The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk (1993)

One of my all time favorites.

Just perfect...

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This early Jet Li vehicle has had rather more exposure than some of his other flicks of the period, thanks to Dimension cashing in on Li's success in the US and releasing films from his back catalogue. Sadly, Dimension's decision had many fans up in arms, as the films were usually re-cut, badly dubbed and had new music added which was inferior to the original's. As far as I can see, THE LEGEND is no exception, with the level of dubbing being particularly noticeable. It's quite lucky that this film has plenty of comedy, as I imagine taking it seriously would be a difficult task.Li plays the role of the Chinese hero with typical ease, and gets to do far more comedy here than we usually see in his movies. He fits in with the rest of the actors nicely, and his martial arts skills are, of course, outstanding. The supporting characters are little more than caricatures, although saying that they do tend to stick in your mind – faces such as Li's roly-poly assistant, or his kick-ass mother, or the weirdly pale bad guy. The plot is confused but the film looks wonderfully colourful, something I'd attribute to the sure-hand direction of Corey Yuen.The best element of the film is, of course, the action. It's here where THE LEGEND really excels and becomes better than the norm. Wire work is in use here at all times, so don't go in expecting realism; instead, you get scenes of people flying, running along on the tops of crowds, and performing all manner of gravity-defying stunts. The fights are generally excellent, with three big standouts. The first is the kung fu contest where participants lose when they touch the ground; when Li joins it, it goes on for about ten minutes but never becomes boring. The other two quality moments are the battles with the pale bad guy, one halfway through and the other at the climax; both are terrifically inventive and packed with imaginative situations. It's the cartoonish action that really bolsters this movie and makes it what it is: an unassuming film with fun at the top of the agenda.

Believe it or not, this was the movie that introduced me to Jet Li. I was immediately hooked. I've read reviews that discredit the dub into English, but I found it easy to overlook this -- in fact, I found it to be somewhat hilarious. This film has all the makings of a great movie. There are no sub-plots that do not get resolved. The servant who always bawls whenever Jet Li's character get's set to go away for a minute or two is downright hilarious. That's one of the unique things about this movie: with so much drama they managed to make a hilarious movie, as well. As usual, the kung fu is extraordinary. In particular, there are a few scenes in which the opponents face off and the camera takes a moment to pause and let the viewer see the poses from a brilliant perspective. This will always be one of my favorite Chinese films.

FONG SAI YUK is known as THE LEGEND in Britain and was broadcast on BBC 1 earlier tonight probably because it ties in with the release of Jet Li`s up coming HERO and since we`re also treated to an athletics contest very early into the film I guess someone thought it might have been a good idea to broadcast it after the BBC`s Olympic coverage THE LEGEND isn`t a bad martial arts movie , it features romance , comedy and action which is what entertainment is all about . It`s not going to win any Oscars and is in no way comparable to CROUCHING TIGER , HIDDEN DRAGON ( There`s a few revealing errors which adds to its entertainment value ) but at least it`s not as irritating as all those Jackie Chan and Jean Claude Van Damme star vehicles .There is one problem to THE LEGEND and that is the dubbing on the English language version - It`s quite awful . We see 70 year old men , their voices dubbed by actors who sound like their straight out of high school while their is no emotion or inflexion put into their voices . It`s quite ridiculous watching characters screaming and bawling on screen with their dubbed voices being calm and relaxed to the point of politeness . Unfortunately it`s not as funny as it sounds

I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of this movie, and all I can say is WOW! Wow, because I didn't understand what the hell was going on for the whole movie, the subtitles were so badly misaligned. But mainly WOW! because it didn't matter a jot that I couldn't tell what the plot was as the film is just one amazing "fight" scene after another. This film defies belief, and description. If you like martial arts movies, check this out. If you enjoyed Crouching Tiger, check this out. If you love MAD films check this out.There is a scene in which Jet Li fights the mother of the woman he has a crush on entirely on the HEADS of a crowd! Then HIS mother has a fight with the first woman.From the opening scene you will see that this is a piece of genius. The plot doesn't matter. This is pure spectacle.When you see these people move you will realise that the USA can never invade China. They just have all the tricks in the book. They wrote the tricks. I wish I had seen this when I was 9. It would have changed my life totally.