Now I have heard people complain about the flashbacks, but I can't see what's wrong with them. There are only 3 flashbacks and they are not confusing at all. In the contrary, the flashbacks here are put to great use and one of them is inventive, even.

Now the strength of this film is the fight scenes, of course. Donnie Yen provides us with some of the best, most innovative fights ever filmed. The Donnie vs Monkey duel is probably The BEST on-screen fight ever, you have never seen AND "heard" a martial combat like this one before. It's at once artistic, creative and thrilling.

The script has some interesting scenes, too, I especially like what happens to Yen's lover. It's not your standard "the hero saves the beauty and they live forever happily afterwards" story, trust me.

Too bad some of the supporting cast don't know how to act, otherwise this would have been a kung-fu masterpiece.

Highly recommended.

I like this movie a lot. The plot's standard, the directing is passable, the budget obviously wasn't very high, and even the "artistic" way in which the movie unfolds, via incongrous flashbacks within flashbacks, doesn't really help things. But all that aside, you still have a fairly decent movie with excellent action. Each kung-fu battle is good enough to be the "end fight" in any other martial arts film. The shots are sometimes too close or too blurry, and the editing is as jarring as MTV's, but it still looks great.

Donnie pulls a "Van Damme" here, with plenty shots of himself bare-chested and flexing. But I'm sure that's just for the ladies, right, Donnie? Anyway, he pulls off some impressive martial arts. He starts the film doing a basic movie style, but as the film progresses he adopts what seems to be a jeet kune do approach, even mimicking Bruce Lee's war cries. Perhaps this is why Legend of the Wolf is called "The New Big Boss" in parts of the UK.

Just about every fight in this movie is a highlight, but the best is the sequence that begins with Donnie chasing through a forest after his enemies, and culminates in him taking on his main rival beside a waterfall. The running fight in the forest is one of the best Hong Kong action sequences ever, with Donnie taking on legions of henchmen, a guy with a revolver, and a guy who fights with claws. The sequence proves that there's still some amazing things going on in Hong Kong cinema.

As an aside, the dvd release is terrible; it's full-frame with no menu selections or extras. Plus the subs are burned into the print, just like they were back in the pre-dvd days. At least the chapters are numbered, so you can skip from fight to fight, cutting out the extraneous moments of "plot advancement" and getting right to the good stuff.

Donnie Yen is Fung Man-hin, an amnesiac with (surprise) tremendous fighting prowess. He wanders around seeking out temples...don't ask why...and befriends a local rogue named Wai (Chi Wah Wong). Violence seems to follow in his footsteps as marauders plague him incessantly...but for what reason, he does not know. This story takes place shortly after World War II, with somewhat nonsensical modern-day segments presenting it in the past tense.

The film opens with an MTV-style fight; dark and ridiculously fast with way too many cuts. This isn't necessarily just bad film making on Yen's part, though. At this point, the viewer isn't SUPPOSED to know what the hell is going on.

Actually, ALL of the fights in this movie are sped up to some degree, unless you count Wai's slow motion scuffle with some other villagers during the old woman's prayer ("Yes! Kick him in the dick!"). In a lesser film, this would piss me off, but Legend of the Wolf has some not-quite-definable, cheese-flavored X-factor that makes you just go along with it. Maybe it's Chi Wah Wong's charismatic performance. Maybe it's the catchy and memorable musical score. Maybe it's the fact that almost every scene is shot in either black and blue (like many modern HK films) or in various shades of orange. But it sure as hell isn't the crappy romantic element with Man-hin's old sperm receptacle Wai-yee (Carman Lee) filling him in on the details of their past together and trying to turn unrequited love into...uh, regular love. Why must they always ruin perfectly serviceable stories by adding this garbage? I swear, when I rule the world every hack screenwriter out there is gonna change their tune on this subject or else be relegated to careers in the field of picking the scabs off of STD-afflicted porn stars' genitals.

If undercranking annoys you regardless of its extent or of the quality of the actual fighting, perhaps the sheer amount of combat here will at least partially redeem the film in your eyes. Wither goest Donnie Yen, so cometh carnage. Wai gets in on some of the action, too; the scene where he valiantly tries to defend the villagers from slaughter-happy bandits is a highlight. Man-hin's numerous duels are also very enjoyable.

I had my doubts, but I was pleasantly surprised. A good time killer.

As always Donnie's signature kicks are emphasized with the slow mo camera techniques. This looks cool. The martial arts action is very fast paced, and I mean "very". Even though it is fast paced, the best moves can still be seen clearly, which is great! Donnie even makes Bruce lee sounds to intensify the action scenes. There is always music playing with the action scenes as well to add atmosphere, intensity and excitement! Some wire fu is used but not overused as it is mainly ground fighting with hand, elbows, knees, and leg techniques.

The martial art styles that can be seen are taekwondo, wing chun, kickboxing, jeet kune do, and regular hand techniques.

In fact the fight scenes are so awesome, impressive and exciting that repeated viewing is required. Weapons like wood sticks, batons, chains, poles, guns, are used.

The story is basic, it tells the story of the wolf's (yen) past basically. It appears to be dramatic for not only the fight scenes but for the regular drama. You can say that the fight scenes are eye candy genre because it is really so fast and cool! It has never been seen before as well.

The setting and mood is dark and high in contrast, which makes it a good quality picture for the movie, even though it was a low budget film.

There is romance as Donnie makes love in the rain. Donnie suffers from amnesia in the film so he cannot remember anything that's happened in the past. This makes it interesting to continue watching.

There is good use of cinematography and acting from the actors.

Though some fans may not like the story much, they always enjoy watching the fight scenes again and again because its really that good from the impact it initially made!

Overall this is a decent Donnie yen movie, in fact one of his best as he directed it himself. Definitely a must get for Donnie fans and martial arts action movie fans.