Films/DVD Asylum

• Re: If you don't own Jet Li's "Kiss of the Dragon", .... - TAFKA Steve 16:15:39 01/31/02 (1)
  In Reply to: If you don't own Jet Li's "Kiss of the Dragon", .... posted by Audiophilander on January 31, 2002 at 10:44:43:

  Auph,

  I reread your review of "Kiss of the Dragon" and your followup to my post and I now realize that you might have thought the Columbus audience's heckling was racially/culturally motivated. On the contrary, the audience was rooting (loudly) for Jet Li during all his fights. I am of Japanese ancestry myself, and am fairly sensitive to ethnic slurs against Asians. I am pretty sure that the hecklers' comments were strictly a reaction to the audience recognition of seeing 'Uncle Tai' being portrayed by Burt Kwouk, an actor most famous for portraying "Cato" in six Pink Panther movies. I am rather surprised that this didn't come up in the DVD supplement or in the film's reviews.

  A few parallels to "La Femme Nikita": director Luc Besson cowrote "Kiss of the Dragon" and Tcheky Karyo ('Uncle Bob') played the corrupt police chief in "Kiss." Finally, Bridget Fonda starred as 'Nikita' in the inferior American remake of "La Femme Nikita": "Point Of No Return."

  Last, I'd like to recommend any of the Mad Max trilogy as excellent action films (watched the "Mad Max" DVD last night).
  
  

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  • Actually, I think we both were off the track; me especially. - Audiophilander 23:33:45 01/31/02 (0)
    In Reply to: Re: If you don't own Jet Li's "Kiss of the Dragon", .... posted by TAFKA Steve on January 31, 2002 at 16:15:39:

    I was completely "derailed" by not having recalled Burt Kwouk's connection with the Pink Panther series, so I ignored the comment, chalked it up to being an obscure reference and focused on Li's performance instead. That was my mistake and I'm sorry about completely missing the subject of the audience's jest.

    OTOH, it really hadn't occured to me that the audience's reaction might indicate racist attitudes. To the contrary, I felt that the Columbus audience reaction may have been culturally motivated, but not discriminatory by any means. My impression from your description was a crowd that just didn't care for martial arts unless it's the choreographed comedy variety typically found in Jackie Chan movies or perhaps the good ol' boy variety found in mind-numbing TV series like Walker Texas Ranger. In other words, when the action was done straight by someone actually skilled in the techniques the audience couldn't resist making fun of it because they associated martial arts with slap-stick humor.

    Your follow-up seemed to suggest that the crowd was made up pretty much of partying college kids so I revised my opinion about their being the "Joe Dirt" crowd. College kids I understand or rather I understand the unpredictability of their fadish likes and dislikes.

    Anyway, I hope we're clearer now. :o)

    Cheers,
    AuPh
    
    

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