kung fu fighting....the evolution of the art form....
i put together a montage of clips illustrating the EVOLUTION of 'kung fu'/martial arts films in HOLLYWOOD over the last 30 years. like YELLOW FACE, you will see the transitions.
it isn't necessary to watch the entire clip of each of these....as my intent is only to give a 'taste' of what was happening. this small sampling includes some of the key 'MARKERS' for this genre...from the movies themselves, to the actors, as well as the directors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
when the television series called KUNG FU came to the attention of u.s. audiences, the FACE would NOT be bruce lee, but instead, an actor doing 'yellow face'....DAVID CARRADINE. the popular series ran from 1972-1975 and featured the prolific chinese american actor, KEYE LUKE (best known for "no. 1 son" of charlie chan with warner oland, and in later years, as master po, in kung fu) seen in this clip as the blind master. PHILLIP AHN (korean american) is master kan, who is shown speaking.
after bruce's death in 1973, hollywood wanted to find the 'next' KUNG FU action star, and in the 1980's JACKIE
CHAN made a play for hollywood with his POLICE STORY movies. it was
somewhat successful, but i believe it was not until the 1990's film,
RUMBLE IN THE BRONX that jackie made his 'BREAKTHROUGH' 'HOLLYWOOD
movie. the comedic tone of his films became his hallmark. (the clip below is from police story) i THINK this is from about 1985.
in 1995 the movie MORTAL KOMBAT, (greatly influenced by "enter the dragon" storyline with a supernatural flavor),
hit the theatres, starring mostly 'B' actors, with the 'other' hiroyuki, CARY HIROYUKI TAGAWA as the villain. (shown fighting at about the 2min. mark) this was already a hugely popular VIDEO game (controversial for it's graphic violence) and had a cult following. trivia: BRANDON LEE (bruce's son) was set to play the lead character but died prior to the filming.
in 1998, a new 'face' was introduced to hollywood. it is rumored that jackie chan was offered the role, but jackie did not wish to take on villain parts, and turned it down. this was JET LI'S breakout hollywood debut. (both jackie and jet li were already huge action stars in hong kong). i DISTINCTLY recall seeing this film, and watching this AWESOME jump off the stairs....and thinking 'who the "H" is THAT dude!' not like the hiro 'swoon' but transfixed by his moves.
in 2000, director ANG LEE would CHANGE the LOOK of hollywood's 'image' of martial arts, when he created the stunning masterpiece CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, which once again, brought us the powerful yet gentle presence of CHOW YUN FAT, the gorgeous 'bond girl' MICHELLE YEOH , and introduced ZHANG ZIYI, to american audiences.
this would once again change the landscape of chinese/martial arts movies, and the changing face NOW included WOMEN who were essentially 'dancers', learning the choreographed martial arts moves.
HOLLYWOOD'S TRACKING OF THE FINANCIALS, AND THE CRITICAL RATINGS SYSTEMS became more and more VISIBLE within the industry, via IMDB, starmeters (for individual actors as well as movies)
the ROTTEN TOMATOES site, where critics reviews of the movies were compiled and then calculated, based their findings on a scoring system known as the TOMATOMETER. (60 and above, FRESH. below 60: ROTTEN)
listed are the domestic and international grosses:
crouching tiger; $128,067,808 us $209,000,000 worldwide TOMATOMETER: 97.
long a fan of asian martial arts films, the quirky cult director, QUENTIN TARANTINO put his unique spin on the genre ...with his KILL BILL movies in 2003. (WARNING...CLIP IS GRAPHICALLY VIOLENT, if you didn't see the film). i can't imagine there is anyone who doesn't know this, but the fun trivia is that DAVID CARRADINE would play the title role of BILL, and SONNY CHIBA, (sanada's mentor in early years) would have a great cameo as hattori hanzo, a great sword master.
a TRULY remarkable piece of trivia is that sonny chiba was set to CO STAR with BRUCE LEE in a new production, but when his plane landed in HONG KONG, he was met with the news of bruce's untimely death.
kill bill : $70,098,138 u.s. $178,398,138 worldwide TOMATOMETER 85
ZHANG YIMOU, (initially a cinematographer for CHEN KAIGE, in chen's first film - YELLOW EARTH) completely turned the action film into visual eye candy with his breathtaking use of color, style, costume, and choreography, with his back to back films, HERO, and THE HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS.
(again, trivia people probably already know... but it is because of quentin tarantino that HERO found release in the U.S. in 2004, 2 years after it had been completed, and premiered in CHINA.)
this clip features two of hong kongs greatest actors, TONY LEUNG CHIU WAI and MAGGIE CHEUNG, who elevated the film through their amazing acting skills, with the achingly beautiful portrayals of the doomed lovers, BROKEN SWORD and FLYING SNOW.
hero: $53,583,486 : $169,583,486 worldwide TOMATOMETER: 95
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, introduced 2 more faces to hollywood, ANDY LAU, one of the most respected and popular actors in CHINA, and heartthrob, TAKESHI KANESHIRO, (who had already developed a bit of a cult following in the west, with the WONG KAR WAI movies, CHUNKING EXPRESS, AND FALLEN ANGELS)
the film also starred ZHANG ZIYI, who had now become the 'NEW FACE OF ASIA', it was once again, a visual feast, altho without JET LI, the movie fell short in box office results.
these 2 films (shot a few years apart, but released back to back) brought the 'creme de la creme' of HONG KONG/CHINESE actors to the attention of movie goers in the U.S. and romanticized the genre. unlike the rapid fire punches shown in earlier martial arts movies, these films had the quality of watching ballet....beauty, grace, and strength.
hofd: Latest gross: $11,041,228 u.s. 27,000,000 aprox. worldwide. TOMATOMETER 88
in 1995 the movie MORTAL KOMBAT, (greatly influenced by "enter the dragon" storyline with a supernatural flavor),
hit the theatres, starring mostly 'B' actors, with the 'other' hiroyuki, CARY HIROYUKI TAGAWA as the villain. (shown fighting at about the 2min. mark) this was already a hugely popular VIDEO game (controversial for it's graphic violence) and had a cult following. trivia: BRANDON LEE (bruce's son) was set to play the lead character but died prior to the filming.
in 1998, a new 'face' was introduced to hollywood. it is rumored that jackie chan was offered the role, but jackie did not wish to take on villain parts, and turned it down. this was JET LI'S breakout hollywood debut. (both jackie and jet li were already huge action stars in hong kong). i DISTINCTLY recall seeing this film, and watching this AWESOME jump off the stairs....and thinking 'who the "H" is THAT dude!' not like the hiro 'swoon' but transfixed by his moves.
this would once again change the landscape of chinese/martial arts movies, and the changing face NOW included WOMEN who were essentially 'dancers', learning the choreographed martial arts moves.
HOLLYWOOD'S TRACKING OF THE FINANCIALS, AND THE CRITICAL RATINGS SYSTEMS became more and more VISIBLE within the industry, via IMDB, starmeters (for individual actors as well as movies)
the ROTTEN TOMATOES site, where critics reviews of the movies were compiled and then calculated, based their findings on a scoring system known as the TOMATOMETER. (60 and above, FRESH. below 60: ROTTEN)
listed are the domestic and international grosses:
crouching tiger; $128,067,808 us $209,000,000 worldwide TOMATOMETER: 97.
long a fan of asian martial arts films, the quirky cult director, QUENTIN TARANTINO put his unique spin on the genre ...with his KILL BILL movies in 2003. (WARNING...CLIP IS GRAPHICALLY VIOLENT, if you didn't see the film). i can't imagine there is anyone who doesn't know this, but the fun trivia is that DAVID CARRADINE would play the title role of BILL, and SONNY CHIBA, (sanada's mentor in early years) would have a great cameo as hattori hanzo, a great sword master.
a TRULY remarkable piece of trivia is that sonny chiba was set to CO STAR with BRUCE LEE in a new production, but when his plane landed in HONG KONG, he was met with the news of bruce's untimely death.
kill bill : $70,098,138 u.s. $178,398,138 worldwide TOMATOMETER 85
ZHANG YIMOU, (initially a cinematographer for CHEN KAIGE, in chen's first film - YELLOW EARTH) completely turned the action film into visual eye candy with his breathtaking use of color, style, costume, and choreography, with his back to back films, HERO, and THE HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS.
(again, trivia people probably already know... but it is because of quentin tarantino that HERO found release in the U.S. in 2004, 2 years after it had been completed, and premiered in CHINA.)
this clip features two of hong kongs greatest actors, TONY LEUNG CHIU WAI and MAGGIE CHEUNG, who elevated the film through their amazing acting skills, with the achingly beautiful portrayals of the doomed lovers, BROKEN SWORD and FLYING SNOW.
hero: $53,583,486 : $169,583,486 worldwide TOMATOMETER: 95
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, introduced 2 more faces to hollywood, ANDY LAU, one of the most respected and popular actors in CHINA, and heartthrob, TAKESHI KANESHIRO, (who had already developed a bit of a cult following in the west, with the WONG KAR WAI movies, CHUNKING EXPRESS, AND FALLEN ANGELS)
the film also starred ZHANG ZIYI, who had now become the 'NEW FACE OF ASIA', it was once again, a visual feast, altho without JET LI, the movie fell short in box office results.
these 2 films (shot a few years apart, but released back to back) brought the 'creme de la creme' of HONG KONG/CHINESE actors to the attention of movie goers in the U.S. and romanticized the genre. unlike the rapid fire punches shown in earlier martial arts movies, these films had the quality of watching ballet....beauty, grace, and strength.
hofd: Latest gross: $11,041,228 u.s. 27,000,000 aprox. worldwide. TOMATOMETER 88
so i began THIS post, and will end with KUNG FU.
in 2004....we saw a truly UNIQUE AND ORIGINAL presentation (for hollywood) when STEPHEN CHOW gave us the classic, KUNG FU HUSTLE in 2004.
kung fu hustle: $17,104,669 u.s. $94,700,000 worldwide TOMATOMETER: 90
the first time i ever saw or heard of STEPHEN CHOW was in 2001 with SHAOLIN SOCCER!
sandra (gakinme) has graciously been sharing her knowledge about hong kong cinema on this blog, and sent me the most INTERESTING info last night.
i was floored, because i ALSO happened to be compiling the NUMBERS on these movies last night, along with the tomatometers! (talk about synchronicity!)
she had sent me a link to HER blog page and she POSTED THE FINANCIALS for hong kong films....AND THIS IS WHEN I SEE THAT STEPHEN CHOW IS HUGE IN HONG KONG!!! (right up there with jackie chan!)
AMAZING!
(sandra, will you post the link to your article and chart in this post, so i can have the hong kong and u.s. figures/info linked?) thx!
Comments
Oh, alright. The postings.
This posting Hong Kong Films since July 1, 1997 Part 2 shows the 1990's top films in HK compared to the Western releases in Hong Kong in box office.
This posting Is Box Office Everything is my regular tracking of how Asian movies are doing overseas. It's continuously being updated.
I'm a numbers person but as I say in my posting, box office is not everything. It may be to the untrained eye, the non-Chinese, the film investors, but as to whether a film is good or not, seasoned Chinese film viewers will tell you many of the top box office are not good enough.
Rotten Tomatoes reviewers are very different from a Chinese viewer's opinion. Let me tell you why.
crouching tiger TOMATOMETER: 97
hero: TOMATOMETER: 95
kung fu hustle: TOMATOMETER: 90
hofd: TOMATOMETER 88
kill bill TOMATOMETER 85
Crouching Tiger was a failure in Asia because what it showed was nothing spectacular. Every martial art movie has those Ching Siu Tung moves before and so Asians refused to watch it. But it was new for the US.
Hero is hated by many Chinese because it is a political propaganda piece (around the world - mainlanders of course stay quiet on such issues) telling the world how good it is that the country got unified under one emperor - an emperoro who was pretty ruthless. Mainland Chinese laughed at the HK Mandarin accents of the actors, HK people laughed at the dance steps and ballet style of the fight. It's not a real martial art movie per se but hey, the non-Chinese likes it. Two years delay for releasing in the US is a joke. By then many have watched the DVD.
Kung Fu Hustle should have a higher rating than any of the above because Stephen Chow created this movie for not only HK public, but fit for the world with enough bloodshed to satisfy Asian viewers. Unfortunately, it had PG 13 because of violence or it could have been more successful. It incorporates traditional Chinese martial arts with contemporary approach and it's outstanding.
HOFD is a piece of crap. So is Kill Bill. They should get 50 if anything.