THE LEGEND (B) comes on the heels of Jet's successful Once Upon a Time in China franchise where he played the folk Chinese kung fu hero Wong Fei-Hung. The Legend represents a fresh franchise starter for Jet Li with action director Cory Yuen. The story stars Li as another Chinese folk kung fu hero known as Fong Sai Yuk. It's a bit of a fool's errand to try and sum up the convolutions of Hong Kong martial arts films as many of them follow what I call the complicated simple plot: a basic story that turns in on itself so many times it becomes confusing. In this case, we have an evil and unpopular government trying to track down and destroy a popular underground movement against them known as the Red Lotus Society. Within that story the characters circle each other and cross back and forth, mostly for laughs, but also for fights, until the final showdown everything has been leading to. Vincent Zhao plays the central villain trying to track down a list of members of the Red Lotus Society and this is how Fong Sai Yuk ultimately becomes involved. The fight choreography here is top notch and it's not surprising to hear that this film won swept the Golden Horse and Hong Kong fight choreography awards. There are at least three major fight sequences that I score as an 'A-' or better here which is a rare feat. It's not the best film Jet's made, but it's the best of his 1993 output and a collection of fights you won't want to miss - especially his creative wire heavy "can't touch the ground" fight and two showdowns with Vincent Zhao.
Review of The Legend
