Customer Reviews

The Legend of the Wolf AKA The New Big Boss

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

The movie is absolute briliance if you look at the budget. $500,000!!!!!!!

Now if you are a kugn fu fan then you NEED to get this. Fans of Iron Monkey may enjoy the super revved up action, but even if you don't like it when they majorly undercrank films, this may still catch your eye.

The movie is all a flashback story. Donnie Yen is old and is telling a kid a story about when he was young and lost his memory. By the end both stories get wrapped up very nicely. But the end scene absolutely blew me away. There is somethign that happened right before the final fight scene that boosted this up to a 4. I guess I wasn't expecting any real movie moments, but this had a hell of a lot of them.

Now the action scenes I have to say are one of a kind. There is a match with a guy who is usign chains to fight donnie, that was my favorite. ALL of teh fights are unreal but awesome. The one with the guy using like monkey or tiger style was INTENSE. If you are prone to seizures then I highly suggest you do not get this movie.

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 Yens 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 Yens 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 films 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.

I would like to say that I liked this film, because I like Donnie Yen and I love martial arts films. Yen's first directorial effort, however, fails to capture his true abilities as an actor and martial artist. The plot is simple. An older Yen reflects, through flashbacks, on a past where he returns to a village where his forgotten sweetheart lives. She recognizes him, though he has amnesia, and rekindles their relationship. Meanwhile, Yen is pursued by a group of bandits that eventually kidnap his girlfriend. This leads to fight scenes that are so blurry and speeded up that it is hard to tell who is hitting whom. That is where this film really fails, the build up to the action scenes leaves the viewer disappointed with the way they are filmed. To Yen's credit, he was attempting to add a freshness to a genre that has existed for many years, and even though it failed, his later effort Ballistic Kiss, is a beautiful film that does what I think this film meant to. It is very similar to Wong Kar Wai's Fallen Angels, in the way it depicts the violence and loneliness of a hitman lost in a world that doesn't understand him. I recommend seeing Legend of the Wolf and then seeing Ballistic Kiss to see how Yen has grown as an actor and martial artist.

Also known as The New Big Boss (after Bruce's film), this is one review I am sad to write because Donnie is one of my favorite martial artists...this movie is just plain bad, and I understand this was one of Donnie's early start in directing, but that doesn't save it from being bad...story?...Man with amnesia goes back to a temple that is familiar in his dreams and searches for a woman that he sees in his dreams as well hoping to get some answers to his identity...the village nearby is constantly being terrorized by bandits and Donnie, miraculously remembering one thing-his fighting abilities, helps fight them off...the movie is mostly about rememberance, bloody fights, and a reblossoming love...now the bad part, the fighting caught on camera is horrendously awful and a big waste on Donnie's part...the camera is way to close to the fighters and all you see are hand movements with less body movements...it seems everything is sped up as well for that ultra fast fighting appeal...it just makes it worse...you can't see the fighting in its true form because the camera is too damn close, and there were a lot of good moves by Donnie that were put to waste cuz you couldn't really see them...other than this, the fighting is extremely unrealistic...I mean there were several occasions were Donnie took out literally 100 men by himself and this just made me think "O please"...what kept me watching was the love story tho and I would've given this film at least a rating of 2, but the whole end scene, just a little before the last battle sequence of this film just destroyed that possibility...if you ever watch this, just keep that in mind...This is by far one of Donnie's worst movies, and I've seen most of his flicks...I think he even knows that this movie was bad, but great actors every now and then understandibly make bad movies...go ahead and rent it to find out, but for heaven's sake don't buy it unless you gotta have everything Donnie made...The Legend of the Wolf version of the film is presented with original chinese language with english subs, and the sound is 2 channel surround...The New Big Boss version is only an English Dub with a 5.1 dbd track...I don't recommend either haha, this movie is just bad, but usually chinese is the way to go for me...check out better Donnie fims like Tiger Cage 2, Iron Monkey, OUATIC 2 alongside Jet Li, Wing Chun alongside Michelle Yeoh, and Drunken Tai Chi...Hope this review was helpful, check out my other HK reviews as well... Laters

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.

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

Donnie Yen is truly the martial arts actor of the next millenium. This Movie has amazing new-style choreography of fight scenes, these are really impressive. Some of the best fight i've ever seen( better than any jackie chan's and most of jet li's).

Other reviewers have allready pointed out that LoW:s plot is not so hot. I think it manages and that the use of music is great and the camerawork make the film a pleasure to watch thorough. There are some neat references to several Tsui Hark films and by all accounts, this film was made almost the same time as Hark's Dao the Blade, so comparisons are inevitable. Legend of the Wolf was made with a smaller budget and it's an original story.

Donnie hits his head and loses his memory. The whole film is generally a flashback, which is not the easiest way to do your McKungfu-film.
But the really great part is the action and I'm a action fan, so I write a review for those people who share my passion. If you don't like the plot (which I do), do NOT skip this if you like HK-style action!

The undercranking may annoy some people, but I think this films action REALLY demands repeated viewings. There is a lot attention to detail, Donnie uses several great effects to make contact look more brutal and realistic; the slow motion is used in GREAT effect everywhere, and so is Yen's editing, which he of course did himself. He spent 3 months to get everything right and it really shows. I do not know a MA film that has as ambitious editing as this one.

The last scene is built very well. First people get slaughtered in the village, then Donnie starts to whack people like no tomorrow. Girl is kidnapped and the evil gang run to the forest and Donnie whacks them with imaginative ways. Cool stuff, filmed brilliantly, music fits in very well and Donnie looks good, as always.

The real GEM is the next scene! Donnie fights a monkey kungfu man in a 5-minute fight, which has exhilarating speed and INSANE choreography. They go everywhere, monkey guy has ninja-like metal claws so Donnie has to change his tactics. After a brief part of Chin-Na (chinese joint locking) Donnie goes into kicking mode and camera work like a damn mozart! The fight goes on to amazing whack fest, where Donnie just beats the living daylights out of his opponent and does awesome kicks to finish him off. Like in other scenes, apart from undercanking (which may annoy some, I understand) is bloody perfect. You can see absolutely everything, every move, tactic, you name it. What's the best thing is that it's not your typical normative YWP (Yuen Woo Ping) chick slap party but a real deal from start to finish. It'll make you sweat, I swear!

If this scene was compared to the much riveted last fight in Blade, I'd pick this one, every time. It's not that Man Cheuk's and Xing Xiong scene is bad, it's just that this is one of the best modern fights I've ever seen. And I've seen a few.

The end scene sums it up, really. Donnie fights Ben Lam (form Jackie Chans stuntman and star of a couple films) on field and it's time for emotion! They just go brutally at each other with great slo-mo, little undercranking, with knees and elbows clashing everywhere. There is a AWESOME shot where both actors do a flying roundhouse kick each other leg, while camera just zooms out of thme. It's poetic!

Overall, it's a good film, I liked it. The plot was rather hard to follow but had a point. The real treat was tha rather unique action, which has been called as "a Donnie style", which IMO shows here to the greatest effect. In Legend of the Wolf, he just uses about every known camera trick of the book and edits things in a way no-one can. An unique MA film that remains for many the TRULY last classic of Hong KOng kung fu cinema, before things went down, hard. The DVD is bare bones, but I bought it anyway. Just awesome action.

An absolute AWESOME movie! Donnie Yen really opens up in this movie and shows off moves that'll blow your mind! My favorite part is a very cool "running" scene in the forest, unlike anything you've scene before. Tons of fast action, everybody fights, and not to mention...even a bittersweet love scene. You'll Certainly notice the fine directoral & camera work. Definately a Must Have for all you Donnie Yen fans!