Dragon aka Swordsman aka Wu Xia

[GeneChing]

Cannes 2011 Review: WU XIA
Joshua Brunsting
by: Joshua Brunsting
May 16th, 2011
Rating: 3.5/5
Director: Peter Chan
Cast: Kara Hui, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Wei Tang

It's not every day that a martial arts film heads over stateside with as much hype as one that just played here in Cannes.

Awaiting a release from The Weinstein Company, WU XIA (a.k.a. SWORDSMEN or DRAGON) is the new martial arts action film from director Peter Chan, and action director/star, the iconic Donnie Yen. Featuring a relatively solid cast and a premise to absolutely die for, WU XIA has become one of the talks of the first half of this year's Cannes Film Festival, and for just reasons.

WU XIA stars Yen as the loving father Liu Jin-xi, who may be someone wholly different than the person he appears to be. With a dark past and even more mysterious martial arts skills, a detective/doctor and Jin-xi's former master go on the hunt to not only figure out just who the hell this man is, but also bring him to either justice, or a much bloodier end.

Clocking in at just shy of two hours, WU XIA is an action-packed martial arts film that feels about double that length. The biggest flaw with this film is that, while it may be an already trimmed down version, it still needs to get some work done from Harvey Scissorhands over at The Weinstein Company. Using a repetitive gimmick throughout the film (one that I won't spoil here because it does work for a while, but ultimately becomes a baseball bat being smashed into one's skull), the film simply feels a bit sloppy. It feels as though the film was cut, just to cut it, without knowing what truly needed to be left on the cutting room floor.

That said, this is still one hell of a fun film.

Chan is a gifted filmmaker when it comes to the film's dramatic aspects, giving the narrative a distinct and singular sense of rhythm and infusing it with some really solid comedy and emotional resonance. However, it's Yen's action direction that will be the most memorable. Featuring a trio of really solid fight sequences, the film utilizes one in particular, the opening, to great effect. The first act or so of the film is both a fight sequence, and then a replay of that fight as seen through the eyes of the detective, played wonderfully by Takeshi Kaneshiro. It's such a remarkable and really engaging use of time and space within the film that I could have stood to have seen this film broken into two short features, as that is very much what they feel like. Finishing with a duo of equally engaging action set pieces, the film sets up an interesting mythology in the latter half of the feature that pays off the mystery that the film opens with. Given a bit more cleaning up in the editing room, and this thing could be a real box office draw for the always cash-hungry Weinsteins.

Both Yen and Kaneshiro are great here, giving the film an intriguing game of cat and mouse to play off of for the first half. While the film's latter performances aren't fantastic, the emotional core here held up by Yen's character's wife, played by Wei Tang, steals every scene. Not given much to say, Tang has this great ability to emote with only her face, allowing her to play as the WU XIA's center. Overall, while this is an action film, there is much more here than meets the eye.

That all said, while WU XIA is definitely a mess, it's out of this mess that an action-packed and emotionally resonante action film is born. Giving the Croisette a taste of something riding a bit harder on the throttle, WU XIA is a film that will be a welcome addition to anyone's martial arts film collection. It's a stylish actioner that doesn't mind having a sense of humor in the most thrilling way possible.

We'll have to see the un-Weinstein-edited version, won't we?

[Jimbo]

I definitely feel that when it comes out on DVD, it should also include the unedited version, too. I don't like it when American distributors think they know what parts of Asian films I should or shouldn't see.

[GeneChing]

but a good interview...

[Cannes Interview] ‘Wu Xia’ Director Peter Chan and Actor Donnie Yen

One of the highlights of my trip here in Cannes was walking aboard a million dollar yacht and interviewing martial arts icon Donnie Yen along with filmmaker Peter Chan, who directed Donnie in his latest film Wu Xia, or Swordsmen (our review here). Based on the classic wu xia style of films, a genre of Chinese fiction focusing on adventures of martial artists, made extremely popular by the prolific Shaw Brothers studio, the film is a perfect example of the unique and exciting cinema that could only come from China. Both Donnie and Peter were very gracious in explaining the challenges they faced in making this film, along with what makes their Wu Xia stand out above the rest.

The Film Stage: What inspired you to make this classic style of Wu Xia film?

Peter Chan: We actually tried to return to the old glory of the 1960’s and 1970’s martial arts film by the Shaw brothers, so in a way we were both big fans of that kind of film. It was from that starting point that we decided to do this and it was the first time in any of my previous development process that actually an idea like that or a style comes before the story, the script and the characters because most of my other projects have been densely plotted. And all the characters were multi-lead which takes 2 and a half hours just to get the story straight and we don’t really get to play with style and camera and fighting style, so this is a first time that we get to do it the other way around. The content is servicing the style rather than what it usually is.

What is it about that style traditionally that appeals to you?

PC: I think that the key is that there is a certain charm and magic to old martial arts film. It’s traditional; it’s something about how people can do something that is humanly impossible. In a way it’s like a superhero movie. I always related to not just superhero movies, but sometimes even gangster movies or sometimes even crime movies in a way where we can do things that we wouldn’t normally do in real life. We could have the power of ten hundred times beyond what we could usually do. It’s a great feeling that if you get bullied and suddenly there are a hundred people behind you backing you up or you are Superman or Batman or whatever. I think in a way when we grew up as kids that’s the thing that…I mean I was very nerdy and small kid when I was young, so I think that sort of has something to do with it. It’s a sense of empowerment but at the same time because of the last 40 years, people keep doing the wu xia genre, the martial arts genre and we have to keep reinventing our self to make the audience happy who keeps wanting for more. Then we become more powerful and from straight shots comes choreography to cutting shots like 1 second, 2 second, shots that show the power. And then we start using trembling and out of that comes special effects, then the art of wu xia. So that art is gone and is substituted by special effects. Although there are a lot of great experiments in that genre and very great successes but it became totally at a world, for a kid, like myself, or when I was younger, or even now, who keeps asking questions about logic and its completely defined by any human possibility. So it’s actually an interesting irony that was what attracted me to genre, but that’s also something that got me, as I grew up, just got me more and more inquisitive and I started to not believe it. What happened was then I decided maybe we should go back to the origin of it but at the same time ground the possibility. Working with Donnie is a must for this film not just as an actor or as a martial artist, but more importantly as a partner in directing the movie because he directs all the action sequences. His action has also been the most powerful and it’s always been humanly possible. He never attempts to do things that completely defies logic, but at the same time you want to have another side to the classic wu xia genre. We decided to go into the anatomy, go into the medical aspect of it and I came across a Discovery channel documentary one day that shows a sniper shooting a bullet into a human body and it was completely CGI. It’s slow motion and depicts every step of the way how that bullet destroys a body and how it enters your vein, how it cuts though a certain body tissue and how it ultimately leads to heart failure and results in death.

The film deals with a character who undergoes a dramatic transformation. Since you have had such a transformative career these past 10 years, was that something that attracted you particularly to this project?

Donnie Yen: No. The name Peter Chan attracted me. I have always been a fan of Peter’s movies. I remember at the press conference I mentioned maybe 16-17 years ago, in Hong Kong in a hotel lobby, Peter was waving to someone, and I saw him and introduced myself to him. He knew who I was but I was never in his actors list. I introduced myself to him and said “I love your movies.” Deep inside I was wishing that he can cast me and then many years went by and we came across a project, bodyguards and assassins to be filmed and then one thing led to another and we built a relationship. He talked about directing a film and all these years I’ve been waiting for it.

There are lulls in the action in this film, were you ever worried that you might lose the audiences attention?

PC: I try to be innovative and try to be ground breaking in my movies whether acting or action directing, that is just my motive. I remember how some of the industry people and the people around me discussing, when you don’t see dinosaurs in Jurassic Park for 30 minutes and then it builds up to expectation and it finally appears, that’s really exciting. That’s why we had enough going in the beginning, where we had that little scene which I thought was masterful choreography. Then we also came to what we call the reveal, which is the revelation of what actually happened and what actually didn’t happen, but the imagination of Kaneshiro’s character. That was so perfect in a way that I thought we should just keep it at that and leave everything until Donnie is revealed, his character, when he fights with his stepmother in the plaza. Then its almost like that’s what the audience has been waiting for. It’s never been done and done well. For years I really wanted to escalate the standard of at least the audience point of view. All martial art films, you know all you see is a bunch of action but then to me, I think a good martial arts should be a good film itself, but then you got to find the right director and script. That’s when I was really excited to be able to work with him because I know he will bring everything together and escalate the whole genre.

[GeneChing]

from previous post

Do you ever actually physically get beaten up?

DY: There that a shot and we were working with this camera and its 500 frames per second. There were a bunch of people that operate it and you have to playback. It has six or seven seconds play back and the whole reel is gone by the time you do playback. It really depends on when the guy pressed the button because sometimes you push the buttons two seconds too late, you will get the playback just before it hits. Then the playback doesn’t mean anything. We are trying to catch the most realistic impact. You keep hitting and the guy is almost spitting out blood and we still only got the first 4 seconds of the whole shot. We are in the other room watching the playback and we hear this loud punch. You have to understand that these martial art films are very unique in Hong Kong. One of the reasons we emphasized the person doing martial art themselves which is different from Hollywood films. When I choreograph a fight scene for example, while getting hit or hitting the person, I’m trying to cross the line of bringing the most realistic effect. So that particular close-up shot, I ask my assistants to really hit that person, most of them are martial artists and start off as stunt men. It’s a scene where his tooth falls out and he understood what was about to happen. It was pretty intense. We told him you got to take it for real because that is the only way we can do it in one take. We can’t repeat it because I don’t want to repeat the shots. I’m experienced enough to not hurt the person. I asked my stunt guy to hit the person getting hit. I asked Peter to rent the most expensive camera. Thank God it wasn’t me. In the other room I heard the sound and knew we got the take. We were happy and then we saw that the person who was supposed to push the button didn’t push it so we had to redo the shot again. When I started off in the business I was the one getting hit, but now I’m the one hitting other person. It’s part of the job. It’s not as barbaric as people think. Its formal arts and you have to be experienced as an action director and always watching out for safety. None of our actors got injured and safety comes first. I only chose to have that person getting hit determined by whether that person is physically capable of withstanding the impact. I will always try to push the barrier.

How do you hope American audiences will react to Wu Xia?

PC: Foreign films are tough anywhere and there is always a cycle where every ten years something happens. I don’t think we can rely on the fact that Asian film will continue to do well, but I think each film needs to find a hook and for this particular film, I’ve done this many times and learned it in the hard way. Most of my films are very densely plotted. When a film doesn’t work anywhere, its not the problem of the audience, its just whether you find the right audience. When you have a two and a half hour film filled with dialogue, then it is content over style. For foreigners it is not dialogue its subtitles, its like reading a novel. How do you expect the mass audience to go see it? Now the cost of marketing movies is extremely high and expensive and that will never change. The Weinstein Company is great at marketing, but Harvey is also the one that drives up the prices of distributing a movie.

Where does that leave this film?

PC: There’s a niche somewhere and I can’t say that I made it because this could go international but at least as a martial arts fan, I think this is something I would want to see and I think that the Chinese audience would be very excited about. If the western audience thinks they have seen movies like this, we have seen 10-20 times more and are still watching them. At least this is something that could give more and we invigorate the genre at least in China and I hope in the process, we can find an international audience. That would be great.

How do you feel about this subject based on what Peter was saying?

DY: Each film we create, I do a sense of style and flavor itself, especially Peter’s film. When we worked together before, we talked about finding a subject, telling a story where you can cross over to a mass audience instead of just the martial art fans and I think we have great potential based on the reviews. I was very proud to be part of this film and I hope it does cross over. It will be the perfect vehicle to expand.

PC: I think all cinema needs is new ideas and I was texting Donnie after our last movie because I knew he wanted to do something that would reach out to a bigger audience internationally and that film has no comparison to this one at all, but that film was District 9. Yes, that film is in English and not made within the studio system, and it’s a film that’s set in South Africa. We got to find a story that takes a genre in a completely new direction that you thought, “oh my God, the first 10 minutes is a Steven Spielberg movie condensed into 10 minutes of Newsweek and then the story begins.” It’s just amazing. We should try to find something that is actually from the genre that people are familiar with, but you got to find a new angle.

One of the things left in my mind after the film ended was that you were actually making an origin story for a remake of The One Armed Swordsman. Is there any credibility to that?

PC: There were a lot of speculations when we were getting ready to make the movie and the Chinese press kept asking if we are actually making The One Armed Swordsman and that was before we even asked Jimmy Wong to be in the movie because we are both big fans of the One Armed Swordsman and I kept denying it and when we were shooting the movie because we got Jimmy here. Then we were developing the script and improvising as we go, just before we shot the ending I said Donnie, “what are you going to do with the ending with the action?” We looked at Jimmy and he said, “why don’t we chop your arm off?” I think it’ll be a great homage to your film. The two of them were trying to figure out how to chop off the arm. There was no CGI involved.

DC: I will say this, I give a lot of credit to Jimmy Wong, because it is really difficult to fight with one arm!

[GeneChing]

Wu Xia sets out Asia battle plan
Wu Xia sets out Asia battle plan
By Patrick Frater
Mon, 20 June 2011, 21:26 PM (HKT)
Distribution News

Wu Xia (武俠), the martial arts detective film that premiered in Cannes, will start its commercial career in China and unspool across Asia throughout July (see table, below).

The Peter Chan (陳可辛) directed film starring Donnie Yen (甄子丹), Kaneshiro Takeshi (金城武) and Tang Wei (湯唯) will open on 4 July in China through investor and co-producer Stellar Megamedia, shortly before outings in Indonesia and Australia and New Zealand.

The film was widely pre-sold last year within the region and to France's TF1 on the strength of the director and cast. But it took until May this year for producer/distributor We Pictures/We Distribution to close a deal with The Weinstein Company for the rest of the world.

The story sees the quiet lives of a paper-maker (Yen) and his wife (Tang) disrupted when an unorthodox detective arrives in their village looking for clues into the surprising deaths of two bandits.

WU XIA — ASIAN DISTRIBUTION DATES
China 4 July Stellar Megamedia
Indonesia 7 July P.T. Teguh Bakti Mandiri
Australia/NZ 7 July China Lion
Singapore 21 July Golden Village (on behalf of Luxuries Resources)
Malaysia 21 July Golden Screen (on behalf of Luxuries Resources)
Taiwan 22 July Applause Taiwan
Thailand 28 July Sahamongkolfilm
Hong Kong 28 July UA Films

No dates on the rest of the world

[SimonM]

No dates on the rest of the world

It will start turning up in Chinatown DVD stores probably on Jul. 3.

[GeneChing]

Another good interview from Napolitano

June 24, 2011, 10:11 AM HKT
Donnie Yen: The Last Action Hero
By Dean Napolitano

Donnie Yen kicks his way to the top of his profession in director Peter Chan’s ‘Wu Xia.’

For three decades, Donnie Yen has kicked, punched and jumped his way up the rankings of martial-arts movie stars. “Wu Xia,” which opens next month, shows why he’s the genre’s current grand master.

“I think at a creative level I am at a peak,” says Mr. Yen, who’s vaulted to the top of A-list Asian actors in recent years, joining the ranks of legendary martial-arts stars Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.

Superstardom came late for Mr. Yen, who turns 48 years old this year. Back in the 1980s, when he started out, Hong Kong action movies were “like the wild west—guerrilla filmmakers, anything goes,” he says. “Those were the primitive days. Back then we didn’t really have the budget. Nowadays, safety comes first.”

After appearing in dozens of movies and television shows, he made leading-man turns in 2008’s “Ip Man” and its sequel—both based on the life of the 20th-century Chinese martial-arts master of the same name—that kicked his career into high gear.

In “Wu Xia,” from director Peter Chan, Mr. Yen plays a repentant killer living in a secluded village whose past catches up with him. The movie, set at the end of the Qing Dynasty in the early 20th century, cost $20 million and premiered last month at Cannes.

Mr. Yen spoke with The Wall Street Journal on the set of “Wu Xia.”

With action sequences, how much is preplanned and how much is improvised on the set?

It really depends. I also worked in Hollywood films—everything there is preplanned, written, as much as possible. Ideally, that is the best way, because everybody knows what’s going on and is well prepared. But it is not necessarily the most creative result. Sometimes we get motivated and stimulated on the set. I remember the old days when I first started in the Hong Kong industry— there was no such thing as planning. They start choreographing the moves on the set.

Does the drama lead the action or the action lead the drama?

I try to make films where the character drives the action. A lot of times films don’t turn out to be that way, especially commercial action movies. But with Peter Chan’s movies, everyone knows it is going to be powerful and dramatic—that’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to be in his film.

Did anyone ever tell you that to hit the big time, you had to go to Hollywood?

I don’t think anybody said those exact words, but for the longest time—in any country in the world— you have this image that if you’re in a Hollywood film, then you’re in international films. That is the ultimate. But I don’t think this is the case anymore, because the China market is getting so big. We have many, many years to catch up. But from a business point of view—and an opportunities point of view—in some ways we are very fortunate as Chinese filmmakers.

What makes a successful action scene?

To get you excited—off your seat. But I think nowadays, most importantly, the audience has to love the character. That is way beyond what an action director can do. It takes a director, a story, a script and all the elements put together. That’s why I’m very happy that I get to work with Peter. I know that drama-wise, story-wise, he’ll make sure you’ll follow the character— that you’ll like the character and, hopefully, you’ll love the character.

Have you reached that goal in your recent films?

Look at “Ip Man”—it’s the same thing. The audience feels it: They clap, they cheer, they cry. It’s a simple concept: When you watch a movie, you want to pull yourself out of reality. You want to live in that world, and you want to live in that action moment. That’s my ultimate standard of a good action sequence.

Are audiences today more demanding?

Absolutely. When I first started doing action movies, there was no acting requirement. That’s why at the beginning of my career I could not act—I’m very blunt about it.

How do you compare your work with that of other dramatic actors?

On one hand, we shouldn’t look at action artists separately from any other kind of actors—actors are actors. As a matter of fact, I think being an action actor takes more skills because they need to tell a story with their body. When I’m fighting or being hit, I’m not actually hitting a person or really being hit. I’m acting. It takes more than just the conventional dramatic approach—especially martial-arts movies, because martial-arts movies take kung-fu mastery.

What’s next for your career?

I don’t want to do action forever. There are too many things in life. I spend too much time on the road. I’ve got to spend time with my family. I think everyone has to draw a line no matter how much passion they have for one thing. I’ll do as much as I can for the next few years. My goal is to take a step back— maybe direct, maybe produce—share my experience of all these decades in the action world. Hopefully, I can find some newcomers and push the standard a little bit more.

Have you found anyone?

I’m still looking. The action standards of today are so high. You can’t just find some young, good-looking kid that does great kung fu and expect him to carry the film. He has to have acting experience. There has to be chemistry between him and the audience.

Release Dates for “Wu Xia”

July 4: China

July 7: Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand

July 21: Singapore, Malaysia

July 22: Taiwan

July 28: Hong Kong, Thailand

[GeneChing]

In the wake of Cannes...
武俠 [HD] (全新港版預告) Wu Xia (New HK Trailer)

[SimonM]

I hope this movie lives up to my expectations because, gotta be honest, they're pretty high.

[GeneChing]

But you know me. I'm hopeful for every martial arts flick to come out. A good film does wonders for our industry and as I make my living here (along with many other forum members) I'm always wishing for another Karate Kid or CTHD.

The science of martial arts
By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-07-01 08:11


Wu Xia, starring Takeshi Kaneshiro (left) and Donnie Yen, will be released on July 4, giving martial art films a new spin. Provided to China Daily

The science of martial arts

Veteran Hong Kong director Peter Chan's latest film aims to demystify martial arts, while also tackling moral dilemmas. Liu Wei reports.

It requires courage to name a film after its genre, as audiences will expect it to be all encompassing.

But that does not seem to worry veteran Hong Kong director Peter Chan whose latest film is titled Wu Xia, or literally "martial arts chivalry".

"Wu Xia will redefine martial arts," he says.

Set in a small village in South China, the film has a storyline that has echoes of CSI or Discovery Channel's Crime Scene.

A paper-maker kills two robbers and becomes the hero of his village. But a detective, a Chinese version of the fastidious doctor House of the eponymous TV medical drama, discovers from the bodies that only a kungfu master could have rendered the killing blows.

As his investigation unfolds, the paper-maker's real identity is revealed and poses a catastrophe for the village.

The film is 49-year-old Chan's first martial art film, although like other Chinese of his generation, he grew up on a steady diet of such films.

His first exposure to, and favorite of, this genre are the films of Jimmy Wang in the 1960s and 70s, known for his robust masculinity. However, as the genre evolved into gravity-defying fantasy after the mid-1990s, he felt estranged from it.

"I find many martial art films too illusory," he says. "The only one that has thrilled me recently is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ang Lee achieves a breakthrough by making characters fly for a reason."

He, too, wanted to give the old genre a new spin, but could not figure out how until 2009 when he saw a television program, which depicted in detail how a bullet penetrates a person's skin, flesh, veins and heart.

"I had my concept - to explain Chinese martial arts through physiology and medicine. I then made a story to fit it."

Thus, he sets the film in 1917, a time when Western science had a growing influence on the Chinese.

Like in House or CSI, the detective played by Takeshi Kaneshiro analyses the impact of kungfu attacks on one's body.

While martial art films may show a master killing his enemy with what appears to be a light finger tap, Chan makes the detective tell the audience it is because the tap hits an important acupuncture point and causes a clot to form in a blood vessel. Frequent close-ups of organs and nerves enhance his explanation and create the film's unique visual style.

"I consulted with acupuncture specialists, cardiologists and brain surgeons," Chan says. "To shoot a film about swordsmen flying is a safe choice, but I don't see a reason for me to do it. This is an established genre, which leaves little room for originality, but at the same time I see a chance to revitalize it."

Not everything is new, though. Action remains a critical part of the film, to be released on July 4.

Chan ropes in Donnie Yen, the star of Iron Monkey and the Ip Man series, to choreograph the fight scenes and play the mysterious paper-maker. With his mastery in both Chinese kungfu and Western mixed martial arts, 48-year-old Yen has built his name as the new kungfu superstar after Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Both Yen and Chan dislike wires, and agreed that the fighting would be dazzling but more grounded.

Characters do not suddenly fly off the ground or race on water, but there is dramatic close-contact combat on the ground and even one scene on a rooftop.

The Hollywood Reporter calls the action sequences "swift and savage", and "arguably the best that lead actor Donnie Yen has choreographed for years".

The film's ending has Chan and Yen paying their homage to traditional martial art cinema and the signature figure of its golden days. The 68-year-old Jimmy Wang, China's John Wayne and star of Chang Cheh's One Armed Swordsman series, has a fierce fight with Yen, which ends in a dramatic twist.

Chan presents his own world of swordsmen, where the hero's moral struggles and self-discovery are as painful as those of the common people. The detective has to decide between sticking to the law or giving the criminal a chance, while the paper-maker is haunted by his complex past.

Variety's Justin Chang said he was reminded of David Cronenberg's A History of Violence when watching the film in Cannes in May, noting that "this clever if over-amped thriller tackles themes of identity, honor and the latent killer instinct with a playful spirit that's never at odds with its underlying seriousness".

Chan describes the film as another exploration of answers to life's problems.

"Westerners go to shrinks when they have confusions about life and themselves, but in China we don't usually do that. We find our own ways," he says. "For example, I make films. I spend two years shooting a film to find answers."

In the war epic The Warlords, he questions if one should be forgiven for sacrificing brothers if that creates welfare for a larger group. In the acclaimed romantic tale Comrades, Almost a Love Story, he seeks the answer to what is true love.

"In Wu Xia, I want to know, can we really wipe out our past?"

And the answer, he says, is up to the audience.

[SimonM]

LOL! I'm trying to publish Wuxia stories in the western genre market Gene so I hear you loud and clear with that one!

Another "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon," particularly one BRANDED with the name that I'm trying to generate consciousness of could do wonders for my literary career.

[GeneChing]

This is off the AP from our fav correspondent, Min Lee. That's a good sign when a film gets AP attention like this. Keep those fingers crossed, SimonM.

Donnie Yen Calls Film Fight With Wang a Milestone
By MIN LEE AP Entertainment Writer
HONG KONG July 7, 2011 (AP)

Donnie Yen has faced off against the likes of Jackie Chan and Jet Li over nearly three decades in action films. With Jimmy Wang now added to the list, Yen feels his dream of fighting Chinese cinema's leading kung fu stars is complete.

The veteran actors duel in a heated battle between gang leader and estranged son in the Peter Chan thriller "Wu Xia," which was released in China on Monday. While Wang may not be well-known in the West, the largely retired actor is considered a pioneering action star. He shot to fame with the hit 1967 film "One-armed Swordsman," which spawned three sequels, then directed the 1970 release "The Chinese Boxer," another hit credited with popularizing unarmed combat.

"He is the elder of elders. I was a fan of 'One-armed Swordsman' when I was a child," Yen told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday. "Working with Jimmy Wang fulfills my wish of working with everyone."

He said Wang was still in good shape for his age. Wang said in a behind-the-scenes documentary about "Wu Xia" that he still works out daily.

"He is a strong opponent for someone in his 70s," Yen said.

In "Wu Xia," Yen plays a former assassin who tries to escape by settling in a rural village and marrying a local woman (Tang Wei). His past catches up with him when he is forced to use his kung fu background to kill two robbers and a martial arts-savvy detective (Takeshi Kaneshiro) investigates.

But Yen, who choreographed the action in the movie, said his face-off with Wang isn't his favorite — he favors an elaborate chase-and-fight sequence with Hong Kong actress Wai Ying-hung, who plays one of Wang's wives.

He said he loves the emotional arch — his character stubbornly hides his kung fu prowess until Wai breaks him down with repeated attacks, and a segment that sees the two dash across tiled roofs before engaging in a small barn filled with cows.

"We did not use a single safety wire ... It is not Donnie Yen style. I like action that is real. When you see two people actually running on a roof, you are impressed with how much more difficult it is," he said.

Yen also praised director Chan, who made his name with subtle love stories, for innovating the kung fu film genre by mixing in elements of detective suspense and medical mystery. Chan illustrates the physical impact of a fighter's blows with computer animation that shows the inner workings of human organs and blood vessels in the style of U.S. medical shows.

"This is the only way to achieve a breakthrough," he said, decrying the repetition in recent kung fu films.

Yen is looking for another hit after the success of his recent biopics of Bruce Lee's martial arts teacher, "Ip Man" and "Ip Man 2," but "Wu Xia" has come up against a formidable opponent — a star-studded Chinese propaganda film that marks the 90th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party. Mainland multiplexes have been flooded with screenings of "Beginning of the Great Revival" and just this week allegations surfaced of at least one multiplex chain trying to inflate its box office numbers with substituted movie tickets.

Yen was careful to sidestep the controversy.

"I don't believe it. I don't want to take a position before all the evidence is laid out," he said.

Asked about the timing of "Wu Xia," Yen responded, "That doesn't concern me. I was focused on making a good movie. I think this is a very good movie."

[SimonM]

This is off the AP from our fav correspondent, Min Lee. That's a good sign when a film gets AP attention like this. Keep those fingers crossed, SimonM.

Sort of hoping the "CSI" angle that I've heard mentioned elsewhere gets played up in the States.

[SimonM]

Wuxia is getting good buzz on Twitter. People are calling it Donnie Yen's best film in years, saying it is a better film than Ip Man was.

[Zenshiite]

So can I torrent it yet?