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.

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

Review: This movie was terrible. The acting is appalling, along with the script which became hard on the ears after a while. To be honest, I didn't know what was going on from one scene to the next because I lost interest very early in the film. I did like Jet Li's mum but I didn't like Jet Li playing a comedic role. The fight scenes were soooooo over exaggerated and the storyline was all over the place. It seemed like the characters were fighting for no reason most of the time and Jet Li's mum just couldn't help poking her nose into her son's business. At the end of the day, it's a badly directed movie with a bad concept and I'm surprised that they made a sequel. Disappointing!

Round-Up: I think that the director was attempting a Jackie Chan type comedy with this movie, but he done a really bad job. Personally I prefer the earlier Kung Fu movies which don't use all of the wire trickery or the crazy flying techniques. Anyway the love story was ridiculous and Jet Li's silly face expressions really became tedious after a while. On top of that, you've got this annoying soundtrack which really doesn't help matters. On the plus side, it does look authentic and the mum did crack me up in a few scenes, but I did end up falling asleep.

Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$30.6million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a man fighting for justice to save his family and his love ones. 1/10