every martial arts cliché in the book.
Five years later, Yuan has control of an army, and he is seeking vengeance....That is only the opening section of this film, directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, who is best known in the West for choreographing the fight scenes in "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." "True Legend" is full of fight scenes, some of the quite funny, some of them quite beautiful; and it is also full of cameos of kung fu superstars such as Gordon Liu, Michelle Yeoh and, in his last role, David Carradine.
I find that a little kung fu fighting goes a long way, but if you're going to see a kung fu film, you couldn't find better than this..
Yuen Woo-ping is a master of the ideal fight movie and it's awesome to have him directing again after 15 years!
There's copious amounts of fighting with distinctly different styles including MMA, knife combat and awesome aerial stunts, and the ever popular drunken boxing, an evil master, family betrayal and of course the classic David Carradine in one of his final roles.
While some may have issues with the "3 acts" or the CGI, I think that they all add to the master work of art that is True Legend..
Zhao lacks the on-screen charisma or likable good looks of Jet Li, but there is no doubting of his martial arts ability and his physical presence is comparable to Donnie Yen. Many would probably have forgotten that Zhao's career got off to a storming start by simply existing under the shadows of Jet Li in roles like Wong Fei Hung and the villain in Fong Sai Yuk, before embarking on the cult classic lead role in The Blade.
So instead of rambling on about past laurels, Zhao makes a stunning return and one might just assume, his career is on the rebound.The movie goes like this: Beggar So (Vincent Zhao) is army general, but gives up the position for family life.
So honestly, True Legend really isn't that bad and in fact, it is quite a decent film with some good parts in between.
Best kung fu fights saoline martial arts coming back again, did you remember the good old movies with saoline?
If you like kung fu , saoline , tons of good action not bs, fighting scenes that takes your breath and the amazing scenes that will blow your mind off with the five fists of the snake or the drunken master don't loosing your time and go watch this movie.Don't look for plot here there's no plot but only fists and action.Amazing action taking place that even bruce lee would love it.I gave it a 9/10 because i didn't liked the transition from weak one or hurt ed one to the powerful one from the wushu god thing .
In the rest i didn't found any weaknesses.Guys if you like Chinese martial arts movies this is a must this is real kung fu art!!!Don't MISS IT.
Had the priority (between story and fight-scenes) been shifted the other way around, I think this movie might have been top-league.When you've seen blood splatter out the mouth of some poor kungfu-blasted victim for the umpteenth time it gets to be a bit of a cliché.
The fight-scenes weren't badly done, there was just way too much of it.The movie feels a bit rushed, like there perhaps wasn't enough time to finish it properly.
(doesn't this ever get old in Asia?)The fighting scenes were really good, so as a kung-fu movie I have to rate it high.
The fight scenes were great, perhaps not as superb as fight scenes in Jet Li movies (like Fearless), but close enough.I feel the director sort of copied from older works like Forbidden Kingdom (drunken master but same director), The Drunken Master, Fearless (the whole tiger claw thing --> five venom finger fist).
I really don't know why they perpetuate this drunken master idea.I only wish they used the characters God of Wushu and Old Sage more in the film.
I don't like it when a hero is victorious alone, he should be victorious with team effort (which would be more realistic).Regardless, the fight scenes make up for the film.
This is one of those Kung-Fu movie where the plot isn't all that effective, but the fighting sequences makes up for it.
Despite the plot not being all that great and the pacing a bit off, the fight sequences are top notch in this and very entertaining to watch.
The graphical scenes are poorly done.Watch it if you have nothing else to do and you truly love the Chinese action movies, but set your expectation very very low, really low.Even rating 5 seems too high for me.
The movie is very picturesque and like many Chinese subject films, has great color.
Seriously, why not just make a sequel?So there I was, thinking that I'm watching the best kung fu film in recent years (Ip Man aside), when, instead of the film ending, a new story arc is tacked on, reducing our hero to a bum and worst father of the century!
Okay, I get it, he's Beggar Su and somebody felt the need to move on to the Drunken Fist style, but why ruin a perfectly good Shaw Brothers-type fare?Verdict: if you want action, this is where it's at...
I had been putting watching it off for some time now, but that turned out to be a mistake on my side.The story in "True Legend" is about Su Can (played by Wenzhuo Zhao) who serves as a general, but leaves his army life behind to open up a martial arts school.
Su Can and his wife Yuan Ying (played by Xun Zhou) end up at a secluded mountain, where they live with Dr. Yu (played by Michelle Yeoh) while Su Can is struggling to regain his fighting abilities and battle for his mind.
Tensions are high and the stakes even higher, as the two brothers end up face to face.Actually the story was rather interesting, although the movie had a tendency of lingering on certain parts a bit too much, where it ended up being somewhat of a drag to watch; especially on the mountain training scenes and the tavern epiphany scene.What really impressed me about this movie was the sword fighting scenes and the martial arts scenes.
Lots of nice details everywhere."True Legend" is a great epic movie that hold elements from movies such as "Hero", "Ong Bak" and the like.
It works very well when combined, and there is a lot of action from start to end.If you enjoy Asian movies, especially the epic ones with lots of sword fights and martial arts, then it is very likely that you will enjoy "True Legend" as much as I did..
True Legend is basically every martial arts film ever made, from Five Deadly Venoms to Drunken Master, all rolled up into a big budget, blockbuster kick-ass fest of fists and feet from beginning to end.
The plot is thin and video-gamish, but who cares, there is enough baby powder puffing from heads getting struck by body parts and bodies plunging into and shattering pots of wine and even some off the wall fighting style that looks like break-dancing to satisfy even the most hard-core kung fu fans.
This has been seen way too many time in martial art movies, on the top of my head are Fearless and Ip man (both are very good movies though).
I love Wuxia and Chinese martial art genre but this movie was very badly made.
Chinese martial arts films have no lack of material to adapt, with folk heroes and legendary characters making that leap from history to film, with the latest being Ip Man, and we all know how well that turned out for Donnie Yen. In fact, I'd like to think True Legend provided the perfect opportunity for Vincent Zhao to shine, especially since his Su Chan does battle using a vast array of weapons (some real, some CG-ed), and his Beggar Su, well, executing his famous technique.
To give him credit, Chou still has what it takes to deliver his martial arts moves quite convincingly, and that's basically all that he does, though bound to elicit a chuckle or two for his ridiculous get up.Something that is a little more strange, is how acclaimed director Feng Xiaogang got his name in the acting credits as a pickpocket, but a character which didn't appear in the movie proper at all, opting instead to have a scene being featured for a few seconds during the end credit role, which seemed more like a deleted scene meant for the DVD.
Only time will tell on this aspect, and made it seem that To Chi-long's screenplay contained dispensable elements, as do a few missteps that made its way on screen.It's been a long while since Yuen Woo Ping helmed a film as a director, and here he applied plenty of wire-fu liberally to craft a film that provided for some fantastical elements in its martial arts.
While the main hero wallows in self pity/misery after losing his beloved wife, I would like to think it brings some sense of realism into the movie as opposed to having it be any negative aspect.
For that alone, if you're wanting a good martial arts flick solely for the fight scenes and you don't really care about the in-betweens of them, then this movie will entertain you.If you chance upon the DVD, I would suggest checking out the special features section..
All in all, a great film, excellent music, and beautiful styles of fighting I have ever seen for some time.
It's not particularly over-the-top or flashy, but a more classic take on martial arts, and one of the best i've seen in a while.However, the whole of the movie has no idea what the hell it is doing.
And i'll admit that the plot actually had me interested, even though it was fairly corny; i was under the impression that it was kind of a feel good movie with lots of ass kicking.The problem arises with the ending of the second arc and the beginning of the third into the end.
In fact, excepting the very ending and the third arc, the fighting and the acting were good enough that i considered giving this movie an 8, because it was simply very solid for what it tried to be (until it started to be idiotic).
At the same time, however, you know that Su will eventually go to fight his brother to reclaim his son, so there's actually a bit of potential - the movie has definitive elements of the fantastical already, so i was willing to accept some sort of Wushu god plot line, or perhaps some sort of revelation/epic training thing - but no, apparently Su IS insane, yet apparently his drunken rolling has actually turned him into the master of kung-fu he was deluded about?
It would work if there was some sort of element of the God of Wushu being NOT a total delusion, but in fact he was, and we are even shown Su rolling around like a drunk - so it really makes no sense.And that is really the crux of the problem with the movie - again, it has no idea what it wants to be.
The biggest difference Asian Cinema has when it does a Martial Arts movie is that the storyline is usually based on some kind of fact or myth, which is what makes 'True Legend' well worthy of a watch for anyone who is into Asian Cinema.
I really liked the epic feel of this film as well as the different slant it takes towards the end when David Carradine and company come into the story.
The director, Yuen Woo Ping, didn't copy off of the very movies he choreographed or directed himself, such as Forbidden Kingdom and Drunken Master.
Its a real martial art form and Beggar Su as a character in films, originally played by Yuen Siu Tien (aka Yuen Woo Pings father) is based on a real person who was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton in the late Ching Dynasty.
Yuen Woo Ping does an excellent job returning to the directors chair, after 14 years of mainly just choreographing fight scenes and producing films (a la The Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Unleashed and so on).
Vincent also does a decent job of acting, although most people may go into this film expecting good martial arts more than acting.
The 1st part is rather good, it reminded me of the 70-80s style martial art movies.
As a martial arts movie it is OK, I guess, but the story requires massive improvement.
This movie could have been good but it didn't seem to be able to make up it't mind what it wanted to be.It started off OK and the MArtial arts were pretty good in places.
He gets caught up in a fight against westerners led by David Carradine (why?) The end part where he lays on the floor while his son screams get up daddy goes on almost as long as the rest of the movie.In my opinion one of the worst films of this genre I have ever seen..
There are a number of things to admire in TRUE LEGEND: the grafting of scales onto his body as body armor by the white-faced evil son-in-law; the incestuous love he feels for his sister (which lends his character a bit more depth than the average martial arts movie villain); the cinematography, which is gorgeous.
There are some great things about this film, and some things that definitely detract from what is otherwise a really good action flick for those who enjoy the genre."True Legend" takes one good story, and then decides that one story is not enough.
This movie started off with one of the coolest raid scenes of all time; ninja like Chinese soldiers assaulting a mountain base and saving the prince from execution.
I was looking to see some great Chinese Wushu commando action, and it was not pursued at all to my disappointment.There was lots of CGI but there was no believability in the aging of the characters.
Overall the movie was like the writer had great ideas for scenes, without a cohesive central story.