The Legend On Blu-ray
Fong Sai-Yuk (Li) is a skilled martial artist who seems to always find himself getting into some kind of mischief or another. He’s learned much of his skill from his mother, an accomplished martial artist herself. Sai-Yuk and his mother are good friends and both are mostly obedient to the father of the family. The father is a member of the Red Lotus Society, a secretive group that stands against the emperor. The Society believes that the emperor’s actions are not in the best interest of China and intends to overthrow him.
The Governor of Kau Man, played by Man Cheuk Chiu in his first acting role, is also a skilled martial artist. He serves the emperor, and is eager to find a rumored list — a document — with the names of all of the Red Lotus members. As you can imagine, this puts Sai-Yuk (and his mother) and the Governor (and his many followers) on a collision course. Sai-Yuk and the Governor will fight on several occasions in the film.
In addition to lots of fighting, much of which is centered around balance and non-edged weapons, there are multiple romance stories at play. Sai-Yuk and Ting Ting, the daughter of a powerful man in the town, are interested in each other but conflict keeps them apart for much of the film. Additionally there is the curious relationship between Siu-wan, the husband of the aforementioned powerful man, and Sai-Yuk’s mother. During one scene in the movie, Sai-Yuk’s mother dresses as a man to fight Siu-wan, but Siu-wan is swept off her feet, literally. She never discovers that who she thinks is Ti-Yuk is actually Sai-Yuk’s mother.
Plenty of action, romantic themes, and some comedy make up The Legend. It’s a well rounded movie in that way. Of course for me, the most interesting aspect is the fighting. Most of the fight scenes are very well done, but, I have to admit that I thought wires were used a little too much. We’re not quite at the Crouching Tiger level of wire-use/flying, but, awfully close. The ‘flying’ mechanism for characters just doesn’t sit well with me, I want action that is realistic. Other than those moments of ‘flight,’ the combat is very nicely done.
The presentation quality isn’t bad on this release. Obviously you’re not going to see top notch image quality, but you can expect a pretty good presentation. That goes for the audio too, which includes Cantonese and English tracks, too. This release includes some extra features as well:
-Audio Commentary with Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan
-Hit Hard & Fly High: An Exclusive Interview with Director & Legendary Hollywood Fight Choreographer Corey Yuen (21m) – This is a very good interview in which Corey Yuen talks about how the movie came about and how Jet Li and Corey got to work together and so forth. It’s well worth a watch.
-The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword: An Exclusive Interview with Writer Jeff Lau (13m) – Another interesting interview with the film’s writer as he talks about his history and his involvement in the movie and some of his memories. Good stuff.
Overall, this is another fine release in the Dragon Dynasty series that no Asian Cinema/kung fu movie fan should be without.