Comments on: ‘Taishan Kung Fu’ premieres in China

By: simian33

simian33 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:40:53 +0000

Even though there is undercranking at least you are still able to see skills and moves of the martial artists and that you are able to see that it is them delivering the moves.

i agree slow motion is getting tiring and should only be used appropriately, something like the matrix reloaded and revolution killed the choreography by using it during every move.

The film looks quite promising for raw fighting its just a shame that hong kong is not releasing hardly anymore of these films like they used too, to watch films with raw fighting you have to look else where e.g. Thailand and vietnam.

Check out Jeeja Yanin's (Chocolate) new trailer (Raging Phoenix) on Youtube it looks amazing and backs up my above statement.

By: GoldenPigsy

GoldenPigsy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:08:10 +0000

Undercranking is unnecessary, but nowhere near as annoying as the stupid slow motion-normal fps-slow motion crap that's in every action movie these days. I think that lame effect looks far worse than the undercranking, which isn't really any worse than many of those early nineties Hong Kong films that abused that technique.

That said, the choreography looks great.

By: simian33

simian33 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:40:53 +0000

By: GoldenPigsy

GoldenPigsy — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:08:10 +0000

That said, the choreography looks great.

By: dragonwire

dragonwire — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:21:41 +0000

I don't really care for this style of filming with slowed down shots, its like watching a fight and someone keeps pausing/slowmo it and unpausing it. I just wish they could of filmed naturally but in a fast convincing manner, not this weird way. I don't know maybe it just takes some time to get used to, but Im an old school fan and hard headed.

By: mistermjones2000

mistermjones2000 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:46:19 +0000

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my comment. I am honored to hear from you.

Michael Jones

By: darrinkemp

darrinkemp — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:10:31 +0000

Real skill undercranked as it is,is still preferable to slow fakery and the old lets train some guy for a month and call him a martial artist bull shit.Having said that, what I like is the whole”hey dude please stop being an asshole ” plot.Look foward to seeing this.

By: Mark Pollard

Mark Pollard — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:46:45 +0000

Hollywood action doesn't employ the degree of undercranking we're seeing in this montage, which is not unique at all. It's a common trick used by Hong Kong action directors but not usually done so blatantly. If this is the director's artistic statement I still believe that audiences outside of Asia will not be as receptive to it as they would have had the action been slowed down to a more natural pace. I also firmly believe that this level of artificial speed enhancement degrades and cheapens fight choreography, much the same way that heavy scene splicing does, which is the trick Hollywood films employ more often. I'll tell you what though, from now on I'll refrain from speaking on behalf of western viewers since I now know at least two of us disagree. ;)

By: mistermjones2000

mistermjones2000 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:19:37 +0000

Mr. Pollard, I hope I don't seem ungrateful and too disrespectful but I have to take exception with your prejudicial view of “western viewers”. Your views are usually insightful and intelligent and so this type of statement from you is very harmful to those of us “western viewers” who appreciate artistic expression in martial arts fights. What I believe is the problem with quality in the current market of martial art product is some “expert's” belief that people can be boxed in some category and pandered to. Artists should just “let it flow” and let viewers, western or otherwise decide what they like and how they interpret it. Thank you for your great work.
By the way, if the speed lines in the fights are being produced by this under-cranking–I love it! It seems to me to be very unique and adds to the beauty of the fight scene. I only hope others like it as well.