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Look! It Moves!: The Continuing Survival Of Kung Fu Movies

Adi Tantimedh writes for Bleeding Cool;

As a movie person, of course I love Kung Fu Movies. They go in and out of fashion in mainstream movie culture, and at the moment, they're somewhat on the margins again, though they have enough of a faithful market to keep on going. While mainstream critics don't pay much attention to them, they're still being made, with better quality and production values than ever, and fans of the genre continue to keep tabs, waiting for the next movie to come along.

Well Go Usa is an independent distributor that's fighting the good fight: picking up many Chinese, Hong Kong and Korea genre movies for limited theatrical showings in the US, Video on Demand (which now form a major chunk of a film's earnings) and DVD/Blu-Ray sales. When their nice PR person sent me an invite to see the new Chinese Kung Fu movie TAI CHI ZERO, it gave me a chance to catch up with the latest iteration of the genre.

There's a difference between Wuxia Movies and Kung Fu Movies. Wuxia movies involve swordsmen with mystical, often made-up superpowers and lots of wire-fu with the characters flying across rooftops. Kung Fu movies, despite some judicious use of wire-fu, try to stay on the ground with more authentic martial arts fighting forms. While Wuxia movies are often adaptations or pastiches of epic Wuxia novels, Kung Fu movies often have original scripts that leave lots of room for the setpieces. For the decades of fans of Kung Fu movies, the plot has always been the least relevant or interesting thing about them. It's all about the fights.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LSX_UH0F9g[/youtube]

TAI CHI ZERO is another step in the evolution of the genre. The plots haven't changed, there's still the path of the hero as he seeks to learn better martial arts in order to defeat a big bad guy. It has elements that the Hong Kong martial arts genre does more often and better than anyone else, such as having a heroine who's more than a match for the hero, even stronger and smarter than he is and in no need of rescuing. What it adds that new-ish is a load of advanced over-the-top CGI effects that enable some oddball Steampunk machinery to the story, making it effectively an Alternate History Science Fiction story. The CGI also enables them to add touches like glowing eyes, more flying bodies and graphic interfaces you find from video games that end up deconstructing the fight moves. The Kung Fu Movie has now moved into a kind of late decadent, postmodern phase probably beyond what purist fans would be happy with. Otherwise, TAI CHI ZERO is goofy, fun popcorn fare designed to appeal to the biggest audience imaginable. It's been successful enough in Asia that the sequel, TAI CHI HERO, is already in production.

Wuxi and Kung Fu movies have had a minor resurgence in the last two years since there's a hungry audience in Mainland China enabling Hong Kong filmmakers to take advantage of Mainland locations and facilities to make big, slick movies with epic vistas. Tsui Hark saw a recent career boost with DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME and FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE. Director Peter Chan has gotten critical buzz by combining the CSI-style forensic detective story with the Kung Fu genre in WUXIA (retitled DRAGON for its upcoming Western release). It's all postmodern pastiche and genre-combining now.

But underneath all the bells and whistles, it's still getting martial artists with real moves, shot and edited to maximize the spectacle and impact. Even Rza's upcoming THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, a clear homage to 70s Shaw Brothers Kung Fu films, especially the macho brutal of Chang Cheh's movies, again a postmodern pastiche with added sex and grindhouse glee. This one looks like a connoiseur's love letter to the genre.

In the annals of Cinema, the Kung Fu Movie has become the one genre that has defied expectations, burrowing deep into the pop culture trenches and refusing to go away.

Adopting natural stance at lookitmoves@gmail.com

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Look! It Moves! © Adisakdi Tantimedh

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