The Jackie Chan Formula
Action directors take note:
Jackie Chan knows how to make an awesome fight scene better than anyone else in the world.
Better than Michael Bay, better than the Wachowski Brothers, and even better than Christopher Nolan. Yes, even with everything brilliant that Mr. Nolan did with Batman, his ability to direct a fight scene pales in comparison to Jackie Chan.
I recently had an excuse to revisit Police Force and Drunken Master II. And let me tell you, if the only Jackie Chan movies you’ve ever seen had Chris Tucker or Jennifer Love Hewitt in them, you have no idea how amazing Jackie Chan can be.
It may have something to with Hollywood insurance and that he’s no young buck anymore, but all of Jackie Chan’s masterpieces were made long before he became the Asian Nick Nolte.
Take a look at the fight scenes in films like Police Force, The Legend of Drunken Master
There are a couple of tricks that JC has figured out that make his fight scenes so awesome:
1. The Nice Guy. Jackie Chan’s characters are never stoic bad-ass kung-fu masters. They are basically Asian Jimmy Stewarts — nice guys that end up in a mess and try their darnedest to get out of it. This is immensely important, but action directors always miss this. A bad-ass kung-fu master eats ninjas for breakfast. He might as well just be playing croquet. A nice guy hates to fight, isn’t that great at it, and gets beat up a lot. He has to struggle to win. And watching a struggle is much more interesting than watching a croquet game.
This is exactly why Jackie Chan likes to make fun of himself. Bad-asses never look stupid, because then they stop being bad-ass. Jackie Chan makes fun of himself so we know he’s vulnerable, and fallible just like us. That way, when he does win a fight, it’s way more amazing.
may be the exception, but for the most part JC eschews the Hong Kong action practice of choreographing scenes with cables. It’s another one those things that helps to raise the stakes. Cables soften gravity. They make a fight scene feel like it’s happening on a trampoline. Take away the cables, and it feels like a world where gravity can introduce your face to a concrete floor. For the same reason JC likes to the play the nice guy he likes to leave out the cables. When your hero is vulnerable you care a lot more about him when he’s in danger.4. Clever tricks. This is one of the biggest innovations that JC has brought to action directing. A fight scene doesn’t just involve fists and kicks, but every movable and immovable object within the vicinity of the fight. Not only has revitalized the fight scene with this, but also covertly resurrected the brilliance of Gene Kelly. Check out Signing in the Rain and imagine all of the dance scenes were fight scenes. It’s basically just a Jackie Chan film (albeit at half speed).
5. The Cornered Animal aka Beet Face. This is the book-end to The Nice Guy. While JC always likes to play the nice guy, he’s always a nice guy that by the climax of the film is pushed to the boiling point. JC knows that if you start with an awesome fight scene you have to finish with an awesomer fight scene. The first fight scene will be the nice guy scrambling for survival, and final fight scene will be the nice guy transformed into cornered animal who destroys everything in his path. You can always tell when a JC movie reaches this point because his face turns bright red ( or purple in the case of Drunken Master 2) and he gets really, really pissed.
The final fight scene in Drunken Master 2 is a great example of all of thee above, and probably the greatest fight scene of all time. Please partake:
May 13th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
The odd thing about the timing of your post, is that the other night rush Hour was on and Chris and I got talking about why Jackie Chang works so well. A lot of the points you made were brought up . . . though not as articulately.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
great post. drunken master 2 is my favorite jackie chan film of all time! love all the fight scenes. the last one lasted forever!
in chris nolan’s defense, he wanted them messy and confusing, like a real fight. liam neeson even says “this is not a dance.”
May 28th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Thanks for the comments ohmgee. I follow the “messy and confusing” line of reasoning. It’s a theory that I’ve been mulling over for quite a while. While I understand the intent, I don’t think it works. I understand what it’s trying to do — realistically depict violence, but I don’t think real life-and-death struggles are confusing. Messy, yes, but if you’re fighting for your life, you’re going to have an intense concentration, and a salient clarity about the details of each strike and dodge.
Furthermore, from a practical storytelling, and pure enjoyment angle confusing fighting accomplishes nothing. It neither propels the story, nor gives you any fun. It’s just annoying and jarring.
A good example of a fight scene that is realistic and still legible is the final fight scene in Rashomon. It’s ugly, brutal and messy, but it’s never confusing.
March 6th, 2011 at 6:04 am
I wasn’t that big on Jackie chan until I saw the documentary ‘Jackie Chan: My Stunts’, (1999). I can’t recommend it enough. I think all artists should watch it to understand the high level of dedication it takes to be that great.
April 23rd, 2011 at 2:48 am
I agree jackie chan is a genius when it comes to choreography and just great smart action scenes loved all of jackies films except for the hollywood ones
September 15th, 2011 at 7:31 am
Just ran across your blog via twitter co-followers, and I’m loving it. Jackie Chan has always been my favorite HK action movie star, and I even found it in my heart to forgive his Hollywood dalliances for the kids.
Thanks for the info, advice, and cool artwork!