Friday Favorites: Kung Fu Movies, Part Two

This time it’s personal….

Compared to the first list, this one is less orthodox, with newer films as well as more wuxia (sort of the MCU for martial arts, featuring fictional heroes mixed in with actual historical ones):

• Hero. The fight between Donnie Yen and Jet Li in the rain at the teahouse. Nuff said. Okay, not really, because I love everything about this movie: the incomparable Maggie Cheung, the color schemes…. It has Tony Leung for crying outside. It stands as veteran director Zhang Yimou’s entrée into wuxia. And it’s the source of my favorite quote ever about the relationship between a martial artist and their weapon, straight from the mouth of the supposed villain of the movie, the Qin emperor. I don’t want to spoil it, so just watch. You won’t be sorry.
• Kung Fu Hustle. I mentioned this one in my ATEEZ post yesterday b/c their new video cribs from it a fair bit. Stephen Chow made a couple of kung fu comedies, Shaolin Soccer being the other, and I like them both, but Hustle is a work of pure comedic genius. Plus, if you’re a fan of 1970s and 1980s Hong Kong cinema, a lot of the actors from that generation show up in cameos. The fight scenes are anything but doctrinaire…but who cares when everyone is having this much fun?
• Rumble in the Bronx: speaking of unorthodox kung fu, this was the movie that made Jackie Chan popular in the States, cementing his reputation for parkour/kung fu comedy–which is too bad in a way because after that, his more serious and much better films, like Shinjuku Incident, didn’t do as well in the U.S. as nonsense like Operation Condor or the Rush Hour series. The real star of Rumble IMHO however is Anita Mui.
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There’s a lot of this movie I don’t like, actually, first and foremost Zhang Ziyi’s character, and as she’s kind of the protagonist, that’s a problem. But her teahouse fight is legit a lot of fun, as is her “inventory” fight with Michelle Yeoh. And honestly I’d watch Yeoh water houseplants. But her character’s relationshiop with Chow Yun Fat is the real engine of the film, fortunately, and this was also the film that introduced me to fantastic Chang Chen. And, yeah, OK, there’s the fight scene in the bamboo forest. So, it’s on here.
• Fist of Fury (Chinese Connection). Absolutely peak Bruce Lee. And this film has been remade/sequeled so many different times at this point with different stars/settings/schools that it’s pretty much required viewing for kung fu fans.
• Sha Po Lang (SPL, released as Kill Zone in the U.S.). It’s Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung, and what a lot of folks may not know about Yen is he’s not only an amazing martial artist, he’s a great fight director as well. This movie is the bomb. Yen has pegged it as his peak in terms of martial arts films, and while I might argue on that point (cf. Flashpoint), I will never quibble with the flawlessness of SPL’s action. Bonus points for Wu Jing (Jacky Wu), who more or less debuts here as Yen’s cinematic heir apparent.
• Since we’re on the topic of next-generation kung fu stars, Tai Chi Zero (and its sequel, Tai Chi Hero) is a veritable showcase of new talent. Jayden Yuan, like Jacky Wu, is a mainland youth wushu champion who transitioned into movie-making. Eddie Peng, who plays the villain, has gone on to more wuxia movies even though he’s not a trained martial artist. Ignore the absurd steampunk plot, but don’t overlook the legendary Tony Leung Ka Fai as the chief of a clan of tai chi experts.
• Red Cliff. Directed by John Woo and proof positive that if you take away his guns, he’s still an amazing action director. Red Cliff plays out a key episode from the classical epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms with an A-list cast helmed by Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Watch the director’s cut: it’s a long ride, but it’s 100% worth it.
• White Vengeance. This is admittedly a bit of an offside pick, but I love it. It has a moody, modern vibe for a wuxia film (directed by Daniel Lee, who also helmed Jet Li’s iconic Black Mask), and unusually, the plot is strong. It’s loosely based on an actual historical event, the Feast at Hong Gate which led to the Chu-Han contention (206-202 BCE). Leon Lai is just so great in this movie.
• 14 Blades. Another Daniel Lee joint, this time starring Donnie Yen as an aging member of the Brocade Guard, the Ming Dynasty secret police, who is framed for treason by an ambitious rival and races to the outer reaches of the empire to save himself and prove his innocence. Truthfully, it’s not the greatest film on the planet, but the fight scenes are worth watching; so is Yen acting his age, which feels poignant and authentic.