True Legend – DVD Review
The Film:
Has there been an ass Yuen Woo-ping hasn’t kicked? The legendary action choreographer has been orchestrating some of the best martial arts action since his breakout in 1978′s Drunken Master, to his more popular Chinese films Iron Monkey and Tai Chi Master. But it’s Woo-ping’s American films that have gotten him the most attention. From those Matrix sequels, to Tarantino’s Kill Bill, and Unleashed, which is arguably Jet Li’s best American film, and yet, let me ask this again…who hasn’t gotten their ass kicked by Yuen Woo-ping?
If you were to say, “well, he hasn’t kicked God’s ass” then I would kindly retort “wrong!” Enter True Legend, which on paper seemed like the be-all-end-all in Woo-ping’s filmography, actually turns out to be pretty close to that notion, but yes, Woo-ping orchestrates a God getting his ass kicked. True Legend is a sweeping wu shu epic, that combines almost too much action for the simple story, but that’s why we love Woo-ping.
True Legend has it all for action fans: large battles, Wu Shu Gods, a crazed villain with not only the mastery of the Five Deadly Venoms, but weird metallic tattoos that are poisonous, and a rousing finale. Chinese fans saw the film in 3D, and I think that must have been a sight to behold. In 2D, some of the scenes seem cheesy, but while the story is simple as I’ve mentioned before, the switch from a light fun fantasy epic into an Ip Man Nationalistic Pride finale, makes for a disjointed film. It’s a film with two climaxes and that just doesn’t work.
And yet, even with all of those flaws, action fans won’t give a damn, since Woo-ping keeps everything non-stop. From nice cameos like Michelle Yeoh to the late David Carradine, True Legend is probably the most flawed action epic that only serves to be fun, and fun it is.
The DVD:
Audio/Video: Vivendi Entertainment offers up a strong DVD presentation. The colors and details are bold enough for standard definition, and should please fans. There’s two audio options and truthfully, you should only be using the DD 5.1 Mandarin track, which is a strong, active track and has some deep bass to boot.
Besides a Music Video and Trailers, the disc has five making-of documentaries ranging from action set-up to interviews with Woo-ping, they’re short yet informative. Sadly, there’s no 3D option either on this DVD or Blu-ray disc.
The Film: Rating: 
The DVD: Rating:
