Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book (40 page)

More than fifty percent of the industry was looking for work, and those working were in somewhat uninspired fare, to say the least. Wu appeared in Tsui Hark
’s technologically exceptional, emotionally vacant remake of
Zu Warriors
,
Legend of Zu
(2000), but his kung fu skills were not required. He was further anointed as a kung fu star by being personally chosen to co-star in Liu Chia-liang
’s farewell feature
Drunken Monkey
in 2002, but, although he got to strut Master Liang’s stuff, the film was not the consummate classic everyone was hoping for. Wu had little choice but to return to TV and await further developments. He made good use of his time back on the small screen, however, developing his own skills as a choreographer.

Money began to flow again in 2004 when Wu was signed by a new talent agency. Seeing the genre turn toward more modern crime tales, Jacky was cast as an extremely dangerous villain, starting him on a string of minor thrillers —
Fatal Contact
,
Twins Mission
,
Invisible Target
(all 2006), and
Fatal Move
(2007) — all with exceptional kung fu. He even got to fight Jet Li
on screen in
Mummy 3
: Tomb of the Dragon
Emperor
(2007). Finally, as of this writing, Jacky Wu is starring alongside Jackie Chan
in
Shaolin
(2010), the official sequel to the 1981
Shaolin Temple
film that started it all for Jet. Wu Jing
is clearly the genre’s new kung fu star … now all he needs is a leading role worthy of him.

The new century is also a time when actors who were previously minor stars get to take their place as major stars. Just ask Vincent Zhao
, aka Zhao Wen-zhou
aka Chiu Man-cheuk, who had to carry the stigma of being the George Lazenby
to Jet Li
’s Sean Connery
for years before Chinese studios became beggars who couldn’t be choosers. Another graduate of the prestigious Beijing Sport University, Zhao was discovered by Corey Yuen to be the villain in
Fong Sai Yuk
, then got saddled with the
Wong Fei-hung yoke after Tsui Hark
’s declaration that Jet Li
was nothing without him.

Retreating to television roles to lick the wounds inflicted by critics, Zhao was chosen by Yuen Wo-ping
to star in
True Legend
(2010), a new take on the Beggar Su character immortalized by Yuen’s father, Simon, in
Drunken Master
. Although unfocused, the disjointed tale of Su’s rise, fall, and rise, filmed partially in 3D, was a monument to kung fu, featuring myriad fight and training sequences that only improve with repeated viewing. It also served as a showcase for MMA fighter Cung Le
as a barbarian, Gordon Liu
as a mad monk, Jay Chou
as the “God of Wushu,” and especially Andy On
Chi-kit as a truly demented, truly dangerous villain.

Speaking of villains, there’s Fan Siu-wong
. Born in 1973 Hong Kong, he was the son of popular, famed supporting actor Fan Mei-sheng
, who was the man they brought in to replace Simon Yuen
when he passed away during the filming of
Magnificent Butcher
. Sent away at the age of fourteen because he was so scrawny, the younger Fan bulked up by studying martial arts, then followed in his father’s footsteps.

Known for his round, dark eyes, he first came to major international fame at the age of eighteen as “Terry Fan” in
Story of Ricky
(1991) — the Chinese live action adaptation of an absurdly violent Japanese manga called
Riki-Oh
. With his father playing a demented, hook-handed assistant prison warden, the Chinese Ricky uses growing powers to take on stupendously sadistic guards (including a psycho-sexual whiptress played by Yukari Oshima
) until the jail staff mutates into monsters, and Ricky punches them into chopped meat and jelly.

Terry continued working in the movie industry in such efforts as
Project S
: Once a Cop
, but the quality of his roles lessened as the film industry struggled post-1997. Where once he did five movies a year, he was reduced to none in 1999. But all good things come to those who wait (and train), so when China started pouring money into the local film industry early in the 21
st
century, the actor, now known as “Louis Fan,” returned with a vengeance. He made twenty movies in the first six years of the decade and became action choreographer for
Kung Fu Fighter
in 2007. With the semi-retirement of Jackie and Jet, Louis has become the go-to supporting “best friend” or “villain” actor for the Chinese kung fu film. He did eight films in 2010 — including
Kung Fu Chefs
with Sammo Hung
and
Future X Cops
with Andy Lau
— and made an excellent impression in every one.

All of these performers could be the new “king of kung fu,” but none of them are. The one who is was born the same year as Jet Li
, 1963. But Jet Li
’s mother was not one of the world’s greatest taichi
practitioners and teachers. That would be Bow Sim-mak
, who moved with her newspaperman husband, Klyster Yen
, to Massachusetts in 1975. While Bruce Lee
started teaching gweilo outsiders kung fu on the west coast, Bow started teaching them on the east coast. She also started teaching her son, Donnie Yen
.

“I started training with my mom when I was very little,” he told me. “I learned some taichi
, but mainly Northern Shaolin. But I’ve always been a rebel. When I was young, all sorts of students from different fields used to come in and kind of worship my mom, you know. And I would challenge that. I would run off to other people’s martial arts schools to train in different styles. I had a lot of friends who studied karate
and a mixture of kung fu stylings, so I was exploring that. A lot of kung fu masters in Chinatown used to say to me about how my mom was so famous and so good at what she does, so why would I train in other styles? But my mom was actually kind of open to what I was doing.”

Like others, Donnie looked at the “soft” but powerful things his mom did, then looked at the “hard” things Bruce Lee
did on screen, and made his decision. But that was the least of the fourteen year-old’s problems. “I ran away from home because I was having trouble at school. At about the same time the Beijing Wushu Team came to the states and were visiting every martial arts school in Chinatown. When they visited our school, my mom asked me to perform for two of their head coaches. They were very impressed and told my mother if I was trained by them for a year or two I could be a champion in China. A few months later, my mom asked if I wanted to go to China. Well, I knew that if I stayed I’d just get into more trouble, so I agreed.”

Only one problem: they didn’t check with the head coaches. “They were shocked,” Donnie explained. “They hadn’t expected me to actually arrive at their doorstep! Their training an American would get them into trouble. We went through all kinds of departments and making connections here and there. And they finally changed their policy! I was the first Asian not born in China to train with the wushu team.”

Donnie trained for two years, then was ready for the next big change in his life. “I visited Yuen Wo-ping
’s sister, who used to study with my mom when she taught in Hong Kong. Her brother was making
Drunken Tai Chi
and was looking for a young unknown to cast in it. She told him about me, and he said, “Show me what you can do.” The whole Yuen clan was there and they shot my performance on film. About a couple of weeks later, I got the part.”

Drunken Tai Chi
(1984) filmed in Taiwan for almost eight months, and reflected the crazy and corny approach Wo-ping was using at that time. “It was released head on with
Project A
,” Donnie remembered. “It did okay, but not as good as they wanted to. It was the end of the old-fashioned kung fu movie, and, to make matters worse, Yuen Wo-ping
would think nothing of taking two years to make a film. The competition was getting a lot harder, and the audience seemed more interested in the more modern type of action flick.”

But instead of doing one of those, Donnie tried a change of pace.
Mismatched Couples
(1985) was a freaky and funky mid-80s romantic comedy romp that put the budding star in spandex and had him popping and locking. Little wonder that he returned to America to hide out for a year or two. “When I got back to Hong Kong, the whole dynasty of martial arts movies was divided and, clearly, Jackie Chan
, Yuen Baio
, and Sammo Hung
were dominating the whole circle.”

So Yuen Wo-ping
decided to try one of the more modern types of action flicks, helming what turned out to be one of the great “new wave” crime and corruption thrillers of the era,
Tiger Cage
(1988). Although the 1997 Chinese takeover of Hong Kong was still almost a decade away, the fear of what might happen was growing, and
Tiger Cage
tapped into that fear. It also presented a new way to picture kung fu fights.

“Yuen Wo-ping
filmed Donnie’s climatic fight as if it were almost one of those fighting videogames,” recalled Vincent Lyn
, who played the half-breed gweilo villain in the film. “He and his adversary were on a quay by the beach and went at each other using classic kung fu techniques while the camera tracked alongside in full body shots. I don’t know if the audience picked up on it, but they really responded, and it was perfect.” It was Donnie’s most powerful part yet, and he wanted to take full advantage of it.

“After a couple of years away, I wanted to start again as a bit more mature personality,” Donnie said. “I studied all of Jackie and Sammo’s films, looking for a way to make my own name. We had very limited budgets, so I was training very hard to bring the real flavor of martial arts into the films. When you study the Sammo Hung
style of filming — which includes Jackie Chan
and Yuen Kwai
— you might notice a kind of concentration on the stuntman ... on the reaction rather than on the person actually throwing the kick. So I decided to have a very strong personal flavor. I’m going to try to break the rhythm of the choreography and have a lot of pre-movement before the actual kick.”

The problem there was that only Jackie and Sammo were getting the kind of filmmaking freedom Donnie, as a newcomer, was deprived of. 1989’s
In the Line of Duty IV
and 1990’s
Tiger Cage
2
, although each featuring exceptional kung fu, were uninspired otherwise. Then, because he wanted more freedom, Donnie parted company with Yuen Wo-ping
, eliciting some bad feelings. Whatever the cause, he was relegated to the likes of the ludicrous
Holy Virgin vs. the Evil Dead
(1991) the middling
Crystal Hunt
(1991), and the rough
Cheetah on Fire
(1992).

“But then Yuen Wo-ping
came back and asked me to help him out on
Once Upon a Time in China II
,” Donnie reported. “So I met with Tsui Hark
and said okay. I also helped them choreograph the fight scenes.” It resulted in (arguably) the best of the series. “It only took us three days to finish the fight scenes, even with all the waiting for the fans and lighting and all the effects,” Donnie revealed. “It was actually kind of easy. Fighting in
Drunken Tai Chi
, with thirty-five to forty movements in one shot ... now, that was tough! I think fighting with Jet was much easier. In fact, some of it wasn’t even choreographed. We just went at it!”

Knowing a good thing when he fought it, Donnie was content to jump back and forth between Tsui Hark
and Yuen Wo-ping
projects for the next few years. He played another memorable villain in
Dragon
Gate Inn
(1992), and a supreme hero in the exceptional “Young
Wong Fei-hung” film,
Iron Monkey
(1993). “I liked doing that because it was a challenge for me to play a heroic role in the vein of Jet Li
. He had already made
Wong Fei-hung famous again, and although I was playing his father, I was basically playing another Wong Fei-hung. So the challenge was; how would I fight differently and still be just as impressive as Jet? So I told Yuen ‘let’s not do the no-shadow-kick technique with a lot of editing, let’s speed up the frame.’”