Legend of the Wolf (1997)
Wolf is a war veteran who recounts the tale of his legendary youth to a young upstart killer. Flashback to a post-World War 2 time when the young Wolf is wandering the Chinese countryside in search of his missing memories. He only knows to meet someone at an abandoned temple. He ends up hooking up with a local villager, who intends to guide the Wolf to his destination. On the way, they find Wai-Yee, who’s been waiting for Wolf for quite some time. However, Wolf still can’t remember anything, until the bad guys come to find him, and they bear the terrible secret of the Wolf's past.
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If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
How sad is this?
A Major Disappointment
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
I have seen thousands of martial arts films, ranging from the Hong Kong classics of the 70's to the mixed genre, CGI works of the present day.This is my favorite one.The fight scenes are the single most beautiful, incredible spectacles I've seen in any action film. When two combatants trade blows, the encounter is more a battle between two Gods than mere flesh and blood. In "The Matrix 3", the directors' efforts to achieve this failed miserably. Not so in this film.When Donnie Yen glares at his opponent(s),one feels that the fate of the world depends upon the clash. Accompanied by a tremendous musical score, the effect is enhanced even further.And Yen's character takes on everyone; a vicious gang of fifty men armed with machetes, an entire army of 100+ toughs, gunslingers, iron chain-wielding assassins, and many others.One reason is that "Legend of the Wolf" represents a historic step forward in martial artsfilm-making; modern action films are shot at 18 fps (frames per second)while being played at 24 fps ("under-cranking"), which accelerates the action, but loses the sensation of power from the blows.While LOTW utilizes under-cranking,it also features bone-crunching, vicious blows the likes of which I had never seen before in any action film.The blows from a punch or the slash of a sword make the viewer cringe from their sheer power and might.As excellent as the fight scenes are, it wouldn't be the greatest action film ever were it not for the tragic, depressing storyline. It is told through flashback, describing how a dying gangster used to be a young, ruthless, and completely invincible warrior. Yet, in the end, despite ultimately triumphing over his hundreds of opponents, the young warrior loses what is most dear to him in all the world, and is never able to win it back. This harsh view of the "unbeatable young fighter", so common throughout martial arts films, is both realistic and deeply touching. One of the few perfect films ever made.
Legend of the Wolf is amazing. Donnie Yen made what is one of the best martial arts films from the 90's. Visually the film has a great colour-scheme (green/yellow, very saturated). The photography doesn't look low-budget at all, and there's a nice village and forest where the film takes place. The action is surreal and brutal. You must lose yourself in the mayhem to fully appreciate the action scenes. The story is simple and very direct. The narrative has a story-book feel to it. The music is quite brilliant too -- at times it forces certain emotional responses from you and other times it's simply haunting or furious. Do not miss this film, it's art.
Recently, they released this movie in Occidental under the name of The Big Boss, so check it out. One of Donnie Yen's best. I really feel sorry that he is not as famous as Jet Li. The man has got a much better look than Jet Li and he is just as spectacular. He deserves to be known. If only a good director will give him a chance to be the lead star. He appeared in Blade II as Snowman. About that film, I really think the director underused Donnie Yen. He would be cool playing the bad guy, the vampire. And a fight between him and Weslet Snipes would be super-mega-cool. Other great martial artists : Mark Dacascos(Crying free man, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Drive), Man Cheuk Chiu(another descendant from Shaolin, like Jet Li, movies: Once upon a time in China IV & V). These guys only need a chance to prove to the occidental viewers how great they can be. My greatest dream ever is to have a movie starring :Mark Dacascos,Man Cheuk Chiu, Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Wesley Snipes. YEAH!!! I would pay 100$ a ticket just to see that movie.
Boy oh Boy after I watched this I felt like a kid at Christmas time except for fist of legend Jet li has never made a film this good. this is donnie at his brutal best and he's going for the throat. No wires or undercranking the story is nice (a man whose past come back to haunt him to sum it up) It's got Carmen Lee a costar that is eyecandy as well as a cool score but what you want is fights and donnie fights like a son of a bitch the choreography is mind blowing don't play yourself out check it out