Australian action director and martial artist Antony Szeto (DRAGONBLADE) makes his live-action directing debut with WUSHU, a family action drama starring Sammo Hung as the father of two of five aspiring wushu competitors growing up together at a rural wushu academy in mainland China. It’s a modest coming-of-age tale with above average displays of contemporary wushu and sanda featuring the authentic talents of newcomers Wang Wenjie (SEVEN SWORDS), Liu Fengchao and Pheobe Wang. Although aimed at children, some parents may find a diversionary subplot involving the kidnap and trafficking of children too intense for younger viewers. Yet ultimately, the film presents a very positive message that kids could benefit from by depicting modern martial arts as a character and community-building way of life which is very much in line with the message presenter Jackie Chan has been conveying for years.
While “wushu” is the appropriate Mandarin term for all Chinese martial arts it is also the name for a non-contact sport in China that has roots in martial arts but in application is closer to gymnastics. It is China’s national sport and this film largely concerns itself with the sport of wushu, as opposed to traditional or combat wushu which Westerners know more commonly as kung fu (thanks to the Cantonese-speaking Bruce Lee). There is also a full-contact variant of wushu called sanda that’s similar to kickboxing and MMA. Tsui Hark directed a mediocre drama centered on this sport called XANDA. Sanda is represented to a lesser degree in Szeto’s film but there’s still some quality sparring involved that notably involves highly sophisticated throws.
This film was inspired by Antony Szeto’s visit to a rural wushu school in China back in 2003 while scouting for another film. Szeto had himself trained for three years in wushu at the Beijing Sport University in the late 1980s so he already had an affinity for the culture and community that was fostered at these boarding schools. The distinction is that students at this school grew up in less sophisticated surroundings than wushu students living in modern urban settings like Beijing.
As a result of Szeto’s inspiration and background, WUSHU is a refreshing depiction of a sadly fading culture in China of innocent and earnest youths from modest backgrounds dreaming of becoming like wuxia heroes of old to better themselves and the world around them. It’s a world away from the image of the tech-savvy and posturing, mop-haired kids of Hong Kong and other Chinese urban centers with their heads buried in video games, the internet and texting.
Martial arts movie legend Sammo Hung plays an aging wushu instructor who now coaches his two sons Li Er (Wang Yachow) and Li Yi (Wang Wenjie). As preadolescents, the two boys are introduced to a new wushu school where they become close friends with several other students. Rather than focus on their training, Szeto steers us towards their bonding as they form the “Jing Wu Men” club while pretending to be martial arts heroes from wuxia stories.
Incidentally, the club’s title is the original Chinese name for Bruce Lee’s second martial arts movie FIST OF FURY (1972). “Jing Wu” refers to the real martial arts association that Lee’s character belonged to.
I had anticipated seeing a lot of training sequences in this film, as if this might be similar to any number of Hollywood sports films but there is none apart from some establishing group shots and infrequent references to learning difficult moves. The first act concentrates on the friends’ bonding while the second and third acts focus on the competition and two subplots. One involves Ke Le (Tie Nan), a former student now working as a human trafficker who plots to kidnap two young students. The other centers on a female student named Fong Fong (Phoebe Wang) who struggles to decide whether or not to abandon the rest of the competition to accept an offer to become a stuntwoman. This latter subplot allows for some interesting scenes depicting the construction of action sequences for fictional films.
The only real action in the movie takes place after the first hour as the kidnapping plot unfolds. Here, Sammo Hung comes to the rescue with Wang Wenjie and Liu Fengchao for an elaborate outdoor fight with the villains.
Fight choreography was overseen by Szeto himself who has a background in stunt work in addition to his martial arts training. Behind-the-scenes video on Lionsgate’s DVD release reveals that Sammo Hung had some input as well.
The fight work is a mixture of authentic wushu, wirework and stylized Hong Kong “screen fu.” It’s reminiscent of some of Jet Li’s early films where wires are used sparingly and emphasis is placed on dynamic wushu performances with high-impact striking. Wire use is noticeably over-exaggerated, especially on knockbacks. Cuts are moderately heavy but there is a fair degree of diversity in how the sequence is put together.
It’s a minor gripe but I have a problem with Wang Wenjie’s character making an easy transition to street fighting because it was never established that he could do anything but solo wushu sets. In contrast, his friend as played by Liu Fengchao is a sanda fighter. But this is a kids’ movie while the lines between performance wushu and practical street fighting have been blurred in Chinese martial arts movies since the 1980s so why start complaining now, right? My dissatisfaction stems from a preconceived notion that WUSHU was going to take its wushu action seriously, like a boxing drama. Without this expectation I believe the film’s action can be better enjoyed due to the creativity of the choreography and the dynamic physical skills of Wang Wenjie and Liu Fengchao. Neither of them impresses much with their limited acting but their kung fu is very good. Szeto seems to be grooming Wang for stardom as he is now working on a new sci-fi action feature with him. Wang is going to need to seriously develop some personality on screen because in this film he’s almost nonexistent until the fighting starts. He should take a lesson from Jacky Wu Jing, another wushu artist-turned-martial arts star who has been struggling for over a decade to find his way as a lead.
Sammo Hung gets in on the action as well. Sadly, his character is doing things a man of Sammo’s age and girth should not be capable of and it doesn’t look credible. I much prefer to see Sammo at this age doing more grounded and efficient fighting as he’s been doing in recent TV series such as WING CHUN. Putting him on wires or having him knock other people around on wires just looks inappropriate unless in the context of a fantasy film.
WUSHU is a solid start for Antony Szeto. The wushu and sanda action is nicely choreographed with strong physical performances from the young leads. Production assets are utilized well. Szeto’s underlying theme that the moral decisions one makes early in life can have a strong impact on the future is effectively conveyed. Yet the film has a hard time of deciding whether it’s a coming-of-age wushu drama or a crime actioner. Personally, I wanted to see a grounded drama that takes a serious look at wushu, be it geared for kids or adults. We have plenty of routine kung fu-crime actioners already made but very few have tried to make a serious, dramatic wushu or kung fu movie without fantasy action or tired plot devices and none have succeeded in a way anywhere near comparable to Hollywood’s greatest sports dramas. Still, without expecting too much in the way of realistic wushu or full-on action the film can be quite enjoyable. I can definitely recommend this movie for family viewing and as a light, dramatic primer on the sport of wushu.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
Antony Szeto • Liu Feng-chao • Sammo Hung • sanda • Wang Wenjie • wushu • Wushu (2008)
