Movielogr
Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks (2019)
Directed by Serge Ou
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Overview
The fantastic story of how an ancient martial art, Chinese kung fu, conquered the world through the hundreds of films that were produced in Hong Kong over the decades, transformed Western action cinema and inspired the birth of cultural movements such as blaxploitation, hip hop music, parkour and Wakaliwood cinema.
Length 108 minutes
Actors
Alan Hofmanis | Alien Ness | Amy Johnston | Andre Morgan | Billy Blanks | Brian Camp | Brian Trenchard-Smith | Charlie Ahearn | Cheng Pei-Pei | Chin Siu Ho | Chris Poggiali | Christopher Doyle | Colin Geddes | Cynthia Rothrock | Danny Chan Kwok-Kwan | Danny Philippou | Diana Lee Inosanto | Don Wilson | Eric Jacobus | Eric Pellerin | Fab 5 Freddy | Frank Djeng | Geoffrey Stitt | Grady Hendrix | Hing Chao | Jacky Heung | Jade Leung | Jeff Imada | Jessica Henwick | Joe Cheung | JuJu Chan | Ken Swift | Lo Meng | Marco Joachim | Matthew Mallinson | Matthew Polly | Michael Jai White | Mike Leeder | Philip Ng | Ric Meyers | Richard Norton | Ridley Tsui | Robert Samuels | Ron Van Clief | Ross Boyask | Sammo Hung Kam-Bo | Scott Adkins | Sebastien Foucan | Soi Cheang | Terry Levene | Tim Kwok | Vaughan Savidge | Warrington Hudlin | Wilson Yip | Bruce Lee | Chuck Norris | David Carradine | Gareth Evans | Jackie Chan | Jimmy Wang Yu | Keanu Reeves | Margaret Thatcher | Michelle Yeoh | Nabwana I.G.G. | Run Run Shaw | Yuen Woo-ping
Viewing History (seen 2 times)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/14/2023 | TV | Streaming | Video on Demand | 6.5 stars |
| 09/22/2019 | Movie Screen | Digital | Theater | 7.5 stars |
| (Average) 7 stars |
Viewing Notes
Loses some of the sheen on the second viewing but I haven’t seen it since my screening at FF2019 and wanted to watch again. I don’t want to be hyper critical bc I understand the challenges of producing a doc like this one (about movies featuring filmmakers) having produced a similar doc. And even tho I wasn’t directly involved on a day to day basis I did get all the gory details of the production on the regular. It ain’t easy to make any movie of quality.
The quality here is very good; looks and sounds great w/good on-camera talent and solid clips and footage. So I won’t fault it for that. Let’s just say I wish there was more of some things and less of others. And the missing talking heads are sorely missed (all the Indonesian action stars, all the DTV action stars besides Don the Dragon and Rothrock, stunt and action directors, etc etc etc). I kinda recall Serge Ou discussing wanting other filmmakers but not being able to get them but honestly w/o commentary by Nunn, Florentine, Jesse V, and others I feel this missed the boat. All the history is *great* but it’s led us to this point where these dudes are creating some compelling action films DTV or not but that entire narrative is missing here. I’m just scratching the surface.
The inclusion the Australian YT guys is a misstep. Esp. in lieu of having a segment on DTV action given you have Scott Adkins right there! Again I don’t want to be overly critical bc these things are challenging to produce but there needs to be reason why some major stuff was excluded when time was given to unimportant aspects of the genre.
I hate that actors in the archive footage are added to TMDb like Michelle Yeoh and Jimmy Wang Yu when they were not interviewed. Like wtf is Margaret Thatcher credited??? I didn’t know that Jessica Henwick was in this as she wasn’t on my radar back in 2019 but she is awesome. I’d love to hear her entire interview segment. Same for Adkins and Cheng Pei-pei. Little surprised that BTS mispronounces Chang Cheh’s name.
Just looked up the DVD and there are zero extras on the disc. That is disappointing. There are hours of interviews just sitting there wasted. :(
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