Why 'modern' kung fu movies suck!

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

I have attempted to watch several modern late 2000 kung fu movies and the same irritating problem comes UP.

That is the directors or whomsoever obsession that every fight scene has to have a stupid musical score 'ALWAYS' ruminating through each fight scene.

WTF don't these people KNOW that a little silence is golden to make a fight scene fire up your soul. Instead THEY have some mostly STUPID music run through each fight scene.

BS I say let me speak to these bastards and get things right in kung fu movies again.

Example: 'Blade of Kings', if it wasn't for that music I might have been able to wade through this film.

GD Y-Y

[Reel Power Stunts]

Sometimes having a musical track on the soundtrack can make an action scene appear to flow better. It can help give disjointed and choppy edits a feeling of versimilitude. In these days of movie performers with inferior skills, they often need all the help they can get. If you have two masters like Sammo and Lau Kar-wing go at it as they do in "The Odd Couple", you don't need music or short, choppy cuts, because their skills are more than enough. A later example would be Jet Li vs Donnie Yen in "Hero". I can't remember if there was a musical score to that fight because a) if there was, it didn't distract the skills of the stars held my attention.

Now if you take a couple of turkeys like "Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever" or "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" you hear ample, loud, distracting music. One suspects this was the producers' attempt to give some sense of form and structure to messy films (though in the latter's case CD soundtrack sales probably played a part as well). I believe the appropriate expression is "polishing a turd".

Good music can certainly enhance a good fight, be it in "Enter the Dragon", "Once Upon a Time in China 2", "Drive", or "Crouching Tiger". A lack of music can be a good tool too - drawing our attention to the sound of breaking props, the fighters' breathing etc as in "Haywire".

I reckon the problem with newer films is the decline in talent of many performers, and the lack of time dedicated to shooting the sequences. Then again, maybe I'm just an old fart who is out of touch with the Spotify generation:tinysmile_angry2_t:.

[blue_skies]

I reckon the problem with newer films is the decline in talent of many performers, and the lack of time dedicated to shooting the sequences. Then again, maybe I'm just an old fart who is out of touch with the Spotify generation:tinysmile_angry2_t:.

while I agree with the original poster that poor music can be detrimental, I have to agree with RPS that modern-day martial arts suffers more from a lack of talented on-screen martial arts stars, the time taken to choreograph and film the sequences and while it seems no one else agrees with me, I do think that there seems to be a loss of talent behind the scenes. Not just in editing but Capturing The fights on film in the first place

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

Sometimes having a musical track on the soundtrack can make an action scene appear to flow better. It can help give disjointed and choppy edits a feeling of versimilitude. In these days of movie performers with inferior skills, they often need all the help they can get. If you have two masters like Sammo and Lau Kar-wing go at it as they do in "The Odd Couple", you don't need music or short, choppy cuts, because their skills are more than enough. A later example would be Jet Li vs Donnie Yen in "Hero". I can't remember if there was a musical score to that fight because a) if there was, it didn't distract the skills of the stars held my attention.

Now if you take a couple of turkeys like "Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever" or "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" you hear ample, loud, distracting music. One suspects this was the producers' attempt to give some sense of form and structure to messy films (though in the latter's case CD soundtrack sales probably played a part as well). I believe the appropriate expression is "polishing a turd".

Good music can certainly enhance a good fight, be it in "Enter the Dragon", "Once Upon a Time in China 2", "Drive", or "Crouching Tiger". A lack of music can be a good tool too - drawing our attention to the sound of breaking props, the fighters' breathing etc as in "Haywire".

I reckon the problem with newer films is the decline in talent of many performers, and the lack of time dedicated to shooting the sequences. Then again, maybe I'm just an old fart who is out of touch with the Spotify generation:tinysmile_angry2_t:.

Reel Power Stunts thanks for the insightful response. I am only saying these 'modern' KFM seem to overuse music in their fight scenes which is highly distinctive in too many ways to ruminate upon.

In the classic era of KFM music and silence were for the most part very well done in fight scenes, To me hearing the actors breathing and HA's plus the sound of fist or weapon I will take any day over the 'modern' formula for music in a KFM.

All this being said I assume there are many a modern KFM that may have got 'IT' right.

GDY-Y

[DiP]

The use of music in a MA film depends on how the camerawork and overall mood of the action is emphasized. Silence in the action can also be good but if the scene is well choreographed and its' shot in a way that really grips you I think I have to go with having music on in such a fight scene. But on the other hand, music does undermine the quality of the action if it's done badly/sloppily as it can give you an impression of cheapness and laziness of letting the audience reach the intensity and emotions of a fight scene.