Film

The Legend

Other titles called The Legend: the 2007 series (MBC).

A 1993 Hong Kong action-comedy where Jet Li plays a cocky kung fu master caught between romance and revolution. It's a gleeful scramble of sword fights, slapstick, and political intrigue, shot with dizzying energy and barely pausing to breathe. For anyone who wants their action films funny, their comedy physical, and their heroes charmingly arrogant.

TMDb rating3.5

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Once Upon a Time in China1991

Jet Li in his most iconic role, facing off against Western invaders in colonial China. The action is inventive and balletic, the stakes feel real, and Li channels both grace and fury in ways that defined the genre.

But It's slower and more serious than *The Legend*, with long stretches of political drama that don't move the plot along.

Once Upon a Time in China poster

The Heroic Trio1993

Three action heroines in an anarchic Hong Kong thriller packed with the same manic energy and absurdist humour as *The Legend*. It's trashy, inventive, and genuinely thrilling, with a real sense that anything could happen.

But The plot is a bewildering tangle and the dubbing is rough. You have to surrender to chaos to enjoy it.

The Heroic Trio poster

Police Story1985

Jackie Chan's masterpiece of action-comedy, with stunts that look improvised and a tone that swings wildly from slapstick to genuine danger. It influenced everything that came after, including films like *The Legend*.

But The pacing is uneven; long stretches of exposition and plotting separate the action set pieces.

Police Story poster

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Vampire Hunters2003

Same director (Tsui Hark), same era, same philosophy of throwing every idea at the screen and seeing what sticks. Both are operatic and comedic in registers that don't usually mix.

The director of *The Legend* here stages an operatic vampire film where Jiangshi (hopping corpses) meet Qing dynasty action and gothic melodrama. It's visually baroque and tonally unhinged in the best possible way—funny and horrifying at once, with the same kinetic style but pointed at an entirely different target.

But It's genuinely grotesque and messy. If you want your action clean and coherent, this will frustrate you.

Vampire Hunters poster
More like this (6)

The One2001

Jet Li plays both hero and villain across parallel universes. It's got the same swagger and quickness Li brings to *The Legend*, with a high concept that lets the action speak for itself.

But It's glossy and American in a way that bleeds some of the rough charm. The plot is paper-thin.

The One poster

Project A1983

Jackie Chan as a coast guard captain in a pirate-fighting romp. Pure adventure-comedy with stunts that still look impossible, and a looseness that influenced the whole 1990s Hong Kong action scene.

But It's dated in ways that matter—the pacing drags in the middle act and some of the jokes haven't aged well.

Project A poster

Police Story 3: Super Cop1992

Jackie Chan undercover in a drug cartel, mixing comedy, romance, and action with his usual infectious charm. It's lean, witty, and never stops moving.

But The plot is forgettable and the supporting characters are thin. It rides entirely on Chan's charisma.

Police Story 3: Super Cop poster

Iron Monkey1993

A masked kung fu hero in colonial China, fighting corruption and loving a widow. It's got sword work as elegant as it is brutal, and a moral edge that grounds the spectacle.

But It's more serious and less funny than *The Legend*. The pacing can feel glacial if you're expecting non-stop action.

Iron Monkey poster

The King of the Kickboxers1990

A low-budget action gem with real fights and a gritty aesthetic. It's got the scrappy energy of early 1990s direct-to-video action, shot with care and no apologies.

But The acting is rough and the story is skeletal. It requires patience and a taste for B-movie cinema.

The King of the Kickboxers poster

A Chinese Ghost Story1987

Both are Hong Kong action-comedies of the era that refuse to pick a genre and execute multiple tones at once. Same DNA of playfulness and visual invention, deployed toward wildly different stories. A template for the era *The Legend* comes from.

A supernatural romance where a scholar falls for a ghost, surrounded by priests, demons, and flying martial artists. It's weightless and romantic and completely unhinged, mixing horror, comedy, slapstick, and genuine romance without announcing the genre shifts.

But The logic doesn't hold together. It's not interested in coherence, which is liberating or maddening depending on your tolerance for narrative anarchy.

A Chinese Ghost Story poster

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