I learned a lot about the film making techniques in this documentary. Jackie's use of props and camera angles is very clever. But Jackie does seem to pat himself on the back too much.
When he talks about the stuntmen who were seriously hurt in the bus sequence of POLICE STORY, he refers to it in a joking manner. I'm pretty sure those men didn't appreciate being crippled and made fun of.
The scene where Jackie is coreographing Ron Smoorenberg in WHO AM I is insulting. Somehow, it's a common practice in Hong Kong to double actors not because of saftey concerns or because an actor can't do a move, but because an actor can not perform the way the coreographer wants them to perform. Ron was very capable of doing his own action in WHO AM I, but when Jackie was directign his fight with him, he was getting mad at him for not following his rythym. People may say that Ron was the one not keeping up with Jackie, but the fact was that Jackie could not keep up with Ron. As a martial artist, it's a very bad thing if you can't keep up with an opponent's movements, and that reflects badly on Jackie. Rather than work with Ron's skills and limitations, Jackie had him doubled by Bradley James Allen. It seemed pointless to hire Ron for WHO AM I if he was just going ot be doubled for scenes he could easily pulled off, but Jackie showed off how selfish he is in this segment.
Yuen Biao, Jackie's longtime friend in Peking Opera and HK cinema is much more deserving of Jackie's success. He is a better actor, more charming, a better martial artist, and a better stuntman. If only he was willing to learn English, he could be much bigger in the US.
When he talks about the stuntmen who were seriously hurt in the bus sequence of POLICE STORY, he refers to it in a joking manner. I'm pretty sure those men didn't appreciate being crippled and made fun of.
The scene where Jackie is coreographing Ron Smoorenberg in WHO AM I is insulting. Somehow, it's a common practice in Hong Kong to double actors not because of saftey concerns or because an actor can't do a move, but because an actor can not perform the way the coreographer wants them to perform. Ron was very capable of doing his own action in WHO AM I, but when Jackie was directign his fight with him, he was getting mad at him for not following his rythym. People may say that Ron was the one not keeping up with Jackie, but the fact was that Jackie could not keep up with Ron. As a martial artist, it's a very bad thing if you can't keep up with an opponent's movements, and that reflects badly on Jackie. Rather than work with Ron's skills and limitations, Jackie had him doubled by Bradley James Allen. It seemed pointless to hire Ron for WHO AM I if he was just going ot be doubled for scenes he could easily pulled off, but Jackie showed off how selfish he is in this segment.
Yuen Biao, Jackie's longtime friend in Peking Opera and HK cinema is much more deserving of Jackie's success. He is a better actor, more charming, a better martial artist, and a better stuntman. If only he was willing to learn English, he could be much bigger in the US.