Review | We Are Legends film review: Edward Ma, Lam Yiu-sing hold their own in boxing drama
- Story of two orphans, hard-working Jack and Bunny, as the former prepares for his first professional fight mixes gritty detail and out-of-the-ring laughs
- Daniel Chan’s film never feels restricted by the tropes of the sports film genre, and his inexperienced cast acquit themselves well
3.5/5 stars
Boxing films may be a rarity in Hong Kong cinema, but when they come along – be it Nick Cheung Ka-fai’s astonishing transformation in Unbeatable or Stephy Tang Lai-yan’s introspective star turn in karate drama The Empty Hands – they rarely disappoint. We can add We Are Legends to this list of high-quality sports movies.
Based loosely on the story of real-life mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Xiong Dixin, this film, directed by Daniel Chan Yee-heng ( Young and Dangerous: Reloaded ), is predictable yet entertaining. Its characters are likeable and it pays attention to the gritty detail of the sport. Even the relatively inexperienced cast acquit themselves well given the physical demands of their roles.
Since they were children, orphaned siblings Jack (Edward Ma Chi-wai, To Love or Not to Love ) and Bunny (Lam Yiu-sing, Keyboard Warriors ) have been informally adopted by their orphanage’s benevolent janitor (Eric Kot Man-fai), who raised them at the boxing gym opened by his older sister (martial arts veteran Yuen Qiu in a non-action role).
The hard-working Jack splits his time between manual labour and training for amateur MMA contests (for which he has cultivated quite a cocky on-stage persona), but often neglects his all-too-considerate girlfriend (Wiyona Yeung Lau-ching). Meanwhile, Bunny indulges in the superficial glory of illegal brawls – much to Jack’s disappointment.