Where Have You Gone Hong Kong?

“American stuntmen are smart —they think about safety. When they do a jump in a car, they calculate everything: the speed, the distance.... But in Hong Kong, we don't know how to count. Everything we do is a guess. If you've got the guts, you do it. All of my stuntmen have gotten hurt. I say, 'Do it! Camera, action, jump!' Boom! Ambulance! Hospital! Next stuntman!”

--Jackie Chan

So I have been watching a lot of foreign films as of late, primarily old kung fu movies. I have also been watching a lot of new kung fu, American kung fu, and I have to say, I really don’t get the same feeling of joy that I get from watching older kung fu. But this tends to for a lot of American imports of older foreign flicks. It can be as simple as altering the ending to fit an American audience as was done in The Descent. Or American production companies just re-write, re-tool and re-market movies as American originals, even though movies like The Ring and The Magnificent Seven or the future release, live action remake of Akira. All three of these movies came from earlier Japanese cinema; The Ring being an adaptation of Ringu, The Magnificent Seven as an entertaining remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and Akira, one of the most celebrated anime of all time.

This really is an age-old tradition, not just in the movie business. Anthony Burgess’ “A Clockwork Orange,” had the final chapter removed by an American editor before it was published here, because they did not feel an American audience would accept a bleak ending and opted for a happier ending, subsequently affecting Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation for the screen.

Anywho, as I said before I have been watching a lot of foreign movies both imports and adaptations as of late, and there is one thing that I have noticed. Hong Kong cinema is on its deathbed and it is courtesy of the United States. Jackie Chan has come under fire for his comments about China’s necessity for communism, John Woo has moved to the United States, Sammo Hung has not come out with a great movie since the mid 1990s, Jimmy Wang Yu hasn’t made a movie since 1993, and those are just some of the directors. Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan, Jet Li are all getting older and have stopped making movies with jaw-dropping choreography and either retired or are making movies that will let them retire in more comfort. It saddens me quite a bit.

Nevertheless, there are people out there trying to keep Hong Kong’s action movie scene a thriving market. I point to Stephen Chow, who directs, writes, produces and stars in some great movies that seemingly pay tribute to what Hong Kong was. However even he has been drawn into the sub-par American kung fu cinema, with movies like Dragonball Evolution, which he produced, and his upcoming comic book hero film The Green Hornet, which will be directed by Michel Gondry, but will find Stephen Chow’s Kato starring alongside Seth Rogan as Britt Reid AKA The Green Hornet. It really makes me sad just thinking about that. There are a few movies out there that are still worth seeing but they are few and far between, even if you know where to look.


Stephen Chow's homage to Bruce Lee and what he did for the industry. He will never be forgotten.

I can’t even really blame Quentin Tarantino all that much, because he has brought many good movies over to the United States recently. Although it would be nice to not see his name plastered over everything he deems good. Or worse see him just butcher scenes in movies like Sukiyaki Western Django in exchange for his importing them to the United States.

Bollywood has managed to revive itself with renewed interest from the United States, even Thailand has gotten in on the action by riding the coattails of Tony Jaa, whom critics say has inherited the kung fu mantle which was passed down from Bruce Lee, to Jackie Chan, and to Jet Li. I don’t understand why Hong Kong cannot do the exact same thing. The interest is clearly there, people just want to see more movies like Hardboiled, Drunken Master, and The Way of the Dragon, not American drivel like Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li which stars Kristen Kruek (Smallville), Chris Klein (American Pie), Michael Clark Duncan (The Green Mile) and Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers). Does that look like the cast of a kung fu movie to you?

Hopefully, Hong Kong gets re-energized soon, I miss good kung fu and all of its choreographed glory.

One that note your suggested movie of the week: Hard Boiled



This was John Woo’s last movie to be made in Hong Kong before he moved out to Hollywood. In all honesty, this was probably his last great movie, since the 1992 release of Hard Boiled; Woo has slipped further and further into mediocrity. However, Hard Boiled is widely considered one the greatest action movies ever made, and rightfully so.

The title for the movie comes from the genre of crime fiction literature that began showing up in the 1920s. Hard boiled fiction has a recognizably large amount of violence and sex, and very often the characters are borderline sociopaths. The noir style of literature and film has its roots in Hard Boiled crime fiction. John Woo’s tribute to the Hard Boiled style follows it to the letter the mere fact that there are a total of 307 deaths in the movie, largely taking place during four major scenes, exemplifies this quite well. But it is the acting of Chow Yun-Fat that puts this movie over the edge.

Inspector “Tequila” Yuen (Chow Yun-Fat) is one of those rogue cop, ultimo-badass characters. The movie begins with his partner getting killed during a teahouse gun smuggling bust that gets ambushed by a rival gang. Yuen’s actions during the ambush get him thrown off the case but thrown into the middle of a Triad conflict involving the two gangs at the teahouse. The movie’s dénouement is one of the most famous scenes ever shot in Hong Kong cinema. The epic hospital scene even features a shot, just under three minutes long, of Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung fighting off enemies. The most impressive thing about this footage is that it was shot on a single handheld camera. This long take has been recognized as a very impressive feat of cinematography, listed up there with scenes like Alfred Hitchcock’s shower scene from Psycho.

The movie has garnered much success and has a very loyal cult following. Tequila Yuen is even featured in the John Woo collaborated video game “Stranglehold,” which is meant to serve as a sequel to Hard Boiled. Sadly Hard Boiled was the beginning of the end of the “golden age” of Hong Kong action cinema, but still well worth picking up and watching, over and over.