Please don't spend money on this.

Just what I expected

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

"True Legend" ("Su Qu-Er") was actually a nice surprise. 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. His adopted brother Yuan Lie (played by Andy On), envious and always standing in the shadow of Su Can, end up killing their father and taking Su Can's son captive. 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. They were amazing to look at. Very well choreographed and executed. Given this being a Mandarin martial arts movie, expect a lot of wire action in the movie. Personally, I don't mind that, but of course that is a matter of preference.And as with most other epic Chinese movies in the same genre, there is a lot of really breathtakingly beautiful scenery to be seen in this movie. 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.

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. From there it just went downhill. 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. Sister Yu, comes into the movie to do one thing, and then is essentially gone dramatically, and like many of the characters is not only flat, but empty, and used only as a place holder in the movie with no background or character development. In the first ending of the movie, the battle was just flat, as opposed to the first run-in with the iron twins. And Yuan's soldiers just stood around as Su attacked. No wonder he was constantly killing his own men, maybe he needed to talk to TRC Staffing. The least the director could have done would be to throw in a few of Yuan's soldier's to get hacked into giblets.The funniest part of the movie was the crucial 'clue' of the 'exact' location of Su's wife '...in the forest'. Wow, thanks Professor Pinpoint. Then when they find the box she is buried in it is already exposed (you think the disturbed earth would be a giveaway, no, he had to hit his foot on it). Then they try to dig her up while she is suffocating. Su has up to this point been putting his fist through people, trees, stone walls, and other similar things but does not punch a hole in the box. What? There was a second ending/chapter of the movie about Russians wearing pajamas, but I won't even review it as it was just uninspired and rather stupid. Overall the movie was like the writer had great ideas for scenes, without a cohesive central story. A Chinese made quilt ( please be aware I do indeed wish to insinuate the bad quality of Chinese made products while making this analogy) poorly stitched together. This movie was like IP Man's younger brother with ADD.I gave this movie a low rating because, although beautiful, it started out really well and then disintegrated.

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... but you'll most likely also be wondering why a 4th act was rushed through when a sequel would have been both economically viable and justified.

I am basing my 9 stars for two reasons. First, the choreography is top notch. Second the cinematography is top notch. Simply put, this a very beautiful movie to watch. As for the story and plot...it's an action movie with a fairly simple story. It was designed to entertain with action and composition so the story is not the main vehicle which it uses to engage the viewer. If you are looking for extremely beautiful images, super insane kinetic choreography and fight scenes, you have come to the right place. The fights are on par with and perhaps even surpass Crouching Tiger, or Hero. Woo Ping just keeps improving on his choreography. I don't know how he does it, but he does it in every new movie. This is a definite purchase on bluray for my collection.