Member DarthKato Posted June 6, 2021 Member Share Posted June 6, 2021 I don't know if this has been discussed before on here, but I have been wondering about this. What does a movie have to do to be a MA film in your book? Can movies like John Wick and The Killer be considered a MA movie? Or can only films like Drunken Master and the like be considered as such? What is the line between a plain Action film and an MA Film? I'm kind of confused on this to be honest. lol 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Iron_Leopard Posted June 6, 2021 Member Share Posted June 6, 2021 There was a thread on here a while back where a user got really upset at people who called any film that had a fight scene in in it a martial arts film. I think John Wick and the Bourne series were mentioned by him as not being martial arts films. I think it's going to be different for everyone. Like some people would consider Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon 3 MA films while others would not. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DarthKato Posted June 6, 2021 Author Member Share Posted June 6, 2021 1 hour ago, Iron_Leopard said: There was a thread on here a while back where a user got really upset at people who called any film that had a fight scene in in it a martial arts film. I think John Wick and the Bourne series were mentioned by him as not being martial arts films. I think it's going to be different for everyone. Like some people would consider Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon 3 MA films while others would not. I guess I'll just use my best judgement in that case. Maybe just put movies where the combatants are using advanced skills as MA films, and not just throwing punches. That way something like John Wick might count but not, for instance, Commando(1985). I can see how this can cause heated debates tho, its such a grey area. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Omni Dragon Posted June 6, 2021 Member Share Posted June 6, 2021 1 hour ago, Iron_Leopard said: There was a thread on here a while back where a user got really upset at people who called any film that had a fight scene in in it a martial arts film. At a very rudimentary level at least, I think I agree with that if it has a fight scene definition. Then after that I think it might be a question of scale based on how prominent of an element martial arts is. If something has a fight scene then maybe I'll think, technically it has a martial art element but generally it's not a martial arts movie. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 That's a great question. Just compare the number of fight scenes in Pedicab Driver with The Matrix. If The Matrix had been a Chinese movie (or an expensive English language Seasonal movie starring Gary Daniels, Sophia Crawford, Michael Jai White and Mark Dacascos) then it would most certainly have been lumped in with the martial arts section of any given Blockbuster store. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 For me, it's a movie where there are several fights using martial techniques, old school or wuxia. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Omni Dragon Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 6 hours ago, Cognoscente said: That's a great question. Just compare the number of fight scenes in Pedicab Driver with The Matrix. If The Matrix had been a Chinese movie (or an expensive English language Seasonal movie starring Gary Daniels, Sophia Crawford, Michael Jai White and Mark Dacascos) then it would most certainly have been lumped in with the martial arts section of any given Blockbuster store. The Battle Wizard: The Matrix: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DarthKato Posted June 7, 2021 Author Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 33 minutes ago, Omni Dragon said: The Battle Wizard: The Matrix: That is awesome 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DarthKato Posted June 7, 2021 Author Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 7 hours ago, Cognoscente said: That's a great question. Just compare the number of fight scenes in Pedicab Driver with The Matrix. If The Matrix had been a Chinese movie (or an expensive English language Seasonal movie starring Gary Daniels, Sophia Crawford, Michael Jai White and Mark Dacascos) then it would most certainly have been lumped in with the martial arts section of any given Blockbuster store. Haven’t been in a Blockbuster is forever. What do they have The Matrix listed under? Sci-fi? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 It probably was Sci-Fi. Anyway, back to the subject at hand... Look at Hard Target - that movie often gets referred to on English TV listings as a "martial arts thriller" despite the fact that there is less martial arts action than even The Matrix. Back in the Ezboard days, I remember Markgway saying that if Hard Target had been a Nicolas Cage movie then it would have been perceived differently and more favourably. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DarthKato Posted June 7, 2021 Author Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 4 minutes ago, Cognoscente said: It probably was Sci-Fi. Anyway, back to the subject at hand... Look at Hard Target - that movie often gets referred to on English TV listings as a "martial arts thriller" despite the fact that there is less martial arts action than even The Matrix. Back in the Ezboard days, I remember Markgway saying that if Hard Target had been a Nicolas Cage movie then it would have been perceived differently and more favourably. So you feel that people make assumptions of what a film is based on who stars in it? Like, for instance, if someone sees Jackie Chan in a movie, that it must be a martial arts film. I can see that being the case, because I’ve caught myself doing that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 2 minutes ago, DarthKato said: So you feel that people make assumptions of what a film is based on who stars in it? Like, for instance, if someone sees Jackie Chan in a movie, that it must be a martial arts film. Pretty much. Had he lived, Brandon Lee would have felt lucky that he shaked off that stigma for The Crow. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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