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Master Of Kung Fu Movie

Started by OldGuy,

23 posts in this topic

rob_react

rob_react

Posted
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I would love to see my man Donnie Yen get the role. Yuen Wo-Ping was his mentor, so maybe they can bury their differences and get together for this one. As long as they let Yuen work his magic, I think this could be good.

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jordanabigail

jordanabigail

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This is going to be AWESOME!!!!!!!

Woo-Ping is the man and has directed some of the greatest martials arts movies overseas, not to mention all of his work here in the states - wow, I'm so freakin psyched for this one!!!!!!!!!!

 

Marvel is taking over Hollywood and making all the right moves. Yes, DD was a bit of a letdown...but still, to think for a second that we actually saw a big budget Daredevil movie is in and of itself pretty damn cool!!!!!!!!

 

Thank god I bought a nice amount of MVL stock and have been buying it for the last two years (with a bit of selling here and there to finance some big comic buys smile.gif

 

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!

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OldGuy

OldGuy

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I think this movie stands a good chance of being done right. They are bringing in good talent (so far) and it seems like this kind of film shouldn't be that hard to pull off. They wont need a bunch of high tech special effects, just mostly some great choreography (cool fight sceens).

 

I hope I'm right. If I am this movie could be great and could appeal to a more "main stream audience.

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ArAich

ArAich

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As long as they don't have them jumping and flying through the air like gravity doesn't exist as in other kung-fu movies ...

 

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" comes to mind...although this was an excellant movie...the lack of gravitational pull made some fight scenes nonsensical...

 

I am hoping it is done more like a Bruce Lee movie...

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rob_react

rob_react

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I too am hoping that Master of kung Fu si done in a more realistic style. I would hope that Yuen Wo-Ping does it in a style reminiscent of his own choreography on Jet Li's Fist of Legend.

 

As for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon....

 

I assume you felt the same way about Superman, Spider-Man and any other superhero movie in which people had super-powers?

 

It's amazing to me that people who read comics would have a hard time recognizing genre conventions. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a WUXIA PIAN- a very popular style of Chinese martial arts story in which the combatants all have super-powered kung fu. In the WUXIA universe, like the Marvel or DC universes, the rules are different and people can perform impossible feats.

 

Here's my review of the film written for a semi-mainstream paper. I think it explains Crouching Tiger's place in the world pretty well...

 

 

 

I'm biased (which I'll get into), but this is probably my favorite film of the year.

 

Ang Lee, the director responsible for films like The Ice Storm and Eat Drink Man Woman, here delivers a fascinating exploration of the traditional Chinese Wuxia Pian (film of martial chivalry.) With a blend of traditional elements and a modern attention to craft and character this film plays like a weird hybrid between the worlds of King Hu , Tsui Hark and Lee's own efforts. With an overall tone straight out of Hu's Dragon Gate Inn or Come Drink With Me, wild bursts of outrageous, fantastic action a' la Tsui's Once Upon a Time in China or Zu, Warrior from the Magic Mountain and Lee's own masterful appreciation of humanity. Crouching Tiger... represents a unique and welcomed achievement in genre cinema- a film that should satisfy both the genre fan and (because of its Academy blessed pedigree) the casual moviegoer.

 

Okay, now that I've gotten that piece off my chest, I guess I should save myself some grief and fill out the above caveat about my bias towards this film. Without question, wuxia pian is the genre that I've spent the most time watching and studying over the past few years. I am a confirmed devotee of the style and it's luminaries, folks like the aforementioned King Hu and Tsui Hark, as well as other noteworthy proponents like Chang Cheh, Lau Kar-Leung, Cheung Siu-Tung, and Yuen Wo-Ping (this film's fight choreographer- one of the five best in the business.) In other words, I love this stuff.

 

Because of the above I've been impatiently awaiting the release of this film. Even my now years old disappointment over the failure to sign wuxia superman Jet Li for the role now occupied by Chow Yun-Fat (a wonderful actor but not a millionth the martial artist Li is) did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for this film. Luckily it more than delivers on it's immense promise, providing a classic tale of honor touched up with a modern take on character and vaulted up the charts with a full serving of over the top, wire-enhanced action.

 

And make no mistake about it, this is an action movie. A damn fine one in fact. Choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping strikes a wonderful balance between the weightless, fantasy style that sometimes alienates Western audiences* and the rapid fire, more realistic style the Yuen clan (Wo-ping and several stuntmen/ choreographers he works closely with) used so effectively in Gordon Chan's Fist of Legend. The latter approach providing the best fight in the film, a breathtaking weapons duel between Michelle Yeoh and the eye-opening (in more ways than one- she's a lovely young lady) newcomer Zhang Ziyi.

 

That the fights are good should come as no surprise however, owing to Yuen's presence. After all, the thirty year veteran is the man responsible, as director, for genre classics like Iron Monkey, The Magnificent Butcher, and Drunken Master as well as the fights in The Matrix (which is the only film mentioned in this article I'm going to assume anyone has seen.) Think about it, he made Keanu Reeves look, er... sort of okay. If that's not an achievement I don't know what is.

 

Of course, with Lee at the helm, there's more to this movie than the fights (although, as some uninformed critics might have you believe it's not the only wuxia able to make that claim.) Rich with intrigue and emotion this epic tale carries just as well during conversation as it does when super-powered combatants take to the sky. Featuring solid performances by all the principals and a welcome, rugged appearance by the "queen of wuxia" herself, Cheng Pei-Pei (star of 60s/70s classics like Come Drink With Me and the seminal Golden Swallow/ Girl with the Thunderbolt Kick), Crouching Tiger... has the chops to please even the most action-phobic moviegoer.

 

Most highly recommended.

 

*Actually, because of the effect of this purely- intentional genre style, I'm forced to try to see the film a second time. Hopefully towards the end of it's run and somewhere I can be alone in the theater. See, at the critics screening I attended, some clown at the back of the theater could not stop laughing at any and all of the action scenes featuring wires. Laughing really loud. After the first couple of times I hoped the bozo would figure out that was plainly intentional or maybe sniff out a genre convention at work, but he didn't. Not even close. Instead, he who we'll call Johnny Puerco (although just for fun) let fly with an endless series of room shaking belly laughs that couldn't have been more distracting if they'd been designed to drive me insane. As I said to him as I left the theater, "thank you very much" Delivered with only a trace of sarcasm, I assure you.

 

 

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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>>It's amazing to me that people who read comics would have a hard time recognizing genre conventions. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a WUXIA PIAN- a very popular style of Chinese martial arts story in which the combatants all have super-powered kung fu. In the WUXIA universe, like the Marvel or DC universes, the rules are different and people can perform impossible feats.

 

Hey, it's no leap of logic that this movie is fantasy and the combatants have super-human capabilities... but that said:

 

I thought the two best scenes were:

 

1) Femme Lien/Yu sword fight, and 2) Cop vs. Fox vs. Bai vs. Yu.

 

These had enough super-human attributes and stunts to be incredibly watchable, but still not on the same high "lame grade" as that faggy flying on the roof junk. I understood what was going on, but I didn't care for it in the least, and thought it looked soooooooooo lame it's not funny.

 

Not everyone who didn't like those particular flight sequences is a insufficiently_thoughtful_person who thinks the movie takes place in the real-world.

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ArAich

ArAich

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It's amazing to me that people who read comics would have a hard time recognizing genre conventions.

 

Just because I read and collect comic books does not mean that I can't aptly critizise a movie on it's own merits. Please do not talk to me like I am 12.... wink.gif

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rob_react

rob_react

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I understand that not everyone "who doesn't like those particular flight sequences is a insufficiently_thoughtful_person who thinks the movie takes place in the real-world. "

 

It's just that you would be surprised how many people do think that. Trust me on this one. I've written about martial arts movies for years, so I'm used to explaining things about the genre and with a film as successful as Crouching Tiger, I've had to explain that "it's fantasy, they're like superheros" more times than I'd like to remember. As for the weightless style, it's just that, a style. I can understand people not liking it, I just like to make sure they know exactly what it is they're criticizing.

 

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