Wu-Shu : the " artistic " action movie...

Anyone with an interest in cinema , whether you be a regular Saturday night moviegoer or devoted film fan ( ie. readers of Empire , FILM etc.) will no doubt be aware of the arrival of a " new breed " of action movie onto the big screen.
The release of Crouching Tiger , Hidden Dragon in 2000 was heralded as the champion of the " wu-shu " genre spawned by the Chinese film industry - spectacular fight scenes , stunning imagery and acrobatic stunts against the backdrop of Imperial China captured the imagination of moviegoers the world over. More recently however , 5th generation Chinese director Zhang Yimou has continued to champion the genre with the phenomenal success of Hero in both Eastern and Western cinemas.

Far removed from the crude kung-fu films that dominated the Hong Kong film industry in the 70's and early 80's , the wu-shu genre represents true artistic vision from the most brilliant minds in the Chinese film industry - however these are not purely arthouse fanfare. The spectacular and often intensely choreographed fight scenes are an impressive sight to behold , though admittedly exaggerated, visually outdo anything Hollywood has produced within the past 5 years. This is how action movies should be made.

The wu-shu genre and it's champions are obviously a new force that cannot be ignored , even by the most devout fans of the all-American Hollywood action movie.

:) Discuss the success of these movies and their impact upon the directing world.

Personally, I like them. Iron Monkey is one of my favorite action movies and I love watching the things the action stars do. However, I prefer Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan's traditional kung-fu style.

If they didn't fly, I'd enjoy them a lot more. All of the other exaggerations don't bother me and in fact are pretty cool, but when I see them flying about the place, I can't help but think, 'well, this is just a bit silly, really'.

yeah. the flying is a bit silly. but Crouching Tiger was based off a poem. I think the surreal-ness of the thing contributed greatly to it.

besides.

according to legend, there are techniques that will allow one to do every single thing they did in Crouching Tiger. ;) not the kind of thing taught to Qui-Lo or Gaigen, though. :D

I think it's actually called 'wuxia'...

I've seen a lot of wuxia pictures before... some are good, some are utter crap. I actually think the term refers to the setting of the movie rather than the why it's filmed. You'll see a lot of different styles of wuxia.. from generic action ones (One Upon a Time in China seris) to more artsy kinds (Hero). It's not really right to say it's how an action movie should be made... a lot of wuxia movies suck. House of Flying Daggers, for example, sucked... mostly because of Zhang Yimou's idiotic directing/editing... but also because the story is incredibly lame. So all in all, wuxia is cool, but not the epitome of action movies in any way.

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Originally Posted by BatChao

I think it's actually called 'wuxia'...

I've seen a lot of wuxia pictures before... some are good, some are utter crap. I actually think the term refers to the setting of the movie rather than the why it's filmed. You'll see a lot of different styles of wuxia.. from generic action ones (One Upon a Time in China seris) to more artsy kinds (Hero). It's not really right to say it's how an action movie should be made... a lot of wuxia movies suck. House of Flying Daggers, for example, sucked... mostly because of Zhang Yimou's idiotic directing/editing... but also because the story is incredibly lame. So all in all, wuxia is cool, but not the epitome of action movies in any way.

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I've actually still to see House of Flying Daggers - as far as I'm aware the reviews were generally positive. You wouldn't recommend it ? :confused: