Lobo: O Assassino

I have seen thousands of martial arts films, ranging from the Hong Kong classics of the 70's to the mixed genre, CGI works of the present day.

This is my favorite one.

The fight scenes are the single most beautiful, incredible spectacles I've seen in any action film.

When two combatants trade blows, the encounter is more a battle between two Gods than mere flesh and blood. In "The Matrix 3", the directors' efforts to achieve this failed miserably. Not so in this film.

When Donnie Yen glares at his opponent(s),one feels that the fate of the world depends upon the clash. Accompanied by a tremendous musical score, the effect is enhanced even further.

And Yen's character takes on everyone; a vicious gang of fifty men armed with machetes, an entire army of 100+ toughs, gunslingers, iron chain-wielding assassins, and many others.

One reason is that "Legend of the Wolf" represents a historic step forward in martial artsfilm-making; modern action films are shot at 18 fps (frames per second)while being played at 24 fps ("under-cranking"), which accelerates the action, but loses the sensation of power from the blows.

While LOTW utilizes under-cranking,it also features bone-crunching, vicious blows the likes of which I had never seen before in any action film.

The blows from a punch or the slash of a sword make the viewer cringe from their sheer power and might.

As excellent as the fight scenes are, it wouldn't be the greatest action film ever were it not for the tragic, depressing storyline.

It is told through flashback, describing how a dying gangster used to be a young, ruthless, and completely invincible warrior.

Yet, in the end, despite ultimately triumphing over his hundreds of opponents, the young warrior loses what is most dear to him in all the world, and is never able to win it back.

This harsh view of the "unbeatable young fighter", so common throughout martial arts films, is both realistic and deeply touching.

One of the few perfect films ever made.

Donnie Yen's debut as a director has taken a lot of criticism and was a fairly big flop upon its initial release. Is it a flawed film? Sure. But, is it worth spending an hour and a half watching? Yes.

Legend of the Wolf tells the tale, all in flashback (one of its unfair criticisms) of a how a mythic killer came to be who he is. The film belongs in the classification of 90's arty-swordplay dramas, like Ashes of Time or The Blade, heavy on atmosphere, style, lightweight philosophical musings, and blurry combat. One of the reasons, no doubt, that it was a flop was due to this particular Hong Kong genre already being tired by the time Legend came out. It looks great and has some fantastic cinematography. Although I am not a fan of the close-up, hyper paced fight scenes, Donnie directs them well and with more clarity than most directors of this style. There are two great fights, one inside a hut with a guy who has a huge length of chain wrapped around his arm, and another with a monkey or tiger claw fighter in the woods, the latter being one of the better duels I've seen. Based on those two fights and the cinematography alone, I can recommend Hong Kong action fans seeing this.

Where Legend of the Wolf fails is in its story. Unfortunately, like other films in the modern swordplay genre, it tries so hard to be dramatic, with overemphasized music, crazy camera work (though some very stunning), and ponderous plotline, it falls deeply into muddled characters and weepy melodrama. Donnie Yen should be commended for being as bold and as skilled as he is. Instead of making his debut with a straightforward no-brain action flick, he tries to tackle something of more weight. It is less than perfect, but it is admirable, just the same.

How my fellow martial arts fans can speak so warmly about this movie, even calling it their favourite, and the best martial arts movie ever made, is completely beyond me... :-/ I've watched hundreds of martial arts movies, both new and old, and I'm a huge fan of Donnie Yen, in everything from his classic awesome movies like Iron Monkey, to his newer awesome movies like Flash Point and Ip Man. But c'mon, this movie is clearly rubbish? The fights are nothing but high speed closeups, so you can't really see what is going on most of the time, how is that impressive or cool? I'm really glad Donnie grew out of this kind of movie directing in his later movies (he directed Flash Point, which is pure awesomeness), because this is not how you do fighting in movies, or in real life, for that matter. I couldn't care less about the lame story either. Not a passing grade from me.

Recently, they released this movie in Occidental under the name of The Big Boss, so check it out. One of Donnie Yen's best. I really feel sorry that he is not as famous as Jet Li. The man has got a much better look than Jet Li and he is just as spectacular. He deserves to be known. If only a good director will give him a chance to be the lead star. He appeared in Blade II as Snowman. About that film, I really think the director underused Donnie Yen. He would be cool playing the bad guy, the vampire. And a fight between him and Weslet Snipes would be super-mega-cool. Other great martial artists : Mark Dacascos(Crying free man, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Drive), Man Cheuk Chiu(another descendant from Shaolin, like Jet Li, movies: Once upon a time in China IV & V). These guys only need a chance to prove to the occidental viewers how great they can be. My greatest dream ever is to have a movie starring :Mark Dacascos,Man Cheuk Chiu, Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Wesley Snipes. YEAH!!! I would pay 100$ a ticket just to see that movie.

I'm sorry martial arts fans, this is not good quality martial arts. Its good in some bits but thats about it. Its not Donnie Yen style which is good I reckon because its showing us that he is challenging viewers.

The storyline is pretty good, has a bit more of a plot. However the fighting just wasn't that good, too violent for someone like him.

Plus the ending was just shocking especially the fight scene with the Bandit leader.

Not bad if you wanna see something different from Donnie. And to the person that mentioned that this is the best film ever. No bloody way! Drunken Master 2 is way better, so is Armour Of God. Once upon a time in China is better, so is Enter The Dragon.