RISE OF THE LEGEND is yet another Wong Fei Hung story, with the Chinese legend this time around played by the wooden but muscular Eddie Peng. He has little of the charisma that Jet Li brought to the role, but the film turns out to be entertaining thanks to a string of well choreographed and violent set-pieces by old hand Corey Yuen, who thankfully doesn't overdo the wirework and CGI and instead offers plenty of hand-to-hand combat instead. The film itself is something of a mixed bag, surprisingly lacking in emotion in the non action scenes, and long-winded at times; half an hour off the running time would have tightened things up nicely. Sammo Hung has a solid villain role and there's some intrigue in the plot, although there are a lot of flashbacks plonked square on in the narrative which test the patience a bit.
Review of Rise of the Legend
