Yuen Woo-Ping’s True Legend was not what I had expected it to be. Going into the film, I only really thought about his last North American distributed movie, Iron Monkey, which was amusing, funny and light-hearted. And I knew he had choreographed The Matrix, which wasn’t so much funny (save for Keanu, he makes me chuckle), but was popcorn friendly fun action fare. His latest was, well... not. It was, in fact, a dark family-based melodrama centered around alcoholism, abuse and the ability of people to overcome these things and find something meaningful in life. And while it wasn’t perfect, it made me shed a tear by the end.
The story centers around Su (Man Cheuk Chiu), a top general in the emperor’s army during the Qing dynasty, who is offered a job as governor of Hu Bei following a victorious battle against a rivalling faction. He consults his step-brother, Yuan (Andy On), about the promotion, and kindly offers it to him instead, Su himself wanting a more peaceful quiet life teaching Wushu. Years later, it’s discovered that Su’s father was responsible for Yuan’s father’s death, which lead to Yuan and his sister Ying (Xun Zhou) having been raised in Su’s family. Yuan, looking full-on S&M zombified, comes back to town for revenge, and begins to destroy Su’s entire life, from killing his father to kidnapping his son and sending him and Yuan’s sister, now married to Su, off a cliff and into a waterfall. Both manage to make it out alive, and are aided in their recuperation by Sister Yu (Michelle Yeoh), who invites the couple to live in the mountains with her. The rest of the movie surrounds Su’s path back to health, both physically and mentally, with the ultimate goal of rescuing their son from Yuan and exacting revenge.
Up until the point Su and Ying reach the mountains, the movie really did look like the typical “hero gets beaten down, hero recuperates, learns a few lessons, and comes back to win” plot. It had all the trimmings of it. And you can be sure the hero does beat the villain, quite brutally actually (I’m not putting spoiler alert here, so if you watch this movie and can’t figure out that Yuan is getting it in the end, you’re not smart enough to operate electronic devices and read this review). What makes this movie veer off course from that typical plotline is the way the hero comes back, and what ensues after Su beats Yuan. The whole movie revolves around alcoholism. At each turn, whenever Su needs to deal with a new harrowing challenge, he turns to the stuff, only to have to pick himself up, recover from the abuse he’s done to his mind, and hop back on the path to getting his life back. Even Yuan, in one of the most symbolically anti-alcohol scenes I’ve ever seen in a kung fu movie, fights Su through shelves and shelves of alcohol in the basement of Yuan’s lair (perhaps explaining why Yuan was such a screwed up abusive degenerate to his family). It becomes almost disconcerting as we’re so used to seeing strong unflappable characters as the ultimate warriors who just need a little extra above their normal self to defeat the villain. Here, both hero and villain are entirely flawed and problematic. Su is generous and friendly one day, childlike and bratty the next, courageous the next, then back to being a total mess. If it weren’t for a few flaws in the movie, it might’ve been one of the most heartfelt portrayals of alcoholism and the toll it takes on a family I’ve ever seen.
Unfortunately, a couple of major flaws take away from the emotional impact felt by the end of the film. The script could’ve used a bit of reworking, especially to flow from one plot point to the next without seeming forced or contrived (the ending as well was a bit of a disappointment). It moves at an uneven pace for the most part, some parts moving way too quickly and others way too slowly, with a few totally unecessary scenes thrown in. And the acting, especially at the beginning, is a little off. Nitpicking aside though, you had to be pleasantly surprised by the effort put forth by Woo-Ping. The martial arts choreography was tense and entertaining, and the story was heartfelt. By the end, the audience is completely engaged by what’s going on on-screen, concerned for the welfare of the protagonist, and cheering as the final battle unfolds. You can’t ask for too much more in a kung-fu drama.
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