| My personal top 10 HK movie fights |
[Jan. 31st, 2005|07:02 pm] |
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I think my best creative ability at this period in my life is in fight choreography. Not to say in any way that my choreography is the best (quality is forever subjective) but I mean simply in comparison to my other artistic endeavors. Making fight choreography is what I'm the most passionate about these days. I've been running through a lot of HK movies which have shaped the way I create fights and decided to post a Top 10. I'll add as many reasons as I can why these are on my list. Sometimes articulating your preference can't go very far beyond "It just works for me." (i.e. I dig women with short hair) but I'll do my best to elaborate.
Now there are people out there who think Lionheart has better fights than Drunken Master II or just don't like HK action PERIOD, so I'm NOT touting this list as something everyone should take as truth. I'm not a troll. Even though I said all that, odds are I'm going to get hate mail anyway. (goes on a Dark Hadou bender and KongouKokuretsuzan's the whole earth)
These all hold different qualities for me so it's not in any particular order.
1. Pedicab Driver (1989): Sammo Hung vs Lau Kar Leung (gambling house fight)
-Sammo is my personal idol in choreography. This 4-minute fight is my favorite example of his work. The fighting he developed in his multitude of 80's films, a mixture of modern brawling and traditional blocks and parries, is one of my largest influences. What I like about long Sammo sequences is that they will run a fast and complex sequence of moves and blocks, and that sequence will be punctuated with moves acting as big exclamation marks. For example after Sammo taunts LKL after the first few exchanges, he starts a sequence with a low kick into an approx 13-hit advancing punch/block combination that speeds up in progression and ends with a huge push kick. That kind of steady rhythmic buildup with a powerful ender is pure satisfaction. The same principle applies to the staff fight in the second half. The nonstop rhythm is peppered with variations (jumps, evasions, wide arcing movements) which in combination result in a feast for the senses. It's my favorite kind of fight choreography (repeats self for eternity). Like all HK choreographers, Sammo will take creative license to put in visual flash (which is usually necessary for a great fight scene imho), but his action will retain a highly technical aspect to the application. Sammo is awesome. I also met him and bought his TV.
Another Sammo specialty is the one-to-three hit beatdown, where he decimates a crowd by taking out each person quickly and efficiently with one-to-three hits per person. But if I start elaborating on that, this rant on Sammo will never end.
2. Drunken Master II (1994): Jackie vs Ken Lo (end fight)
-Few people aren't immediately impressed by Ken Lo's kicking dexterity in this scene. I was blown away when I first saw this (on Laserdisc at my friend Davis' house in middle school). I maintain it's the best all-kicking sequence I've ever seen. The percussive rhythm of the hits and precision/flair of the leg movement is as flawless as you can get for this kind of fight. During the second half when Jackie goes Mecha Zangief, it becomes one of the best examples of dance-like choreography that I can think of. Every move is varied, rarely repeated and visually impressive. Even when the fight becomes one-sided, you don't care because you want to see what crazy shit he pulls out next. Very long and highly satisfying to watch.
3. Project A (1983): Jackie & Yuen Biao vs Gang (hotel fight)
-Project A is probably my favorite overall HK action film, and it was the first Jackie film I ever saw. All the fighting in this movie is pure gold, but the hotel fight was my first example of breakneck stunt-oriented fighting. The best thing about this fight is there's so much crazy original backbreaking shit going on, and it stays practically nonstop until the cops barge in. Huge falls, takedowns, throws, and dropkicks back to back to back? In-fucking-credible. There have been few fights to match this level of originality AND the incredibly manic pace of it all. I always consider this film as Jackie on the peak of his game performing both action & stunts, alongside Police Story.
4. Police Story (1985): Jackie vs. Thugs (mall fight)
-Police Story is just plain chock full of great action and is another film on my overall fave HK movie list. Besides being an obvious pioneer in stunt/prop fighting (parts of which were ripped off for movies like Rapid Fire), the best scene that springs to mind is when Jackie's fending off three guys near a store's display window. When he gets kicked to his knees and is backing away on the ground while blocking and taking hits from all sides, the first time I saw this I actually started to worry about the character for a moment. But sure enough he gets to his feet and clears the room with jump kicks and a sweep, and proceeds to force-feed glass to all the thugs in the mall. Watching him go from such a losing position to dynamically turning the tables is one of my favorite specific fight choreography sequences.
5. Police Story 2 (1988): Jackie vs Thugs (playground fight)
-This fight set the bar for creativity and ingenuity in a playground, and there have been attempts at playground fights since but nothing has ever exploited the environment on the same level to such great effect. As far as an environmental fight goes nothing else comes to mind as an ideal example. One of the best parts of this fight to me are the falls- all of the basic reactions are made unique by interacting with the playground structures, falling on or off or into them. Another is the whole second half near the swing set; the ingenious way he uses the metal bar (so fucking original and visually awesome, particularly the rolling 4-hit finished by throwing the bar, also jumping off the swing set pole itself), the different throws (dropkick and throw, overrotated front flip). The crazy nonstop pace of the whole scene only adds to the excitement and adrenaline factor. The sheer amount of creativity in this fight just reaches out and throttles me. My only complaint, of course, is that it's too short.
6. Wheels on Meals (1984): Jackie vs Benny Urquidez (end fight)
-One of the best modern kickboxing style fights, if not the best example. The rematch in Dragons Forever is also highly memorable but the Wheels on Meals fight spends more time with manipulating the pace and characters to better effect. The action acting in this fight truly makes it stand out- there is little reliance on flash and the bulk of the fight is fueled by one character pressuring another and you get a better view of how one character's position is making them attack and defend. Barring a few minor fancy moves (which were by no means detrimental), it's a highly logical fight with solid combinations, nice use of holds/takedowns and some great hard hits (big hook to the chin, particularly). You see a real duel here between two focused characters, not just punches and kicks.
7. Prodigal Son (1982): Lam Ching-Ying vs Frankie Chan (restaurant match)
-Another Sammo-directed bar of gold-pressed latinum. This is one of the most technically complex and visually stimulating fights ever. I could watch this for days trying to pick apart the moves. The arrangement and persisting flow is remarkable, the execution is precise and powerful. There are particular details in this fight that are ingenious: One is LCY noticing Frankie's hand twitch before he strikes to counter, another is while fighting on the bridge as he gets pushed back he breaks the steps with his sliding feet. Moments like that really add an intelligence and force to the fight. After performing choreography like this so sharp and consistently, I'm sad that Lam Ching Ying didn't star in another film as action-intensive as Prodigal Son before his death.
8. Once Upon A Time in China (1991): Jet Li vs Yen Shi-Kwan (end fight)
-The majority of fans out there prefer OUATIC II as a favorite in the series, particularly because of Donnie Yen's inclusion. I saw the first OUATIC when I was young (thanks to my friend Davis and his LD player again) and it left a giant impression on me like a permanent indent in my skull. I'm also biased because I love Yen Shi-Kwan to death, he's the perfect villain. When I first saw this, the sharpness of Jet's moves were amazing, fluid and precise as he is known for. The ingenuity of the wire rigs and the ladder arrangement was unlike anything I'd seen and I couldn't begin to comprehend at the time what kind of mind it took to invent a scenario like that. The traditional movements were aesthetically pleasing, and the use of slow-motion at just the right moments accentuated effectiveness. There is no doubt in this fight that Jet would win, (it's like in DMII) where you just want to see how he'd counter the next attack. Jet Li was unwavering and unstoppable as Wong Fei Hung and the character's confidence was inspiring. I love this fight dammit.
9. Fist of Legend (1994): Jet Li vs Yasuaki Kurata (field fight)
-This fight was highly entertaining for the fact that it utilized the characters so well. Using different fighting styles may have made it entertaining enough, but adding the characters' reactions and attitudes toward each other make it memorable. As you see the fight progress, their prideful animosity turns to respect and it sets the tone for an enjoyable match with no unfavorable outcome. The choreography of their countering each other's techniques and the equal give-and-take results in a fun extended battle. The movie really needed a long fight where heavy feelings and anger weren't involved and this duel fit the purpose beautifully.
10. Thunderbolt (1995): Jackie vs Thugs (garage fight)
-Sammo's hand shines brightly, yes it does. This fight is the shortest on the list but it's one of my favorite examples of action directing. Every angle and camera movement amplifies the hits, every large sweep and spin kick is wide and powerful. This beatdown is a highly satisfying quick and solid ass-whupping. This film showed me how simple attacks and combinations can be made more dynamic by the right angle and camera movement, it's still something I'm experimenting with.
Phew. That's it. Runner ups are the end fight from Dragons Forever (excellent action throughout and highly influential) and the end fight from Ong Bak (Thai, I know. A truly unparalleled physical spectacle that should be seen, but personally I don't like seeing stuntmen used so expendably- some of those hits I would never ask anyone to take. It's not the action I'd do or make others do. On a semi-related personal note: I am not of the camp that believes subjecting yourself to immense amounts of pain makes you a man, I hold common sense and self-preservation beforehand. I want to be able to walk when I'm old). There are a ton of other great fights (and even more great fight MOMENTS) that I could mention but none of them affected me as highly.
Damn, it took me 3 hours to finish this. |
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