For those of you who enjoyed the two documentaries by Mark Hartley, Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008), Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010) or enjoyed watching American Grindhouse (2010)will probably enjoy this entertaining film about the kung fu/wuxia genre.
This documentary starts in silent era, moves quickly into 60's & 70's with names like King Hu, Cheh Chang, Bruce Lee, Gordon Liu etc.
80's & 90's dominates by names like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Tsui Hark and of course John Woo.
2000's with names like Donnie Yen, Stephen Chow etc and also what the future for this genre may be with films like Kung Fu Panda (2008)becoming box office hits.
The film also depicts the women who did kung fu films such as Pei-pei Cheng, Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock.
Critics may say that the documentary only deals with the biggest names, most well known, renowned films of this genre but this film serves its purpose as an brilliant introduction and summary.
The biggest flaw for this writer, is the lack of interviews & anecdotes that makes for example Mark Hartleys films so highly entertaining. But despite this I think anyone with interest for kung fu/wuxia films should see this.
This documentary starts in silent era, moves quickly into 60's & 70's with names like King Hu, Cheh Chang, Bruce Lee, Gordon Liu etc.
80's & 90's dominates by names like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Tsui Hark and of course John Woo.
2000's with names like Donnie Yen, Stephen Chow etc and also what the future for this genre may be with films like Kung Fu Panda (2008)becoming box office hits.
The film also depicts the women who did kung fu films such as Pei-pei Cheng, Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock.
Critics may say that the documentary only deals with the biggest names, most well known, renowned films of this genre but this film serves its purpose as an brilliant introduction and summary.
The biggest flaw for this writer, is the lack of interviews & anecdotes that makes for example Mark Hartleys films so highly entertaining. But despite this I think anyone with interest for kung fu/wuxia films should see this.