Another nice piece by Dean Napolitano.
Kung Fu Jungle Director Says Movies Have Missed Strong Characters
Actors Performing Their Own Stunts Helped Make Kung Fu Popular
By DEAN NAPOLITANO
Oct. 30, 2014 6:31 a.m. ET


Donnie Yen, in a scene from ‘Kung Fu Jungle.’ EMPEROR MOTION PICTURES
Hong Kong kung-fu movies have taken a real beating in recent years. Moviegoers turned away from them in droves, China’s film industry took over, and the noticeable lack of fresh, young martial-arts stars has been evident.

Teddy Chen, director of “Kung Fu Jungle,” which opens this week, wants to bring back the thing that drew people to kung-fu movies in the first place: a strong character who audiences love.

“Can you remember the action scenes of Wong Fei-hung?” he says, referring to the real-life martial-arts master who came to prominence during the late Qing dynasty and has been popularized over the years in films and television series. “I don’t think so, but you remember the character,” Mr. Chen says. “If you build a good character, people will follow.”

In “Kung Fu Jungle,” Donnie Yen, Asia’s reigning action star, plays a martial-arts expert serving time in prison for accidentally killing an opponent. In an effort to gain his freedom, he agrees to help the police track down a serial killer targeting kung-fu masters.

Nestled inside this Chinese version of “Se7en” is a homage to Hong Kong action movies, with veteran kung-fu actors popping up in cameo roles. While not as famous as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the actors are familiar faces to fans of martial-arts movies. Some, like John Chiang, have careers dating back to the 1950s.

For decades, Hong Kong martial-arts films ruled the box office and their influence spread far beyond the city’s borders, spilling into other parts of Asia and around the world. Much of what made these movies popular was the fact that the actors performed their own stunts. “They all could fight by themselves,” Mr. Chen says. “No doubles.”

But modern movie technology and CGI has turned actors with little or no martial-arts training into sleek fighting machines. “All the great stunt choreographers have gone to Hollywood, so we are empty here,” Mr. Chen says. “We don’t have quality action kung-fu films.”

Write to Dean Napolitano at dean.napolitano@wsj.com