You won't be disappointed!

the audience applauded

A-maz-ing

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This documentary uses the term "martial arts" very loosely, as the main focus is on the Chinese martial art kung fu (with only a small part dedicated to Japanese director Akira Kurosawa,) while some major stars from karate and muay thai movies (specifically, Sonny Chiba and Tony Jaa) are not mentioned whatsoever. However, kung fu has been the prevailing martial art in cinema, and the main point seems to be a historical progression from the origin of martial arts movies to their use in today's American films. So, because the emphasis is on telling the story of how The Matrix and Face/Off (and more ridiculously, Charlie's Angels and Exit Wounds) came to use "martial arts", the gaps in history are forgivable. This incidentally also makes Samuel Jackson a fairly perfect narrator. The documentary progresses mainly through segments on each major kung fu icon in the history of cinema, and gives a fairly basic overview. If you have any prior knowledge of the history, there may not be a lot of information you don't already know. Also, John Woo gets his own segment in which he is called a "serious filmmaker." Please ignore this. While John Woo movies can be fun, he has no business being talked about in a movie about martial arts. Basically, if you're an American who wants to understand the history of kung fu in movies, or if you're wondering if there's any job Samuel L. Jackson won't say yes to, this doc is definitely worth checking out.

Obviously made for an American audience who are just discovering martial arts films. Any experienced fan will like the archive footage but wonder why Crouching Tiger features so heavily and so many other seminal films are missing or barely mentioned. I'm also curious why in such a high quality production, some films, such as Jackie Chan's Drunken Master look like they were taped off a TV. The footage of the Shaw's Studio was fascinating as were the interviews, especially by Raymond Chow on Bruce Lee. But Tsui Hark features too much and Steven Seagal is interviewed but none of his films are even mentioned, nor van Damme. So like the proverbial curate's egg, good in bits but could have been so much better.

The Art of Action (2002) is one of the better documentaries on martial arts movies but is certainly not as good as it could be. It features many interesting interviews from legends of the genre including Sammo Hung, John Woo, Lau-kar Lung, David Carradine and even producer Raymond Chow. One of the best aspects of this documentary is that it includes numerous film clips and other rare footage, all nicely remastered and shown in the original widescreen format. Samuel L. Jackson was perhaps not the best choice for narrating the film but does a solid job.The Art of Action is a nice introduction to the martial arts genre but is vastly incomplete. A nice history of the origins of martial arts film is given, from the Peking Opera influence through the Wong Fei Hung years. The film unbelievably glances over the genre's glory days of the 1970's and 1980's. Rather than exploring many of the legendary and popular films of the kung fu era, the documentary focus on a few (2 maybe) select films and actors. A chapter is given to Bruce Lee which provides some insight into his films and his impact on the genre. In a rare and interesting TV interview, a charismatic Bruce Lee explains his fighting philosophy. A chapter is also dedicated to Jackie Chan which discusses his career from his beginnings in the Peking Opera school to some of his more recent successes in the U.S. Not much time is given to the great Sammo Hung. Jet Li and legendary choreographer Yuen Wo Ping are also briefly mentioned. Some analysis was given to the career of director John Woo but was a little disappointing. They mentioned only in passing his classic Hong Kong bullet ballets and only showed clips from "Face Off" and "Mission Impossible 2." Much of the remainder of the film focused on modern movies, especially "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." The film dwells on it for over 6 minutes! The documentary wastes a lot of time by mentioning contemporary films influenced by the martial arts genre like "Charlie's Angels," "the Matrix" and even "Shrek". Inexplicably there is no mention of Steven Segal, Jean-Claude Van Damme or Chuck Norris and their real martial arts influenced Hollywood films.The Art of Action covers a lot of ground in only 90 minutes and does not get to go into much detail. Many classic films and legendary performers are not even mentioned in this documentary. There is no mention of actors like Hwang Jang Lee, Sonny Chiba, Dorian Tan, Alexander Fu Sheng or John Liu. There is also no mention of the independent film companies like Seasonal Films. The film was co-written by Keith Clarke and Christopher Sliney. The writing was not real strong and probably could have been done better by Richard Meyers or Bey Logan. As a huge fan of the martial arts genre I was a little disappointed in the Art of Action. I felt it was incomplete and deficient in telling the whole story of the martial arts genre. It gives a nice history and background to the genre but does not focus on the all the great films that made it a worldwide phenomena. The Art of Action is a nice introduction to the genre for novice fans but may be disappointing for die hard fans seeking more in-depth analysis.Film clips/Rare footage: 8/10 Depth/Analysis: 6/10 Overall: 7/10

If you want to know all about Martial Arts movies from the works of King Hu (whose films inspired Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) to the more famous Chang Cheh action pics to even modern day Jet Li movies this is it! A really great and well narrated (Sam Jackson) documentary that is the perfect primer for the genre. The only problem was the total absence of Jimmy Wang Yu who made quite a few really great Kung Fu movies (leaning towards the fantastic). He was the big deal before Bruce Lee moved in and then he started directing his own stuff in the 70's. His Master of the Flying Guillotine is one of the best Kung Fu movies out there. Besides that hiccup it's a ton of fun and seriously informative.