This is Kung Fu
10/22/00
Review
Format: Non Subtitled VCD
Stars: The Beijing Wu Shu Academy, some monks, many skilled professionals
This is a documentary about modern day wu shu, featuring tons of students from the Beijing Wu Shu Academy and lots of others. What it basically is is one scene after the other of either a person or a few people showing off a skill or martial art, usually the latter. Although the VCD I got wasn't subtitled, it was still extremely interesting, especially the second CD which had many animal styles and then an actual demonstration of the Academy's arts. Jet Li has a small appearance and is awesome, as I would expect. I thought I saw Donnie Yen in there with a staff doing some good moves, and I think I heard the narrator say "Yen Di Jian" (if that's Donnie's real name).
Donnie Yen or not?
And there are so many women in this too. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, and seeing modern HK movies today just gives me the impression that men are, overall, better martial artists than women. But after watching this, I really have to question myself. There's a scene at the end where two women go at it and it's so incredible. For you men who think you've got big balls, don't think to yourself "cat fight", think "Oh god I better run for my life. And another thing, they're all really attractive. In fact, some of the best looknig Chinese women I've ever layed eyes on have been martial artists (or dancers gone to martial artists, like Cynthia Khan), so now I wonder, "Maybe I should marry one of them so I can have a bodyguard or something." That's quite a contrast when compared to American women (Cynthia Rothrock, the woman in In the Line of Duty who fights Khan toward the end, etc.). Anyways, you'll have to watch this to really humble yourselves, you men reading this who have never taken martial arts but insist that you can at least beat up any woman out there. And it's not all weapons that these women are good at, either, it's the hand to hand combat that they do that scares me, not the weapons. When I see two women hitting eachother harder than I could ever imagine myself hitting a punching bag, that's when I start questioning my jewels.
And then there are the 10 year olds and ones even younger (including an 8 or 7 year old Jet Li) who, as you would expect, perform exceptionally well. They don't look at the camera, each move is precise and looks well practised, and the solos they do are done to perfection. I can't stress this enough, but I shouldn't be surprised. This is a somewhat different way of self defense than the Japanese or American or whatever-ian systems out there, where the demonstrations are lightning fast (as in faster than most HK cinema, and obviously faster than Chuck Norris or Van Damme) and they don't mess around.
Jet Li (left), and then a kid that could probably take me on
The second CD is the most impressive. Here, they go into many animal styles (Duck (!!), Crane, Dog, Mantis, Monkey vs. Drunken Monkey, Swallow (beautifully done), and Eagle vs. Snake), they show Baguajang, both solo and combat, and then the Qi Gong part, which, in my eyes, was more impressive than that in Shaolin Kung Fu. An old man breaks a HUGE tablet of rock with his head, just by lunging forward, he breaks ORDINARY rocks (not old cement or water-soaked limestone), with one finger. That beats breaking porcelain with one finger. Then he gets an assistant to put her hands on top of a blade (blade upward), and her feet on the top of two blades behind her, while he breaks some rocks over her upper back. After that they get some kids to do a few things. A girl (shown below) has an already heavy wooden, uh, FLOOR, laying on top of her with her chest as the only support, and then they start putting on 20 Kilogram weights on top (probably around 50 or 70 of them), and then she moves the whole thing around and rocks it left and right. The man gets a young boy, then, to stand there as he smashes multiple tiles over his head. I'd call this child abuse if it didn't go towards some good, but think about how easily someone who can do this at the age of, what, 7, can pick up martial arts and not have to worry about being beaten to death by ANYONE. That's called child healthcare in my eyes.
Duck, Mantis, Swallow, Iron Head Hansel (yes he was fine afterwords), and a young girl underneath 2000 pounds
So, feast your eyes below on the amazing aspects of Chinese martial arts. Wu Shu, bagua, animals, weapons, qi gong, and a guy who does a drunken sword solo that'll make you cry, it's all amazing and now I'm ready to go join the academy (as if I'd be able to get in).
A hard groin kick (the third one in a row), Monkey and Staff, and a Self Induced HK Spin
An old man that my car probably couldn't take out and his beautiful American student
Drunken Sword and a choreographed Wu Shu encounter worthy of screen time in a movie
And I'll rate this too.
5/5 - Yea it's that good, even for a documentary that I thought would be a movie judging by the cover and doesn't have subtitles.
Return to the reviews page