Martial Arts Movies

[Derrick]

Yesterday I was giving Netflix a workout yesterday watching the ONG-BAK trilogy as well as IP MAN (a semi-biographical action film about the martial artist who was mentor to Bruce Lee) and a thought occurred to me:

The martial arts movie really hasn't evolved, has it? I was there when the martial arts boom hit America with FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH way back in the 1970's so I've been watching these flicks for a loooooong time.

I'm perfectly willing to admit it could be me. But outside of better production values and bigger budgets, I really don't see where the martial arts movie has changed much in terms of stories, acting or even special effects as even back in the 70's/80's there was a lot of wire work done in the fight scenes.

Am I wrong?

[smang12345]

I would agree with you. I would say that Jackie Chan's use of common objects and his environment helped to move the fighting in the genre forward but that would be about it.

[Derrick]

Mar 14, 2011 12:43:30 GMT -5 smang12345 said:

I would agree with you. I would say that Jackie Chan's use of common objects and his environment helped to move the fighting in the genre forward but that would be about it.

Agreed. Jackie Chan did push the envelope a little bit with his liberal use of comedy and integrating his environment into his movies. And the classic THE LAST DRAGON was also innovative with it's choice of characters and setting but outside of that, no other movies really come to mind.