Synopsis:

Fong Sai Yuk (Jet Li) is an incredible master of Martial Arts. He learned everything from his mother. His father however appears to be a hard-edged man, unwilling to bend to the notion that his son and wife are not the traditional Chinese family. The Emperor of China at the time is having nightmares regarding the end of his reign at the hands of an underground grass-roots quasi-political group. To stop this before his dream comes true, the emperor enlists an assassin to root out the antigovernment faction thus preserving his reign. When Fong's father turns out to be a member of this faction, the Emperor sends his assassin to kill the family. Only the fighting skills of Fong and his mother will protect them from the Emperor's assassin! Martial Arts action at it's best!

Audio/Video:

The audio is pretty intense for The legend. It's produced in a 5.1 platform with an English language only track. The dubbing is funny and quite reminiscent of Black Belt Theater! (A Martial Arts TV program that aired in Philadelphia, PA on the weekends during the 70's and 80's) The audio makes good use of the surrounds and the sub. Mostly surround than sub, the audio clearly presents all the aural textures of the film. The center is perfectly delineated and the surrounds are very active in the film's many fight scenes. The "swoosh" and thud of the kicks and the sounds of the garments as the actors "fly" through the air are well presented and result in a rich and full audio presentation. I would have preferred to hear the film in its original language with sub titles but until that catches on, I'll have to make do with the dubbing. The images are crystalline as well. The transfer is a beautiful widescreen presentation that suffers from a bout of haziness during one of the major fight scenes involving Fong, his mother and the assassin (Chapter 12) Other than that, the film's colors are vibrant and full with an incredible wide range of colors. The only problem with the clarity of the presentation is that the "wires" used to fly the actors around become visible due to the cleaned up video presentation. Minor gripe but, worth mentioning.

Extras:

The extras on the disc are limited to seven trailers for six other martial arts films featuring Jet Li , Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh. The trailers included are: The Enforcer-Jet Li, Twin Warriors-Jet Li, Operation Condor- Jackie Chan, Operation Condor 2-Jackie Chan & Michelle Yeoh, Supercop-Chan & Yeoh and lastly, Supercop2 featuring Jackie Chan and starring Michelle Yeoh. For those of you unfamiliar with her work, Yeoh was the Chinese operative in James Bond's Tomorrow Never Dies.

Overall:

The film is martial artistry at it's best! My wife mentioned that while watching Jet Li during the film his execution of the various styles and forms of martial arts were "elegant". I'd have to agree! Jet Li makes this look not only good but awesome as well. Wire-Fu films are an extension of the kind of movies I grew up watching with the master of televised martial Arts Bruce Lee. Sho Kosugi, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li are the preeminent forces in martial arts movies today and will probably be that way as long as films are made. The fluidity of motion and the beauty of the styles are incredible to watch and a beauty to behold. The Legend is a very good martial arts movie that's great to watch and just a lot of fun all the way around! Recommended