From the slums of Shaolin

Inspired by my fellow newbie blogger, Books And Blood, I've decided to do a post about my top 5 favorite fight scenes in martial arts movies. I was going to talk about my top 5 martial arts films of all time but there really isn't time. I'm basing this list on the overall creativity and innovation of the choreography. Whether the scene was particularly relevant to the story or not isn't necessarily important. Let's begin.

The Magnificent Butcher (1979)
Directed and Choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping

This scene has always been one of my favorites. The use of the calligraphy pens as weapons, the relentless rhythm of the movement of the actors, and of course the agility of Kwan Tak-Hing who plays Wong Fei-Hung. I mean this man has been doing movies since the 40s for crying outloud. This movie is full of great scenes, and it's hilarious to boot. Sometimes for the wrong reasons though, there's a villain who thinks he's a cat. It's pathetic. Then of course there's the token fan fighter wearing eye-liner and is vain as hell. Other than that it's a good fun film.

Wing Chun (1994)
Directed and Choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping

Oh Michelle Yeoh! Oh tofu! This scene is just ridiculous. But I love it! I think it is real a testament to how creative action director Yuen Woo-Ping is. He'll take any situation and use the environment to his advantage, whether for comedic effect or to communicate what the characters are going through; desperation, determination, et cetera. I hope this'll will at the very least put a smile on your face. Lighten up and enjoy!

Iron Monkey (1993)
Directed and Choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping

This scene is a lot of fun! It depicts Chinese Folk Hero Wong Fei-Hung as a child getting into a bit of a spat with some thugs. Of course Wong Fei-Hung is a recurring character in Chinese folklore and was actually a real person. His life has been chronicled in many films and many big Chinese stars have played him, including Jet Li (Once Upon a Time In China series) and Jackie Chan (Drunken Master series). This film is unique because it is one of the only instances (that I'm aware of) where Fei-Hung is written as a child; although in Drunken Master he was a teenager. Anyway, this scene is great!

Once Upon A Time In China II (1992)
Directed by Tsui Hark; Choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping

Donnie Yen and Jet Li! I don't think I need to say anything more than that. Very creative use of bamboo (especially at the end) and Donnie Yen's "Cloth Staff" technique is absolutely insane! People didn't understand why I was so excited to see them face off again in Zhang Yimou's 2002 epic Hero. But hopefully this will explain why I was anticipating it so much. That scene is gorgeous too but this has much more raw energy. Please ignore Foon's fake queue. It always bugs me when I watch OUATIC2. At least Jet Li has the gumption to shave his head so it looks better.

The Young Master (1980)
Directed by Jackie Chan; Choreographed by Jackie Chan & Fung Hak-On

I couldn't finish this list without a Jackie Chan scene. He gets a bad rap a lot because of his concentration in comedy, but he does it so well. This is kind of a complicated scene to explain but of course just as a lot of films in the genre, there is a case of mistaken identity, I'm not exactly sure what the Chinese's fascination is with this concept but I won't bore you with trying to explain what's going on. Basically the old guy is a cop who thinks Jackie is a criminal. Jackie just escaped from the cop and ended up at this house where a young woman let him in to shower and get cleaned up. Turns out the woman is the daughter of the cop that he just fled from. She then gets home from the store and finds her house guest fighting with her father. Confusing huh? Good fight scene though.