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Cast:
Donnie
Yen
Carmen
Lee
Dayo
Wong
Ben
Lam
Edmond
Leung
Action:
Donnie
Yen
Producer:
Donnie
Yen
Director:
Donnie
Yen
Score:
 
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LEGEND
OF THE WOLF
AKA:
The New Big Boss
Year:
1997 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
'Legend
of the Wolf' is the story of Wolf (Yen), one of the most
lethal assassins known to man until he lost his memory.
Now he is resorted to wondering the land searching for the
only thing that remains in his heart; his love for a woman.
Along his travels he is ambushed and fends off his attackers
using his superior sword technique. When a local man
(Wong) sees such heroics he offers his assistance as a guide
for the lost warrior. However, the killers are
relentless in their quest and when Wolf is taken by surprise
he is seriously hurt until a mysterious woman comes to his
aid. As Wolf's relationship with his new found friends
begins to blossom, the village in which they reside is taken
siege and only Wolf is strong enough to put up any kind of
resistance.
Donnie
Yen's directorial debut brings about a mixed bag of results as
he attempts a cross between a kung fu masterpiece and a
thinking man's love story. Sadly, it certainly doesn't
manage to achieve the latter, mainly due to the inept story
telling. Presented in a flashback format, the saga is
shown through the eyes of Dayo Wong's character several years
in the future with the use of the predictable
"amnesia" storyline to pad out the film before the
eagerly anticipated final duel. Characters are poorly
motivated with little reasoning behind their actions (Wolf in
particular) and the so called love story is so under developed
that it very unlikely that many will really care about the
outcome. Riddled with holes and suffering with a total
sense of confusion, the movie limps along with only the action
successfully linking each scene.
Kung
Fu masterpiece then? Well, not exactly! For the
fights you can really separate the movie into two halves.
For the majority of the running time, Yen displays an
extravaganza of impressive bootwork which is unfortunately
aided by his handy undercranking machine, producing lightening
speed but also the feeling that you hit the fast forward
button by accident. Couple this with his poor editing
that shifts the camera to another angle for the impact and we
are left with some extremely frustrating action.
However, as Yen finds his feet in the directorial chair, so
the action begins to improve. For the last twenty
minutes or so the movie suddenly takes a turn for the better
with some superb kicking combinations and such frenetically
paced action that it makes the previous hour seem like an
eternity. If nothing else, this spectacle of sheer
energy that engulfs the finale is really worth the admission
price alone.
Your
eventual opinion of this film really depends to what extent
you can tolerate undercranking and quick cut fight scenes.
There are certainly several moments where it's confusing and
often too quick for the viewer to follow but it's a valiant
attempt at updating the kung fu movie and will most likely
find a place amongst most hardened fight fans' DVD
collections.
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