Jackie Chan movies

[Crescent Pulsar R]

(Most of his movies were made in the East, but it was impressed upon me that things not made in the West, or had no cowboys and Indians in it, were okay. Yes, I'm not all that subtly pointing out an as-of-yet addressed issue I brought up two-plus weeks ago.)

Martial arts has been an interest of mine for a long time. It is arguably the best medium for expressing the potential of what the human body is capable of. The expression is what I'm most interested in, as opposed to its practical application. Which is to say that if I've seen one guy defeat an opponent because of having more skill, I've seen them all; and so I have. There has to be more to it than "I proved I'm better than you" to catch my interest.

That's a large part of the reason for why I like Jackie Chan movies, and don't much enjoy any others in the martial arts genre. See, martial arts movies often focus on the skills of the combatants, with their environment being purely circumstantial in most cases. Even when it's not, there's hardly ever anything to explore, or there's only one or two things that may be used to someone's advantage.

While Jackie Chan does a great job of showing what someone is capable of doing with only their body as the weapon, what I really like is what he does with his environment. I'm even more impressed by it because he puts his body and skills to the test to make it possible. Add in the comedy, which is my favorite genre, and it's a match made in heaven (for me, at least).

I don't really have a favorite movie. This is mostly due to the fact that the plots of said movies aren't all that attractive to me, for one reason or another. I mostly enjoy the fight scenes, and many of his movies have at least one memorable fight scene in them. I also enjoy the outtakes, and I'd watch a movie that had nothing but the outtakes from all of his movies.

[Lioconvoy]

Considering what they meant was explained, you can't use the whole non-cowboy debate.

Still movies such as Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, and his other American ones are acceptable for this forum. Personally though I perfer his eastern films. I'm not a big Cris Tucker fan, and the same for his co-star in the Shanghai series.

[Crescent Pulsar R]

Yes I can. As it is, the name of the forum and its description are too implicit in nature, not completely explicit. Because of that, people have to guess and/or assume where the boundary for what's acceptable -- as far as content is concerned -- lies. Either way, I only brought it up (and in parenthesis, like this) because I wanted to make a reminder, not start a discussion. You fool!

Anyway, that's the exact problem I'm talking about. It wouldn't make sense to discuss Jackie Chan movies by excluding most of them, even though most of them (if not all of them) are now available in English. I've been waiting for over two weeks to make this topic, to see if things would be made clearer, and I decided to just do it. Can't blame me for talking about films of Eastern origin when there's more to the world outside of anime and manga than whatever falls under "West(ern)."

As for his co-actors, I didn't much care for Chris Tucker, either. Mainly because of his voice. As for Owen Wilson... Eh. He was alright. The best co-actor was probably himself, though. ;p

[Lioconvoy]

...Isn't the movie where he's a twin one of his Eastern movies?

Owen Wilson is okay, but I'm not a fan of his other works. Still despite Wilson Shanghai Noon was still pretty good. Shanghai Knights, not so much.

[mondu_the_fat]

Which is to say that if I've seen one guy defeat an opponent because of having more skill, I've seen them all; and so I have. There has to be more to it than "I proved I'm better than you" to catch my interest.

That's a large part of the reason for why I like Jackie Chan movies, and don't much enjoy any others in the martial arts genre. See, martial arts movies often focus on the skills of the combatants, with their environment being purely circumstantial in most cases. Even when it's not, there's hardly ever anything to explore, or there's only one or two things that may be used to someone's advantage.

While Jackie Chan does a great job of showing what someone is capable of doing with only their body as the weapon, what I really like is what he does with his environment.

This only really applies to his later movies, starting, I think, with Armor of God. His early movies which he became known for _were_ all about pitting martial arts skill against his opponent's martial arts skill. Drunken Master, his most famous movie, was a very, very, VERY worn cliche about his master being killed then taking revenge, using the style passed down to him by said master.

"Yes. The Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. Wasn't he an actor when you...? "

But yes, the body of his work is comedic martial arts. He said it was a deliberate attempt to differentiate him from Bruce Lee and all the Bruce Lee clones that were proliferating during the time.

My favorite movie would be Drunken Master. But then, I was a kid when I watched that, so I might be remembering it with a bit of bias.



I think his movies with an american costars were inferior. I recently watched Rush Hour and I ended up reading a book in any scene that didn't have him fighting. The Tux was simply horrid. Shanghai noon/knights were weak. The Forbidden Kingdom was a disappointment; it should have been an awesome movie with 2 martial arts gods in it. The action was good, but the inclusion of the kid (with the story revolving around him) managed to suck all the life out of the film.

Too bad his movies will be less and less about him doing martial arts and more voice acting and dramas. I was kinda looking forward to Forbidden Kingdom to be some sort of last great martial arts movie before his age _really_ caught up to him. He's supposed to be doing another Armor of God movie, so that's currently my hope for his last great martial arts venture.

[talonhunter]

"As is the case with all action actors, it is sad to see when they no longer do the type of work they did so easily in their youth. Take Steven Seagal or Chuck Norris for example. They were raw skilled fighters in their youth, but now days, they are not as aggressive either. It sucks to get old sometimes, but man the experience that comes with it is amazing sometimes...

[Crescent Pulsar R]

Well, he's on his way to being sixty years old, so it's little wonder. Actually, considering how he does his own stunts, and all of the injuries he's had over his career, it's probably a miracle that he's been fairly consistent for this long.

It's been a while since I've seen Armor of God. I'll have to watch that one again. Still, hope another's in the works...

[talonhunter]

Aside from doing a sequel to he remake of The Karate Kid...^_^...but he is currently on tour singing with students from his Chinesse Oprah school, the lucky seven

[Lioconvoy]

While his acting crosses between east and west, his singing doesn't really. Except maybe on the special feature of Mulan where you here him sing "Be a Man" in chinese. I wouldn't mind hearing more of his stuff though.

[ckosacranoid]

i have to sa i have seen a fe of his movies here and there, his city hunter movie was amsuing, his other us based stuff..not so good. rumbler in the brox is one of the better ones i think. rush hour....blaaaaaaaa, i have not really watched his new stuff whole lot, i have one that has him as a race car driver thatis very cool..thunderbolt meybe.....
can not for get he was also in the cannonball run also..that was a very cool movie with him alomg all the star power....