chenlung wrote:You can't win
.
For me, all those directors win!
Lau Kar Leung and Sammo to me are pretty much "flawless" action directors when they're on form. Yes LKL's fight sequences are quite grounded, and I completely agree about the limitations of some of his main stars, but if anything it's a testament to hs skills as a director that he could make fairly "strong" (read: not special) screen fighters out of the likes of Wang Yue and Fu Sheng, although he couldn't make strong actors out of them!
But I couldn't disagree more that LKL's style didn't always suit cinematic form, some of his fights are incredibly cinematic - particularly in Heroes of the East - his use of composition, space, perspective, and camera movement to emphasise speed and power was second to none (just watch how he uses the depth of frame and constantly moves the camera about in the sai/dagger fight in Heroes of the East, or how beautifully shot the duel between Kurata and Lau Kar-fel in the field of scarecrows. For clever use of space there's the ever-tightening alleyway fight in Martial Club), and the subtle complexity of his choreography was matched by the fluidity of the editing. LKL new exactly how to create a smooth, fluid action sequence and did so to excellent effect in most his films. Also, the man was a weapons god, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter has some of the most intense pole fights in screen history, and I don't think it is too much of an exaggeration to claim that 8 Diagram, along with Heroes of the East and Legendary Weapons of China, form the greatest "weapons" trilogy of all time. Of course, just about any film where he personally faught on screen with a weapon is worth watching just for that alone. Incidentally, I've always felt that his brief cameo as a drunken boxer in Heroes of the East was the finest representation of that style ever committed to celluloid.
Sammo's style is pretty similar, he was obviously heavily influenced by LKL. He too knew how to move the camera and use the full 2.35:1 frame, and his editing was as good as LKL's, but the big difference was that he emphasised power over technique, and he worked with a very talented crew of screen fighters. I've always felt Sammo was the greatest screen puncher in screen history, but I don't think anyone has ever directed harder hitting fight sequences than Sammo, before or since.
Yuen Wo Ping was more about the inventiveness and making his fights as unconventional as possible. His sense of rythmn was as good as anyone's, and of course he's also as good with wire work as anyone.
Writing all that has made me tempted to put in a review copy request for the DD release of Heroes of the East now!
