Jackie Chan because his choreography is the most creative. I appreciate his stunts, homage to many of the great comedians of the silent age, but most of all the creativeness of his choreography. He also has some great classic films. Jet Li still hasn't really trumped his work from the Once Upon a Time in China series. Donnie Yen, is good but doesn't seem to be overly creative, or able to act when it's not a cool action scene.
Jet Li itoo much about the typical 'Hollywood-ish' quick-cut style of filming fight scenes, which actually nullifies a lot of what he is capable of doing and displaying. You typically never see long intense one-cut fight scenes with him like you have in the past with Chan and especially with Yen. Li also indulges in far too much silly over-the-top wire-fu types of fights, which again tend to nullify his actual talent. Chan in his younger days had a wider range, and was actually capable of being a badass or even a villain (Dragon Fist - he played the tortured grim badass hero without a lick of humor to the character... and To Kill With Intrigue, one of the few films where he played the clear-cut villain). His fight scenes were more about the kung-fu exhibition than about coming up with increasingly amazing stunts. Yen, though, seems to have specialized much more in the grim, quiet hero, with a few exceptions such as the semi-comic turn in Iron Monkey. Yen is also still very much all about the physical prowess mostly grounded in physical reality, which is why his fights in Ip Man are so satisfying, especially when he was in amiable 'duels' in his home. Collin Chou has a very good presence - he was Seraph in the Matrix and played the bad-guy general in Forbidden Kingdom, and frankly we saw far too little of him in both. He needs to do something that will hit more mainstream here in the U.S. I have to give special mention to Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Lau also carries a great screen presence, but one of my particular favorites has been Kaneshiro. He has that sort of Harrison Ford-like roguish quality to him, such as in House of Flying Daggers and The Returner. Lau of course has been getting a TON of work, but not a lot has been hitting this side fo the ocean, and the versions we DO get are, well, sucky. The Red Cliff version on DVD I saw wasn't much of a fun movie, it seemed to be primarily about how terrible war is, and yeah we get it. But at least it has Li, Lau and Kaneshiro all in the same flick. Anyway, there are lots of high-quality performer out there, Sammo Hung is always a very strong presence of course, but the missing third of the group consisting of Chan, Hung and Biao (spelling?), I always wanted to see more of those movies they did together, because from the clips I saw, the choreography looked really good, but for whatever reason, Biao never seemed to be able to get his face on screens or DVDs over here. Even Stephen Chow can carry some cool weight in a movie, as the coolest part of Kung Fu Hustle was after he had transformed into the Bruce-Lee-type badass at the end. Would like to see more of that and less of the silly clown stuff. Yeah, I likes me mah Kung Fu movies...
yea but outside of pure action junkies no one knows who Tony Jaa is.... and based on his actiing skills and langage barrier I dont think we will see him in any roles here..
Those who think Donnie Yen's skills are limited check this out. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-j9yWnwIEoY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-j9yWnwIEoY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
I voted Jet. But I think Jason Scott Lee would murder all three of those guys. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story <----- epic win
Jackie Chan best kung fu, biggest star, biggest movies (in both asia and US), most interesting personality and had an extraordinary childhood
Have you guys not seen SPL? Ip Man?? Ip Man 2?? Jackie Chan has gone soft as a girl's tampon... Donnie Yen easily is the best screen fighter working today.. He doesn't do those corny ass movies like Shanghai noon, Rush Hour or the Tuxedo... And Jet Li?? Yeah in the 90's maybe... Check out his new trailer for his movie and you tell me who is the best screen fighter working today.. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B24p6Pum-iM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B24p6Pum-iM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
You guys should really watch more international films donnie yen would whoop Jet Li's tale easily. Jackie chan is more of a ballerina. he is skilled, no doubt but he is more of a fighter who dances his moves. Jackie knows this, he admited it (its why i use the word ballerina because it is what he said about himself and Zhang ziyi. On top of this Jackie relies on his comedy, not that I fault that, love his movies. Tony Jaa needs to be added as he will be a future star in this industry. This coming from a guy who has 3 binders worth of DVD's (not changing those to blu rays cause frankly its expensive) each binder being about 40-60 sleeves of movies. One binder being dedicated to Jet li and Jackie. Love these three choices but Dyen my favorite overall.
Exactly, and Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa needs to be in a movie as quickly as possible.. Oh and if we're talking about the history of kung fu films, just check out the Shaw brothers library, that's history for you right there.. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/47PtCeREAhM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/47PtCeREAhM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
Legend. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cI1AwZN4ZYg?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cI1AwZN4ZYg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> Legend Movie. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SgOtOHUcjAM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SgOtOHUcjAM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
