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- From: upham@cs.ubc.ca (Derek Upham)
- Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts,rec.arts.movies,alt.cult-movies
- Subject: `Kung fu' movies vs. `Wu xia' movies (was Re: Brandon Lee Movies)
- Date: 26 Jan 1993 23:58:08 -0800
- Organization: Raven's Auto Body Repair Shop, Mega-Tokyo.
- Lines: 26
- Message-ID: <1k5fagINNj6p@cascade.cs.ubc.ca>
- References: <1993Jan26.232044.25071@lynx.dac.northeastern.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: cascade.cs.ubc.ca
-
- jangi@hilbert.coe.northeastern.edu (Shrirang Jangi) writes:
- >In article <nahilgendorf.51@honors.uoregon.edu> nahilgendorf@honors.uoregon.edu (Nathan Hilgendorf) writes:
-
- >>True, Hong Kong does make the best martial arts movies. I saw Swordsman II a
- >>while ago and thought it was actually pretty poorly done, which surprised
- >>me, since Once Upon a Time in China I and II were awesome. Oh well...
-
- >I agree that neither Swordsman I or II is as good as Wong Fei Hong, but I
- >think that the floating rotating sword of Jet Lee and the concept of "sword
- >chi" in Swordsman II are visually stunning. BTW, Swordsman III is already out.
-
- These are sort of unfair comparisons. "Swordsman" 1 and 2 aren't
- `kung fu' movies, they're `wu xia' movies (action fantasy, like "A
- Chinese Ghost Story", and "Zu, Warriors of the Mystic Mountain"). If
- you go looking for martial arts, you're going to be disappointed---
- the writers and directors don't devote nearly as much energy to them
- as `kung fu' writers and directors do. (Actually, "Once Upon a Time
- in China" is only half `kung fu'; the other half is historical drama.)
-
- Derek
-
- --
- Derek Lynn Upham University of British Columbia
- upham@cs.ubc.ca Computer Science Department
- =============================================================================
- "Ha! Your Leaping Tiger Kung Fu is no match for my Frightened Piglet Style!"
-