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The Art of Action: Martial Arts in the Movies

The Art of Action: Martial Arts in the Movies
Amber Swift  |  by blogcritics.org. All rights reserved. 26.05 | 12:31

A study of martial arts in the movies is a subject that may be too short for a two hour television special. The result however ends up as an insightful look at many martial arts films that may not have yet been enjoyed by the North American majority. Hosted by Samuel L.

Jackson, this special aired 9 pm EST, August 21 2005 on SpikeTV, the "Television for Men" channel.
I caught the show a few minutes into the program, while they were doing the segment on Bruce Lee's impact on martial arts in films. The topic moved towards David Carradine's contribution via his television series Kung Fu.

The profile shifts to the prolific trio of Samo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao as they revive Hong Kong action cinema to its glory. Jet Li was discussed, as were women's contribution to action cinema such as Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh.
The real surprise of this special was its attention to the directors.

Many legendary directors were interviewed and profiled. The roster includes Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ang Lee, and Cory Yuen. There were specific film studies too, using Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the muse.

Contrasting John Woo's gun slinging action to those of traditional martial arts was something I also enjoyed.
The pace of the special was fast, but I appreciated the fact that some parts were dealt with more in depth, such as the tribute to Bruce Lee. I very much appreciate the director profiles and feel that the Western world really needs to see these talented directors' early works.

I would recommend Tsui Hark's A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow 2, John Woo's The Killer, and Hardboiled. Also see the prolific trio perform in Meals on Wheels.
Some topics were obviously absent from the program.

Whether it's good or bad really depends on your perspective. I loved the fact that they did not include The Karate Kid, which by the way did re-invigorate the martial arts industry. I also liked that they did not talk about over-rated stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Billy Blanks and any other walking commercial martial art 'diva' as I like to call them.

My reason for not wanting to see them is the fact that they approached martial arts through the perspective of the almighty dollar. Whereas the many people interviewed and profiled on this show genuinely loved their craft. However, it is noted that Steven Segal did appear in one of the interviews.


I did wish to that there should have been a profile on Brandon Lee, even if his tragic career was short-lived. His image appeared in the David Carradine segment through his various appearances on 'Kung Fu. I wonder how many fans recognized Brandon and yearn for the next segment to be about him like I did.

I was very happy though that they made several comparisons on the Western influence on Asian martial arts films and vice versa. Where else can you see James Cagney do judo throws and Frank Sinatra busting through tables. This special was very creative in terms of content.

I've seen many martial arts documentaries and this special was quite unique and apart from the rest in its delivery and choice of material.
A few thing would have made the show better. For one, I don't think Samuel L.

Jackson did a good job with the hosting. I agree with the choice, but not his performance. He should not have done that rendition of the word "Wu Xia" towards the end of the show.

It just looked silly and only shows that he doesn't know how the word is truly used.
The video montage flashed through many films that the special did not show up. It was a nice political way to pay homage to those films.

You see Van Damme, Ralph Machio and Seagal and other American movies. This was a simple attempt to squeeze in as much as possible. I wonder how all those Xyience commercials, targeted at mixed martial arts enthusiasts, will pan out.

There is a gap between MMA fans and traditional martial arts fans. Besides the special was decidedly pro-Asian, as many perspectives and films were picked out from the Asian film markets. This is where I feel SpikeTV was gutsy in doing what they wanted to do, and not necessary based on what's popular in the mainstream.

Kudos for that!
In closing, two hours was simply too short. SpikeTV, make this concept into a season of profiles like A E's Biography or the Ken Burns Jazz series.

I would love to watch and buy something like that!

Keep reading for information and comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own!
Any mention of Tarantino's current obsession with martial arts in this doc?


Thanks for the cheer!
Tarantino was not mentioned, but if you're a Tarantino fan, don't forget to check out his Tsui Hark obsession as well. Where do you think he got the idea for black shirt and black tie for in Reservoir dogs?

Tsui Hark's 'A Better Tomorrow 2'.
The scene that's burnt in my mind is Chow Yun Fat throwing that grenade into the house and turning away!

That's super cool, Vince -- had no idea!

I love that look, though. The shot where they're walking down the street under "Little Green Bag" is iconic.

I generally enjoyed your comments and appreciated your perspective, and even agree with you about the exclusion of the martial arts "divas".

However, Steven Seagal should not be included in this group. Anyone familiar with his background knows that for half his lifetime he struggled to bring true Aikido to thousands of students both in the U.S.

and Japan. He made little money, constantly struggled to survive, lived a life of humble respect, and was largely unknown outside of the inner circles of the Aikido community. He even became an Omoto Shinto priest to emulate and continue the spiritual path of the founder of Aikido.

While his "second career" may be open for criticism, Steven is a truly remarkable martial artist, having reached 7th dan in Aikido, and despite everything else, does bring that incredible skill to the screen.
Hopefully they'll replay this. Cool article, Vince.


I know what you're saying with Seagal. He has introduced the beauty of Aikido to the world and I welcome his contribution. There absolutely is a respect for a martial artist of his caliber, and it's not a conincidence that he does appear in an interview for the special.

Though I humbly disagree with your idea about Seagal's own humbleness. IMHO, He lives for attention, and relishes the opportunity to self promote at all times. His efforts to disguise them as simple humbleness seem transparent to me.

Perhaps that's why I considered him in the group. But you do bring some valid points for the argument, and I'll agree that it's absolutely up for debates!
Like his films or not, Steven Seagal is the only bonafide martial artist since Bruce Lee.

He has paid his dues as a sensei in Tokyo and has his own style and regardless of what u think about his films, he deserves props as a martial artist. He also uses the martial arts to promote cool Buddhist concepts and I hate to break this to all you culture coveting Westerners but the martial arts is EXCLUSIVELY an aspect of Buddhist heritage and was developed in monasteries for 1000's of years before it came to the screen with Bruce Lee. They should have mentioned the founder -- Bodhi Dharma and the fact that truly cool films like the Last Samurai also pay homage to Zen culture while some Hong Kong flicks reduce the martial arts to mere comical slapstick.

There's a really cool site by a new action star-director called Duke Panache that's really well researched - check out www.kick-ass.info for the real story about the martial arts and Hollywood action films.


Interesting perspective John. Bodhi Dharma and the Shaolin temple is widely regarded as the origin of martial arts. But don't forget that everywhere in the world, there has been fighting arts before and after Bodhi Dharma's times that may not be truly a product of those origins.

We've got the south-east asian martial arts. The romans and greeks have pancrase and wrestling. Mediavel Europe had sword play, weaponary arts, bows.

I may not be a historian, but I hope you get my point. I personally don't agree that The Last Samurai was ever a great film, but that's just me, and a documentary about movie and martial arts really has no place to go back into history lessons about Bodhi Darma. The documentary focused on films and artists that innovated, created and made an impact using martial arts in the movie industry.

In that respect, I don't think Seagal qualifies. There are many chop socky films out there, but the documentary was about their impact, and the change of direction they took the industry, example: jacky chan using props, cory yuen using acrobatics, john woo's gun play mimicing sword fights. The only thing I thought could have been talked about more, was The Karate Kid for its revival of intrest in the martial arts.


Thanks for your response -- Sure any animal can fight and therefore so could men from prehistoric times. We're not talking about animal fighting -- we're talking about the martial ARTS where combat has been propelled and presented like an ART form. The martial ARTS are far more sophisticated than pancrateon and wrestling and yes the Buddhist monks and Bodhi Dharma and the Shaolin Temple deserve their props.

Jackie Chan is not a martial artist -- he comes from Chinese Opera and reduces serious spiritual exercises to slapstick comedy. He is a good gymnast and stunt fighter -- not a true martial artist. Seagal is a true sensei and he uses authentic aspects of Kempo and Aikido in a far more realistic way than all the wire fu of Hong Kong films that have no place in a real fight.

I hear the new action star-director Duke Panache (www.theduke.net) will be showing off original Kalaripayat moves in a super ambitious indie action film being shot all over the world including Tokyo, Paris, LA, Hong Kong and Thailand -- now thats something that I feel will be very original for the new crop of actors coz there are less than 7 senseis of Kalaripayat worldwide and Kalripayat as we all know is the true origin of complex martial arts systems.

Frescoes on the Shaolin Temple show how Kalaripayat become Kung Fu or Chuan Fa in China and then moved on to other parts of ASia. Bruce Lee, Seagal, Tony Jaa, Chow Yun Fat -- even Jet Li, Keanu Reeves -- all pay homage to the Buddhist Zen culture -- all except Jackie Chan who pretends that acro routines of Chinese Opera are serious martial arts. Its important for you to be a leader and not a follower of public and often pedestrian opinion but its a healthy debate either way
I love debates, and at BlogCritics, you're bound to have differences of opinions.

It's the engagement that I welcome, and yes.. there are some facts and info that I'm not privy to, but the only way for me to learn is to peel away the layers of the 'onion', when you do.

. people will 'cry'. And that's normal.

I hope you know what I mean!
My stance is this documentary was about movies and martial arts, so approaching it from the movie perspective, the documentary did no wrong in profiling Jackie more than Seagal. BTW, Jackie has studied many other martial arts to incorprate them into his movie.

He's known to be a Hapkido student. He has exposed other serious martial artists, world champions through his movies. And acts as an ambassador just as well as anybody.

I guess the debate may encrouch into modernist vs traditionalist. Spiritual aspects are more important to the traditionalist, but is unfortunately a sentiment rarely shared by many involved in the arts.
I have acknowledge Seagal's influence from the martial arts perspective.

There is no denying his legacy and contribution. But again, I'm of the opinion that he is a shameless self promotor that pretends to be humble. Though I may be wrong (that's a subjective matter), it is why I called him a martial arts 'diva'.

A diva is someone who is an important person in that genre, who is extremely good at what they do, but have a certain noteriety or quality about them. I don't think its the wrong word to use for a description. Thanks for the input though!


I forgot to talk about this point, so pardon the additional comment. I do believe Chinese acrobatics can and should be considered martial arts. Yes, there is a Zen aspect to it, but Bodhi Dharma's original intent is for these 'exercises' to strengthen the physically weak monks so that they can continue that spiritual journey.

People read into it too much that these exercises are also part of the journey. Maybe..

. maybe not, I'll let the reader interpret on their own.
More modern definitions of martial arts has defined it as an artform to train the body, that involve disciplines and perserverance.

I rather like this definition because it's being inclusive, rather than exclusive. Martial arts is meant to include, not to seggregate. Styles can claim their differences, but they are mere evolutions and affectory responses to the other styles around them.

Opera training lays its foundation in a very similar way to martial arts training, it takes year of discipline, perserverance to accomplish such training. Jackie and the trios have done so much longer than many so called martial artists have in their respective arts.
If I were proud of the history I'm coming from, but that history is not accepted by people wishing to exclude it, then I would also be admant about fighting for its recognition.


Your referring to "modern definitions" of an art form that is 1000's of years old shows a rare form of ignorance which would make any further discussion on the subject pointless. Your pretending that Jackie Chan uses Hapkido is preposterous and there are marked differences between the aiki arts like hapkido and jiujitus and the striking arts like karate do and kung fu. The martial arts come from Yoga but you are obviously too shallow to do any research on the subject.

If you were to make a documentary on rap music you would spend all the time and footage on Eminem and 50 cent instead of the real pioneers who invented the art form as a serious means of expression far more meaningful than booty and bling bling. The same goes for the martial arts. You must be of Chinese origin yourself where all religion and spirituality has been banned for so long and where the suppression of Tibetan Buddhism is so heinous yet accepted and hence you are incapable of understanding that the martial arts without Zen spirituality is like gospel music without references to God -- it just doesn't work.

Your comments therefore are ignorant at best and ignorance is bliss so you do not wish to wake up from your own reverie. The facts of my messages are irrefutable and if there was a chairperson -- this debate would long be declared in my favor. I no longer see the point of even responding to your blogs coz its become apparent to me that in a battle of the facts -- you are unarmed.

And as a 7th dan black belt myself and one who hangs a poster of BodhiDharma in my dojo (as do all serious dojos in Japan and across Asia), I would rather walk away than engage with a less worthy opponent such as yourself. I say this not to demean you but to educate you. I am probably your father's age so pardon me if I find it difficult to accept the ignorance of youth.

. You probably hang a poster of Paris Hilton on your wall so we 2 will just never see eye to eye on this.
Your insistence on clinging to old traditional values is admirable but not shared by me.

Your use of assumptions to categorize and steretotype is demeaning and shows more ignorance on your part than you. Not all Chinese have issue with religion, why drag such racial connotations into it? I consider myself a buddhist, though not a devoted practicioner, I am still appalled about the condesending levels that you've put on.

Yes, you may be my father's age, my father whose Sifu was a direct student of Lam Sai Wing, down from the lineage of Hung Gar traditional gung fu that include Hung Hei Gun and Wong Kei Ying, Wong Fei Hong. Having been born in South-East Asia, and exposed all my life in traditional martial arts. I know all about martial arts traditions and spirituality.

I was right about what this boils down for you, tradition vs mordernism. Your eyes don't open, so how good of a buddhist are you? I don't mean to restart anything but your comments are absolutely demeaning and portray more ignorance in your assessment of me that surely the readers of these comments will decide for themselves.

Again, I reiterate, in this review about the movie industry and its relationship about martial arts. I do not feel I'm wrong nor the documentary to approach it in the perspective that was told. I am far more knowledgable than you give me credit for.

And your comments were unprofessional and shows more about you than you realized
This is going to all the people out there reading. I find the world of "serious dojo" vs paying a fee to be ludicrous. If you are interested in spreading and living Zen.

Stop calling your place a dojo and just teach people without asking. The person who says, "I'm no expert..

but I will teach you all that I can" versus the person who says, "I'm an expert.. but I will teach you if you pay me" are two different types of people.

Hanging somebody's poster does not mean anything. It have never occurred to me to hang posters of celebrities. I have never hung a Bruce Lee poster either.

Speaking of shallowness, I do find hanging posters as a shallow form of tribute. My dad has hung posters and inspirational decorations in the mo koon before. It has its place but I don't necessary go with it.

I don't need to go to churches/temples to show my faith. It's within me and in my heart. This discussion thread would have been similar to those discussions of religion vs faith where religion dictates certain traditions to be met before declaring yourself truly of faith.

I don't buy that, Bruce Lee didn't want to be confined by traditions. Confining yourself to viewing the world through a well means the sky is always round to you. See all prespectives, appreciate all opinions, don't demean others for what they say.

That's how prejudice, hatred starts. That's not what BlogCritics is about.
Speaking of dans.

.. I don't think that traditional martial arts really care about what degree you are.

Separating yourself from other people using levels of competency is a concept needed for commercial acceptance by the western world. The monks of the shaolin temple do not care what level they are at. They practice and live their way.

Touting about one's accepted level of proficiency is self promotional in nature by definition. I have no need for a belt system, belts are meant to hold my pants up. Paying homage to Zen or Buddhism should really mean that you don't care about such superficial measures.

In fact, even the beginner may be able to teach the master a few things. I've been involved in martial arts going on 11 years now since I was a teenager. I love collaborating and helping with people, as a teacher as a student.

That chemistry of brotherhood and walking the journey together in a mo koon, in a ring, in a dojo is the good of martial arts, bringing people together, not pulling them apart. "Hey, I'll show you what I learnt. That's cool.

.. can I see that again?

" "Can you help me with this form" "Let's spar" All that is unifying people is what I take from Martial Arts. I've mentioned all my reasons for citing the word "diva" and its definitions as my reasons to place that word. Unfortunately , the opposing views have not addressed my view or seek to enlighten it, but choose to put it down as trivial, ignorance and seeks to demonize me.

I'm no expert, but I'm willing to hear new things, and I'm willing to share what my perspectives are.. and I'll let you decide.

I don't compare myself to a system of proficiency measurements, so I'll let the reader be a judge of my credentials.
For the uninitiated. Hapkido has many joint locks and techniques similar to Aikido, but it's very 'striking' in nature as well.

I first was exposed to Hapkido when my father partner with a hapkido practicioner to start his Mo Koon in Canada.
here's an article I quickly found when I search " " on google!
I agree with this regarding Van Damme and Seagal.

It is possible to commercialise martial arts as Lee, Chan and Li, successfully done. However, the movies of Van Damme and Seagal lacked the X factor. Bloodsports set the standard for Van Damme, but then it was downhill all the way.

.. and i've never liked Seagal since he somehow single-handedly managed to destroy an entire Yardie gang in Marked for Death.


On a point above, I did think that there was some type of heirachy in traditional martial arts?
Many martial arts have informal ways to measure proficiency but it's not their be all and end all. Wushu, many south-east asian arts and many others do not and still don't have defined belt system but rely on seniority and years of experience for judgement.


Many arts have since moved to belt system. I know many traditional gung fu master who , when they want to open a studio, don't know what they should call themselves. They never had formal testing or lived in that system.

So they merely make up a designation to appeal for commercial purposes. Don't confuse this with systems that do have established guidelins. But I'm saying is, the Shaolin origin does not rely on a belt system.

Bruce Lee did not want a belt system. And modern definitions of martial arts have streamlined down his vision of this. I personally think it's a more Zen pursuit to not focus on belts.


Steven Seagal's films often disappoint me, but not because he lacks skill. Many times in his fight scenes it looks like he is probably doing something really interesting, but the camera work and editing is not good enough to clearly show his moves.
Van Damme may not be as serious or as respected in the martial arts community, but for some reason he seems to get luckier with camera operators, editors, and directors who are able and willing to make him look good.


Making the fight scenes look good, and not obscuring them with bad camera angles and muddy editing, is crucial for film depictions of the martial arts. In this sense of expressing the cinematic arts, as well as the martial arts, both the "wire-fu" movies and Jackie Chan's comedic approach to the subject are very far ahead of many others.
Check out a cool film called "Master of Zen" which tells the story of how martial arts came from India to China and how Indian grandmaster of Kung Fu DaMo taught the Shaolin monks how to fight.

Also, I saw a martial arts demo where the new actor-director Duke Panache took on 12 black belts alone .. it was like amazing choreography!


First of all, reading this guys comments makes me laugh. He is one of the most ignorant people Ive ever encountered on this site. He keeps promoting this movie for Duke Panache when infact he is Duke Panache.

This man is so full of himself and phony and claims to be mighter than all. What a joke. Boycott his piece of crap film and send hate mail to his site.


I'm shocked that someone is hating on the new director Duke Panache on this site. Its obvious that someone who is jealous of his hype is googling him and then going around posting hate blogs about him. But some of my friends have seen previews of the new film Classified and in the film Duke Panache fights over 75 or so martial artists and the film also deals with a lot of the martial arts debate thats being hosted here including the Bodhidharma Daruma connection.

But this site is about the martial arts and so anyone can speak of a newcomer martial arts actor-director but hating on him here is out of line. Lets not convert this blog to a hate blog though the more hype Duke gets the more haters he will have since every celebrity has haters and Duke is fast becoming a celebrity. Anyway, Seagal has serious fighting skills and so does this new guy Tony Jaa.

But Seagal's moves work in real life while Jaa's don't. Props to all martial arts actors new and old who are doing their best to honor the art form.
Duke has struck again people, I know this because of his previous claims of Seagal being a good martial artist and also the fact that hes psychotic and living in a fantasy world going around googling his own name to find people hating on him and post as "friends" of his backing him up.

Anyways heres a little tidbit of segal, from CNN: Apparently Anderson Cooper saw seagal down there and asked him to interview and he responded no im not here for the press and anderson was impressed but 2 secs later seagal couldnt help himself and started showing off to the cameras and what not. As well as apparently he walked into a bar without saying a word and hung a framed autograph picture of himself up and walked out. No Joke.

This is the work of a delusional man, much like Duke Panche.
Good to see that the passion is alive and well amongst true martial artists.
Vince, I agree with you.

The art of the movement is only relevant if the practioner opens his/her eyes to see the value of it. Which subset of whatever art it comes from is irrelevant. Value can be found in every form of martial art if the history of it's evolution is understood.

Whether it was for defense against maruading hordes, samurai on horseback or the scholarly pursuit of body control, the martial arts have always had a place in history.
It has also been made clear that those who have learnt the "coles notes" of martial artistry from film and wikipedia will reveal their lack of understanding in shallow and pompus diatribes. It's ironic how Duke chose "John Anderson", a film character name who "downloaded" his skill set and then tried to understand it.

Kinda like trying to download faith, isn't it Duke?
Watch your step Duke, anonymously blasting learnt artists is not winning you any friends in the community you so desperately wish to be recognized as part of. Some of us have worked with you and know the extent of your skill first hand.


Memorizing terminology does not a martial artist make. Nor does choreographing fights to showcase a limited repetoire of parroted moves improperly learnt. And regardless of how "Epic" your ambition "John Anderson" realize the tallest tower collapses when its base is hollow.


7th Dan my ass.
ps. Pep, it's good to see you again, if only in word.


  • On by Gordon Hauptfleisch: Nice review, and it's always good to see a Coreys reference.
  • On by John: OPEN YOUR MINDS! 'Bug' was brilliant.

    If you think its stupid you don't get it.

  • On by Wil Mclean: Good to see that the passion is alive and well amongst true martial artists. Vince, I agree with yo.

    ..

  • On by Ben: I have recently began to tune in to Craig simply because he makes me feel welcome.

    Craig is very int...

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    Keywords: Bruce Lee, Duke Panache, Van Damme, Kung Fu, Jackie Chan, Bodhi Dharma, Tsui Hark, John Woo, Hong Kong, Steven Seagal
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