Home :: DVD :: Art House & International :: General  

Asian Cinema
British Cinema
European Cinema
General

Latin American Cinema
The Legend of the Wolf

The Legend of the Wolf

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $22.46
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great fight scenes
Review: This movie had increadible fight scenes...my only complaint is that they didn't have more of them..i just hate it when martial artists try to act in the movie....there should be less emotional moments and more awesome fights....Donnie is definately underatted...he should be up there with Jackie and Jet

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 3 stars for Donnie, 1 or 2 star story unfortunately
Review: This movie has a very nice beginning/introduction. The story is slowly developing, Donnie Yen has to kick some miscellaneous butt for no apparent reason, and of course, he easily does. Then, somewhere in the middle of the story they decide to interject his lost long love, destroying the pointless action, and trying to develop a plot.

Donnie Yen did this in the middle of Fist of the Red Dragon also. Non stop action, then all the sudden he's addicted to opium, has to go through rehab, and the struggles of kicking the habit, and it almost completely destroys the movie.

In this movie, Donnie Yen's character develops amnesia. He gets hurt in one of his many 1 vs. 20 fights, and has to be nursed to health by a woman who ends up being his long lost love (maybe his wife, they don't quit explain what their relationship actually is/was). Then the story goes from action packed, to a story of his lover struggling w/his state, and not being in contact w/him for 4 years.

Nevertheless, a group of bandits come into the picture, and somehow have knowledge of his past. Of course, they kidnap his new lover, and he has to rescue her. In the process of trying to rescue her, it leads to a big fight scene against the leader of the bandits.

I watched this movie because it was starring Donnie Yen, directed by Donnie Yen, and I have a lot of respect for him and his intentions. I also know his mentor is Woo-ping Yuen, the legendary director and chorographer (Kill Bill 1+2, Matrix trilogy, Iron Monkey, Drunken Master 1+2, Fist of Legend, Once Upon a Time in China I & II, etc, etc.), however, Donnie Yen struck out on this one, and I can only hope his directing improves w/his age.

His fight scenes, and choreographing is done to perfection. However, the story is atrocious, and needs more then a little work. Rent before buying, or try to catch it on Cinemax or something. I will give the movie a B- only because it stars Donnie Yen and his fighting scenes are beautiful, but the story is painful to watch at times.

Grade: B-


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Donnie Yen should be commended for this gem...
Review: This movie has been criticized excessively by many for being too different from the usual martial arts genre. Indeed, if you enjoyed Iron Monkey and are looking for something similar in a Donnie Yen film, such as people precisely executing each martial arts technique, pausing deliberately after several exchanges of punches and kicks, and sometimes even yelling out the name for a particular move, Legend of the Wolf may not be the movie for you.

Not all the criticisms are justified. Unlike Yen's previous masterpiece which showcases his finest skills as a martial artist, Legend of theWolf exhibits a remarkable combination of raw energy and artistic elegance, and this movie is nothing short of spectacular. Like Yen's subsequent effort, Ballistic Kiss, Legend of the Wolf has excellent cinematography, wonderful camera work, good music in addition to its kinetic if somewhat disorienting actions, which suit the film's dark mood perfectly. Look beyond the norm of martial arts genre, you may find this film interesting to watch, and may even find yourself wowed by its power and beauty.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Widescreen.....NOT!
Review: This movie is not too bad for one of Donnie Yen's first directorial efforts. The biggest problem is that it's not really a widescreen transfer. It's not even letterboxed. Unless you consider the eighteenth of an inch at the top and bottom of the picture a widescreen/letterboxed edition. The poor transfer really makes some of the decent fight scenes difficult to watch. It's ashame that Amazon doesn't review the titles before releasing the information.

If you enjoy martial arts/action movies, this one is worth giving a try. It's not Donnie's best, but it's not his worse either.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!
Review: This movie is THE worst HK film I have watched in a very long time. The fight scenes are shot too close to see what is going on and poorly thought out.

The ONLY reason I purchased this movie was from the stellar reviews it received on this site.

If you like intricate fights and have a sliver of martial arts background you will HATE this movie. This movie is comical in it's story and by the end we were making fun of the movie rather than engaged. There was only 1 fight scenes that was exciting to watch.

The Once Upon a time In china series, Iron Monkey, Fung Sai Yuck, Croaching Tiger, Tai chi master, Swords Men, Bride w/white hair, Jackie chan series, chow yun fat..etc... are the classics...this movie does not belong w/these greats.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Film by a Great Martial Artist
Review: When I heard about this movie and heard that Donnie Yen starred in it, I went to Amazon.com to read some reviews. To my surprise all the reviews were negative towards the film and so I grew hesitant as to buying it. Being a Donnie Yen fan I went ahead and bought it anyways. When the movie finally arrived at my home I hurry up and pop the movie in that night. Behold to my surprise this film was marvelous. The story was alright...it wasn't great but not that bad. Donnie plays as a man named Wolf who is an assassin in the present time, however the movie have flash backs. In the flash backs he is some sort of "soldier" who lost his memories. It's a twist in the movie that's not really surprising. As you can see the story is not the strong point of the movie, it's the action that is. Donnie Yen is the producer and director of this film. As many have said the action scenes are shot close up and plus the fights are a little sped up as well. People find these as flaws, however I don't. The fights are not sped up to the point the fights look comical, but to a point that it looks beautiful and strong. The people that are hunting Donnie down are very impressive in skills. His first challenge is with a man who uses chains that's wrap around one of his arms. One of my favorites will have to be the fighter with the claws; really nice hand to hand combat I must say. Overall the film is really nice if you are a big fan of Donnie Yen. If you are not a fan of his and just want to see a nice martial art flick with almost super human speed watch this movie.


<< 1 2 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates