Martial Arts

Since I was little, I have developed a liking for martial arts films. It’s probably due to my influence from attending a few martial arts classes during my childhood years. It’s a pity that my dad did not allow me to continue attending these classes as he thought it was too “dangerous” for me to go on. If I had stayed, then who knows what will become of me today?
I remember my kungfu sifu (master) was a young, Caucasian guy who knows how to speak fluent Cantonese. During my first week of class, he taught me a lot of skills such as kickboxing, punches, flips and the most interesting of them all, the “split”. I was really enjoying what I was learning but when my dad suddenly canceled my classes after one week, I was disappointed. The reason he made this choice was because he wasn’t happy seeing me doing the “split” as he thought it was dangerous for my body. Later, I was enrolled in karate classes but dropped out after a week due to the same reason. Ever since I quit martial arts classes, I noticed that every time I watched a martial arts film, I would feel excited.

My favorite martial artist is Donnie Yen, a famous martial artist/actor based in Hong Kong. I admire his style of being a mixed martial artist who possesses various kinds of martial arts skills: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Parkour, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Wrestling, Wushu, and Wing Chun. He has starred in a number of Hong Kong martial arts films but my personal favorites are “IP Man”, “Sha Po Lang” and “Legend of Chen Zhen”. “IP Man” is based on a true story about a martial arts master named Yip Man who was the first person to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun. I thought Donnie Yen portrayed his role very well because of his display of true Wing Chun skills in the movie.

Another personal favorite also starring Donnie Yen is “Sha Po Lang” or “Kill Zone”. Donnie’s martial arts skills impressed me the most in this film because his fighting scenes were really intense that I thought it was really awesome and exciting to watch.
Here is the awesome trailer:

In “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen”, Donnie played a role that was previously played and made famous by Bruce Lee. In this movie, Donnie plays Chen Zhen, a martial artist who disguises himself as a masked superhero (based on “The Green Hornet’s Kato) to defeat the evil and save the world.

After blogging today’s post, I feel really tempted to watch a martial arts film again because I have not seen one for a while. Maybe I’ll pop “IP Man” in the DVD player tomorrow night and relive the excitement over the fighting scenes.