The Art of Action (2002)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Keith Clarke and Christopher Sliney
Directed by Keith Clarke
Hosted by Samuel L. Jackson

Features

• Trailers
  

Rating: NR, suitable for most audiences

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Rent it.

Kung fu has been thrilling audiences for decades, longer than most American audiences appreciate. Beginning with Peking Opera and leading straight up to the latest from Jackie Chan or Jet Li, the genre has a rich tradition that spans over a century of entertainment. The Art of Action aims to educate audiences unfamiliar with the roots of their favorite chop-socky flick on how kung fu theatre came to be, and who the trailblazers were that forged ahead despite lack of funds, government prosecution, and personal tragedies galore. Host Sam Jackson keeps things rolling throughout, leading viewers from decade to decade and film to film. Interspersed throughout are clips from hundreds of films ranging from old silent flicks to The Matrix.

The story told here is a fascinating one that begins with the persecution and destruction of the Shaolin Temple more than a century ago. With only a tiny handful of escapees, there was a real danger that the ancient arts of Shaolin would be lost forever. In order to avoid this, the masters immediately set out to find pupils. One of them tumbled to the brilliant idea of teaching the acrobatic martial techniques to the premiere entertainment venue of the age: Peking Opera performers. Already full of jumping, tumbling, acrobats, the traveling opera performers were naturals for the demanding physical nature of Shaolin kung fu.

The other escapees from the burned temple found disciples, training one-on-one to pass on their knowledge. One of these trainees was to become the most legendary figure in Chinese history (and incidentally the subject of several dozen films): Wong Fei Hong. Portrayed most recently by Jet Li in the Once Upon a Time in China film franchise, Wong Fei Hong eventually led a rebellion that re-established the Shaolin society and cleared a great deal of government corruption at the same time. This legendary kung fu master eventually took his own pupils, and the unbroken line of master and disciple leads directly into some of the most famous kung fu movie stars and directors in the genre, who in a bizarre twist of recursiveness, set about making movies about the man who was (at least indirectly) their master.

These two lines of escapees from the destroyed Shaolin temple have now converged in the action stars of the past few decades. On the side of the Peking Opera, performers like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung were trained from their early childhood for the wild acrobatics and physical demands of the Opera’s unique blend of kung fu and tumbling. On the side of “pure” kung fu, the disciples of Wong Fei Hong have become directors and stars, producing such martial artists as Jet Li and Donny Yen.

This documentary is teeming with quality information for both newbies and the properly initiated kung fu junkies. Unless you’ve done quite a bit of studying on the subject, there’s a slew of data here that’s likely to be news. The writing is tight and well-paced, and the interviews with creators and talent are fascinating. Jackson’s narration keeps things moving and engaging as well. All in all, this is a well-produced docu that keeps its subject matter at the forefront and never fails to take it seriously.

It’s a bit disappointing that there are no real features to speak of on the disc. Some of the interviews conducted were bound to include a good bit of footage that wasn’t used in the documentary itself, and it would have been great to see more of it. A filmography would have been fantastic, to summarize all these films and point viewers in the right direction if they want to see all the films that Tsui Hark has made, or how many flicks Jackie Chan has starred in and what their titles are. Likewise, some of the footage excerpted for the documentary is from films that are essentially unavailable in any format, so having it on there as an extra would have been sweet.

As it stands, though, the documentary is well worth a rental for anybody even passingly curious about the kung fu film genre. It might spark an interest in seeing more, particularly in those that have only been exposed to either weak American derivatives or the dregs of the genre that were serialized on TV as Kung Fu Theatre. For a die-hard fan, this one might be worth keeping, but a few decent extras would have put that argument to rest before it started.