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Directed by: Keith Clarke Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, a number of Hong Kong film industry greats 2002’s The Art of Action is a feature length documentary about Hong Kong martial arts films enthusiastically hosted by Samuel L. Jackson. Both accessible enough for newbies to the genre and containing some tasty rare footage for long time fans, it is a fascinating look at one of the world’s most interesting indigenous film industries. Tracking the history of the genre, from the destruction of the Shaolin Temple, to Peking Opera, the silent film era, and the Shaw Brothers, The Art of Action also takes a closer though sometimes brief look at other subjects such as actors Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, directors Chang Cheh and John Woo, the cinematic legacy of Wong Fei-hong, the role of women as action stars and the international impact of TV’s Kung Fu in the 70’s and Crouching Tiger in 2000. And I hope you like that last film a lot, because your gonna see quite a bit from it. The Art of Action does take a balance of being in depth and providing a basic overview of subjects for viewers. This means that while there’s some very interesting things to be learnt, other subjects aren’t given as much detail and some are pretty much glossed over, such as a “profile” on Jet Li that is pretty much only a montage of fight scenes. However, the main shortcoming to the documentary that I’m sure will be a cause of annoyance to many, and since I saw this on DVD I’m not sure if it was a problem in the original broadcast or an authoring oversight, is the lack of captions to identify the people in the interviews! While folks such as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung are easy to identify, it is others that have received less exposure such as Corey Yuen or one of the many directors whose lack of identification leave the viewer confused at who they are and what authority they have to talk on the subject. This lack of captioning also affects the film clips being shown during the documentary. While this is a lesser oversight than the above as many are quite short, it still proves a point of frustration when a particularly compelling looking movie that you’d like to find is presented without identification and thus without a title. But these oversights are a small misstep in what in the end is very rewarding documentary that will appeal to all kung fu film fans, whether you’re just picking up the genre or have invested some time to following it. A made for cable documentary, it is also available on DVD from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment. It doesn’t seem to have an IMDB link so I’ll just link to a Kungfucinema.com review that I cribbed some things from. 4.5/5 PROS: A fascinating look at the history of Hong Kong martial arts films with some compelling rare footage. CONS: Annoying lack of interviewee identification captions. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.kungfucinema.com/reviews/artofaction.htm
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May 5, 2004 04:37
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 10:11 |
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