General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

True Legend (苏乞儿)

True Legend (苏乞儿; also known as Su Qi-Er or Beggar Su) is a 2010 Chinese-Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Yuen Woo-ping, starring Vincent Zhao as the Qing dynasty general Su Can, who is betrayed by his foster brother, falls into destitution, and rebuilds himself as the folk hero known as Beggar So, the legendary originator of drunken boxing.¹^•² It was Yuen's first film as director since 1996's Iron Monkey 2, made after a decade working as an action choreographer in Hollywood on films such as The Matrix.³^•⁴

Key fact	Detail
Director / writer	Yuen Woo-ping; screenplay by Christine To (杜致朗)⁵
Release	February 9, 2010 (China); February 11, 2010 (Hong Kong)⁵
Running time / rating	1 hr 55 min; MPAA R⁶
Principal cast	Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Michelle Yeoh, Jay Chou, Andy On, Guo Xiaodong, with David Carradine in a cameo⁷
3D sequences	A roughly 20-minute 3D action sequence between Su and the God of Wushu, promoted as a first for Chinese kung fu cinema⁸
Worldwide box office	$3,481,371, all from international markets; no US theatrical release⁶^•⁹
Critical reception	Metascore 62; Rotten Tomatoes 63% from 38 reviews; IMDb 6.4/10 from about 9,600 votes¹⁰^•¹¹^•¹

Spoilers

Plot

The story is set in China in 1861. After rescuing a Qing prince from rebels, General Su retires from military life to found a martial arts school and raise a family with his wife Ying (Zhou Xun). His foster brother Yuan Lie (Andy On), consumed by an old family feud, trains in a deadly skill, kills Su's father, and leaves Su for dead after defeating him in combat. Su survives through the sacrifice of his wife and the care of the reclusive herbalist Dr. Yu (Michelle Yeoh), then trains to defeat Yuan Lie and rebuild his life.⁶^•¹²

After a second duel with Yuan Lie, Su loses his wife and drifts with his son to the Sino-Russian border, living as a beggar. In visions he spars with a God of Wushu (Jay Chou), a figure who appears both as an imagined opponent and as a hard-drinking martial master, and through these encounters he develops the unpredictable fist style known as drunken boxing. In the final act he fights Russian wrestlers managed by a circus leader (David Carradine) to defend Chinese countrymen who have been humiliated.⁸^•¹³^•¹⁴

The Beggar So legend

The film retells the legend of Beggar So (Su Qi-Er), a Guangdong folk martial hero ranked alongside Wong Fei-hung. The character has a long Hong Kong cinema history: Yuen's own father, Simon Yuen, played him in Drunken Master (1978), which Yuen Woo-ping also directed, and Stephen Chow played him as leader of the Beggar Clan in King of Beggars (1992). Yuen had also directed a 1993 version of the story starring Donnie Yen.²^•¹⁵ Yuen said he deliberately reworked the drunken boxing choreography for this film, abandoning the named forms of his earlier Drunken Master in favor of improvised, realistic movement.⁸

Production and 3D

Producer Bill Kong's Edko Films, the company behind Hero and Fearless, backed the project, which began shooting in Miyun, near Beijing, in August 2008.¹⁵ Yuen's return to directing came about when producer Jiang Zhiqiang offered him a script written around the Beggar Su story.⁸

The film's technical calling card was 3D. Although the whole film was not shot in 3D, Yuen applied the format to the central duel between Su and the God of Wushu, producing a sequence of about 20 minutes that was promoted as a first for the genre; Jay Chou described the effect as punches seeming to fly at the viewer's face.⁸^•¹⁶ The film was shown in both 2D and 3D and was promoted as the first Chinese 3D film.¹²

Reception

Critics praised the fight choreography while faulting the storytelling. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote that no one could doubt the extravagance and flair of the martial-arts contests, but called the film a slightly plodding account of Chinese myth and legend.¹⁷ Time Out described it as five movies fused together, with stunning fight sequences but a severe lack of purpose.¹³ The Playlist called the martial arts sequences a marvel but judged the film a solid 80-minute actioner that runs 115.³ On aggregate measures the film scored a Metascore of 62, with five positive and five mixed reviews and none negative among the ten tallied, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer of 63 percent from 38 reviews.¹⁰^•¹¹

At the 2011 Deauville Asian Film Festival the film won the Grand Prix Action Asia as Best Action Asia Film.⁵

Box office

Commercially the film underperformed. Box Office Mojo records $3,481,371 worldwide, entirely from international markets, with the original APAC release from February 11 to September 23, 2010 earning $3,405,482 and a 2011 French re-release adding $75,889. The largest markets were Hong Kong ($1,261,187), Malaysia ($843,226), and Singapore ($677,762).⁶ There was no US cinema release; in the United Kingdom it opened on September 24, 2010, charted at number 25 for a single week, and grossed £1,108.⁹ Kung Fu Movie Guide later described the film as considered something of a failure when released.¹⁸

Cast notes

David Carradine, who appears as the circus leader, was already dead by the film's release, and the film is dedicated to him; reviewers describe the role as one of his final film appearances.¹⁷^•¹⁸ The supporting cast includes Gordon Liu as the White Brow monk, Leung Ka-yan as Su's father, Feng Xiaogang as a pickpocket, Cung Le as a militia leader, and Jiang Luxia as the Iron Maiden.¹⁸^•¹²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1986 to 2026

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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