Monday, April 18, 2011

Four Of The Greatest Kung Fu Movies

By Adriana Noton


They have engaged our enthusiasm and interest since we first saw them. Kung fu movies are well loved in North America, and there are lots of them to choose from. Perhaps a quick look at four of the best ones will help you decide.

No list would be complete without The Five Deadly Venoms, so that is where we shall start. Even people who don't much care for the genre love this film. Directed in 1978 by Chang Cheh, the story revolves around five renegade students and a sixth man tasked with bringing them to justice before their master dies.

The five bad pupils all use different forms of martial arts based on their particular specialty within the Poison Clan. The unique fighting styles of Toad, Lizard, Snake, Scorpion, and Centipede must each be overcome by the protagonist. The only problem is that while the protagonist is reasonable skilled in each of the five venom styles, he is not equal to any of the bad guys at their chosen specialty. For this reason he must show great cunning and adaptability if he is to survive against these men.

People who like Jackie Chan will most likely want to have a look at the Chinese actor's 1994 film The Legend Of Drunken Master. The tale of a Chinese man named Wong Fei Hung and his unwitting involvement in a bid to steal priceless artifacts is gripping and fun.

Many people consider this period of time to represent the absolute peak of Jackie Chan's acting and stunt work. As this film was released in the middle of the nineteen nineties it is a good counter argument to people who make the claim that nothing of value has come out of martial arts cinema since the 1970s.

Film number three would have to be the Sammo Hung classic The Magnificent Butcher. A comedy as well as a martial arts film, the story and the action are very engaging and a lot of fun. Some of the best fight choreography and acrobatics are in this one.

There's no way to talk about the greatest Chinese martial arts films without bringing up the absolutely most well known action star. Fists Of Fury, also released as The Big Boss, is the standard by which these films are judged. This is probably because Bruce Lee is just so amazingly watchable.

Many people consider this to be the film that propelled Bruce Lee into American stardom, though this is debatable. It is undeniably fun to watch, though. The film is concerned with a bitter feud between the students of a Chinese martial arts academy and those of a Japanese one. If you like flying kicks and fights with weapons, this is for you.

One man's quest to defeat five, a plot to alter Chinese historical data, school rivalry, and the legendary Bruce Lee should all be enough to convince you to watch these four kung fu movies. You can probably rent them at your local video store. Failing that, many places on the Internet have copies for sale.




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