Description
From Bruce Lee to James Bond, Jackie Chan to Jet Li, Enter the Dragon to Kung Fu Panda, Crouching Tiger to the newest "Karate" Kid, kung fu films remain a thrilling part of movie-lovers' lives. Now World Martial Art Hall of Fame inductee, award-winning author, Kung Fu Panda consultant, and the acknowledged pioneer in the genre presents his magnum opus on the subject, incorporating information and revelations never before seen in America. In more than three hundred and fifty pages, Meyers reveals: �the one man Bruce Lee was not able to defeat� �the one mistake every American kung fu filmmaker makes� �what makes Jackie Chan run and why he can't be beat� �the greatest woman kung fu warrior of all time� �why kung fu became gun fu� �what kung fu actually is (and, maybe more importantly, what it isn't)� �and even how kung fu films could save your life! From its ancient Peking Opera origins to its superhero-powered future, Ric Meyers reveals the loony, the legendary, and everything in between...… (more)
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Emery Books (2011), 360 pages
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LibraryThing member JSKupperman
Ric Meyers' _Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book_ was, for the most part, an enjoyable read. For me, the book has two sections, the first part consists of eight chapters, and may be thought of the part of the book wherein Mr. Meyers writes of the things he knows about. The second part, the final
The first eight chapters of the book, with but few exceptions (whenever he talks about Japanese marital arts) is excellent. Though I didn't learn a great deal about the history of Chinese martial arts, I did learn much about individual artists, such as Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh, as well as some who have portrayed martial artists who are not, such as Chow Yun-Fat. Meyers skillfully details the development of Chinese martial arts movies, focusing largely on gung fu but also discussing wuxia. If you are at all interested in how the gung fu movie genre developed in China, this book is a must have.
Unfortunately, Meyers does not limit himself to this discussion. He also, though only occasionally, discusses Japanese martial arts, both as arts and in the movies. His understanding of these arts, which he typically describes as being stiff armed and legged, lacks understanding of anything but the most Americanized forms of those arts. Their inner aspects, which, like Chinese arts, have an internal as well as external outlet, are completely missed. Any mentioning of them could have been left out of the book without harm. His discussion of gung fu in American movies is also lacking. Though obviously an expert on Chinese movies, Meyers does not seem to understand American movies. While there is likely some truth to his repeated description of Hollywood's "standard operating racism" when it comes to non-Caucasians in movies, he fails to realize that gung fu movies are hardly the only kind of films Hollywood is terrible at. It's portrayal of magic, history or religion are just as bad. This has as much to do with target audience and general incompetence as it does racism.
Generally, I would recommend Meyer's _Films of Fury_ to anyone interested in Chinese martial arts movies. Though hardly a scholarly dissertation on the subject, Meyers provides a satisfactory pop history on the subject.
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two chapters, is the part where he discusses things he apparently knows very little about.The first eight chapters of the book, with but few exceptions (whenever he talks about Japanese marital arts) is excellent. Though I didn't learn a great deal about the history of Chinese martial arts, I did learn much about individual artists, such as Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh, as well as some who have portrayed martial artists who are not, such as Chow Yun-Fat. Meyers skillfully details the development of Chinese martial arts movies, focusing largely on gung fu but also discussing wuxia. If you are at all interested in how the gung fu movie genre developed in China, this book is a must have.
Unfortunately, Meyers does not limit himself to this discussion. He also, though only occasionally, discusses Japanese martial arts, both as arts and in the movies. His understanding of these arts, which he typically describes as being stiff armed and legged, lacks understanding of anything but the most Americanized forms of those arts. Their inner aspects, which, like Chinese arts, have an internal as well as external outlet, are completely missed. Any mentioning of them could have been left out of the book without harm. His discussion of gung fu in American movies is also lacking. Though obviously an expert on Chinese movies, Meyers does not seem to understand American movies. While there is likely some truth to his repeated description of Hollywood's "standard operating racism" when it comes to non-Caucasians in movies, he fails to realize that gung fu movies are hardly the only kind of films Hollywood is terrible at. It's portrayal of magic, history or religion are just as bad. This has as much to do with target audience and general incompetence as it does racism.
Generally, I would recommend Meyer's _Films of Fury_ to anyone interested in Chinese martial arts movies. Though hardly a scholarly dissertation on the subject, Meyers provides a satisfactory pop history on the subject.
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LibraryThing member haiirouchuujin
As a Kung Fu movie fan, I enjoyed Meyer's latest book on the subject, even though I did have a few reservations.
On the plus side, this book made me want to go and watch a bunch of Kung Fu movies. Films of Fury is a decent general survey of the genre and a reasonable resource for those interested in
For those of us who have other books on Kung Fu movies, particularly Myer's own "Great Martial Arts Movies" there's a lot of repetition. While I understand that the basic outline of the history and personalities are not going to change, I would have liked to see Myers use some different anecdotes and examples, some new research, or at least not repeat entire paragraphs verbatim.
Myers does do a good job of presenting the information in a fun and entertaining manner. I have a few differences of opinion, but these are pretty minor. For example, I'm a fan of director Chu Yuan, while Myers is dismissive of his catalog of films and Myers loves "Legendary Weapons of China" which is one of my least favorite Shaw Brothers films.
The major item that sets this book apart from others on the subject is that Myers is focused on the "real" martial arts in kung fu films. I don't think Myers went far enough in this direction if that was what this book is supposed to be about. It's fine that he says such and such film has excellent martial arts and another doesn't, but he should have gone into more detail. The book doesn't know if it wants to be a text on martial arts or a text on films.
I would have liked to learn more about the differences between the styles, such as Northern Leg and Southern Fist, or Wing Chun vs. Hapkido. What exactly made one fight "realistic" and another "fake"? I'd have liked to see him describe a martial arts move and then link that to an example in a particular scene. I think he kept too much of the film portions of his earlier book and didn't put in enough new material on kung fu.
The focus on martial arts means that the more fanciful wuxia genre gets downplayed. This isn't a complete look at the entire martial arts genre, just the subset of martial arts films with more realistic kung fu.
One problem I do have is the chapter on Gun Fu. Myers likes the genre, and while so do I, I think it's questionable at best to spend most of the book complaining about less than accurate kung fu and then laud the movies of John Woo. While I love "The Killer" and his other movies, Chow Yun Fat's gun handling is anything by realistic.
Another problem I had is that the text needed additional editing. It looks like this was not proof-read before it was published. There are some sentences that, if one tries a bit, one can figure out what Myers intended to say, but it takes some work. Sometimes I had to back up and think a bit before I could figure out who Myers was talking about or what he actually was trying to say.
On the plus side, this book made me want to go and watch a bunch of Kung Fu movies. Films of Fury is a decent general survey of the genre and a reasonable resource for those interested in
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these kind of movies.For those of us who have other books on Kung Fu movies, particularly Myer's own "Great Martial Arts Movies" there's a lot of repetition. While I understand that the basic outline of the history and personalities are not going to change, I would have liked to see Myers use some different anecdotes and examples, some new research, or at least not repeat entire paragraphs verbatim.
Myers does do a good job of presenting the information in a fun and entertaining manner. I have a few differences of opinion, but these are pretty minor. For example, I'm a fan of director Chu Yuan, while Myers is dismissive of his catalog of films and Myers loves "Legendary Weapons of China" which is one of my least favorite Shaw Brothers films.
The major item that sets this book apart from others on the subject is that Myers is focused on the "real" martial arts in kung fu films. I don't think Myers went far enough in this direction if that was what this book is supposed to be about. It's fine that he says such and such film has excellent martial arts and another doesn't, but he should have gone into more detail. The book doesn't know if it wants to be a text on martial arts or a text on films.
I would have liked to learn more about the differences between the styles, such as Northern Leg and Southern Fist, or Wing Chun vs. Hapkido. What exactly made one fight "realistic" and another "fake"? I'd have liked to see him describe a martial arts move and then link that to an example in a particular scene. I think he kept too much of the film portions of his earlier book and didn't put in enough new material on kung fu.
The focus on martial arts means that the more fanciful wuxia genre gets downplayed. This isn't a complete look at the entire martial arts genre, just the subset of martial arts films with more realistic kung fu.
One problem I do have is the chapter on Gun Fu. Myers likes the genre, and while so do I, I think it's questionable at best to spend most of the book complaining about less than accurate kung fu and then laud the movies of John Woo. While I love "The Killer" and his other movies, Chow Yun Fat's gun handling is anything by realistic.
Another problem I had is that the text needed additional editing. It looks like this was not proof-read before it was published. There are some sentences that, if one tries a bit, one can figure out what Myers intended to say, but it takes some work. Sometimes I had to back up and think a bit before I could figure out who Myers was talking about or what he actually was trying to say.
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LibraryThing member Radaghast
Films of Fury is the perfect book for anyone with even a passing interest in martial arts or martial arts movies. Technically, the book is more about kung fu, and that is a very real distinction that you learn about as you read. But most fans will be like me, I suspect, and be ignorant of those
There were only two minor issues I had. First, it would have been nice to see some pictures associated with some of the films. Some of the actors' names seemed vaguely familiar, but for a casual fan, pictures would help. And it's kind of a perk you expect with books about film, or at least I do. The second issue was Meyers' writing. The book is filled with painful puns. His knowledge overcomes this, but no one is reading this book for Meyers' writing, we want his expertise, so those sorts of gimmicks were unnecessary. Note to Meyers, saying "pun intended" doesn't make the pun any less terrible.
When it comes to kung fu history though, Meyers is a genius. You pretty much know what you are getting with this book. If you like this film genre, you'll enjoy it. If you don't, you probably won't be reading this review anyway.
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differences until Meyers explains them. Meyers is clearly also a fan, but he doesn't write like one. He writes with the eye of a discerning critic. He never gushes, and he always backs up his views with reasoned arguments. The book though isn't as much a collection of film reviews as it is a history of kung fu in film. It encompasses a wide range, from the first kung fu films right to last year. There are reviews and recommendations, but Meyers spends a lot more time describing the progression of kung fu in film than he does discussing specific movies. Even Bruce Lee is written about with unflinching honesty, as Meyers describes his excellence along with his flaws.There were only two minor issues I had. First, it would have been nice to see some pictures associated with some of the films. Some of the actors' names seemed vaguely familiar, but for a casual fan, pictures would help. And it's kind of a perk you expect with books about film, or at least I do. The second issue was Meyers' writing. The book is filled with painful puns. His knowledge overcomes this, but no one is reading this book for Meyers' writing, we want his expertise, so those sorts of gimmicks were unnecessary. Note to Meyers, saying "pun intended" doesn't make the pun any less terrible.
When it comes to kung fu history though, Meyers is a genius. You pretty much know what you are getting with this book. If you like this film genre, you'll enjoy it. If you don't, you probably won't be reading this review anyway.
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LibraryThing member aethercowboy
Films of Fury is a comprehensive overview of kung fu films from their early pre-WWII days to pretty close to present day (surprisingly close for a book). It is written by notable kung fuologist Ric Meyers, quite possibly the American leading expert on all things kung fu. Based on his introduction,
Broken down into sections covering the likes of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, John Woo, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, and all the other notables, and including bits about Steven Segal, Jeanne-Claude Van Damme, and even Chuck Norris, this book definitely lives up to the hype surrounding it. He even delves into the history and folklore surrounding kung fu.
If you are a fan of film, especially kung fu (that is, a form of Chinese martial arts), then you may find this book worth reading. If you're a fan of samurai movies, mixed martial arts movies, or movies that feature excessive roundhouse punches, then you'll be terribly disappointed by this overview of kung fu films.
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this is the third incarnation of this book (albeit under different titles due to the ever changing subject matter). Broken down into sections covering the likes of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, John Woo, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, and all the other notables, and including bits about Steven Segal, Jeanne-Claude Van Damme, and even Chuck Norris, this book definitely lives up to the hype surrounding it. He even delves into the history and folklore surrounding kung fu.
If you are a fan of film, especially kung fu (that is, a form of Chinese martial arts), then you may find this book worth reading. If you're a fan of samurai movies, mixed martial arts movies, or movies that feature excessive roundhouse punches, then you'll be terribly disappointed by this overview of kung fu films.
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LibraryThing member Doctroid
You may have come across this review on, say, a web search, looking for reviews of this book by reviewers well versed in the subject of kung fu movies. If so, keep looking. I am far from an expert, indeed, I’ve seen at best a handful of the movies Meyers discusses. Nor am I knowledgeable about
It’s fair to say I learned a bit from it. Meyers seems to have covered the subject in breadth, if not particularly in depth, with chapters devoted to the basics of kung fu and early kung fu movies, Bruce Lee, the Shaw Brothers Studio, Jackie Chan, Chan’s collaborators, women in Kung Fu movies, Jet Li, John Woo, American kung fu movies, and the future of the genre. An appendix lists details for Meyers’s choice of the top 100 kung fu movies from 1966 to 2010. If nothing else, reading this book left me with a short list of kung fu movies I want to watch, or re-watch, with some confidence that I’ll enjoy at least some of them.
Unfortunately, gaining that knowledge came at the price of having to read the text, and the text is, well, not good. For one thing, it’s badly edited — if indeed it was edited at all. Errors of syntax and vocabulary abound: "… so Liang decided on another tact…”, for instance, or "… he backed it up with on-screen kung fu skill hitherto fore unseen by anyone”. (Meyers uses that phrase, “hitherto fore”, at least three times in the book, so apparently he thinks it’s really proper usage.) Structurally the book sometimes reads like a drive down a rock-strewn dirt road, with changes of topic seemingly occurring more often in mid-paragraph than not, and while he usually focuses on one actor or director at a time, summarizing their career before moving on to the next, occasionally he’ll insert one career into the middle of the discussion of another. Then there are Meyers’s grating writing habits, the most irritating of which is his inability to use the word “racism” on its own; every time it’s “standard operating racism”. That got old about the third time he said it, and while I didn’t try to count instances of the phrase, if I had I probably would have stopped somewhere around twenty.
Then there’s the “Selected Index”, and who knows on what basis it was selected? “Chinese Connection 2” merits an entry but “Chinese Connection” doesn’t, presumably because the latter is just the American title of “Fist of Fury” but still the omission (not even a cross reference) seems odd. Even odder is that Meyers devotes over a dozen pages to the career of Michelle Yeoh including several pages about the “very important” (Myers’s words) film "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"... and yet that movie has no entry in the index.
In the end I’m glad I read "Films of Fury" for what I learned from it. But would I read another Meyers book? No, I don’t think so; I doubt if I could face the prospect of another 300 pages of such ham-handed writing style, even if the content is of some value.
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kung fu, which has, so far as I know, not been a significant contributor to the mixed/blended martial arts I’ve been doing the past few years. No, I came to this book as an interested person, not as one with expertise or experience.It’s fair to say I learned a bit from it. Meyers seems to have covered the subject in breadth, if not particularly in depth, with chapters devoted to the basics of kung fu and early kung fu movies, Bruce Lee, the Shaw Brothers Studio, Jackie Chan, Chan’s collaborators, women in Kung Fu movies, Jet Li, John Woo, American kung fu movies, and the future of the genre. An appendix lists details for Meyers’s choice of the top 100 kung fu movies from 1966 to 2010. If nothing else, reading this book left me with a short list of kung fu movies I want to watch, or re-watch, with some confidence that I’ll enjoy at least some of them.
Unfortunately, gaining that knowledge came at the price of having to read the text, and the text is, well, not good. For one thing, it’s badly edited — if indeed it was edited at all. Errors of syntax and vocabulary abound: "… so Liang decided on another tact…”, for instance, or "… he backed it up with on-screen kung fu skill hitherto fore unseen by anyone”. (Meyers uses that phrase, “hitherto fore”, at least three times in the book, so apparently he thinks it’s really proper usage.) Structurally the book sometimes reads like a drive down a rock-strewn dirt road, with changes of topic seemingly occurring more often in mid-paragraph than not, and while he usually focuses on one actor or director at a time, summarizing their career before moving on to the next, occasionally he’ll insert one career into the middle of the discussion of another. Then there are Meyers’s grating writing habits, the most irritating of which is his inability to use the word “racism” on its own; every time it’s “standard operating racism”. That got old about the third time he said it, and while I didn’t try to count instances of the phrase, if I had I probably would have stopped somewhere around twenty.
Then there’s the “Selected Index”, and who knows on what basis it was selected? “Chinese Connection 2” merits an entry but “Chinese Connection” doesn’t, presumably because the latter is just the American title of “Fist of Fury” but still the omission (not even a cross reference) seems odd. Even odder is that Meyers devotes over a dozen pages to the career of Michelle Yeoh including several pages about the “very important” (Myers’s words) film "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"... and yet that movie has no entry in the index.
In the end I’m glad I read "Films of Fury" for what I learned from it. But would I read another Meyers book? No, I don’t think so; I doubt if I could face the prospect of another 300 pages of such ham-handed writing style, even if the content is of some value.
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LibraryThing member Mantra
This is a wonderful book! Ric Meyers covers not only a little history of martial arts themselves but the careers of everyone from Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, Donnie Yen, he even touches on the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles and the Power Rangers. He covers the history of Kung Fu films from
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before Bruce Lee to today. I rediscovered films I'd forgotten and added a lot of new ones to my netflix queue! Highly recommended! Show Less
LibraryThing member PhoenixTerran
Although personally I study traditional Okinawan karate-do, I am also interested in martial arts in general. I enjoy watching martial arts films, too, and some of the very best of those are specifically kung fu movies. And so when Ric Meyers' work Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book, published by
Films of Fury consists of an introduction, a preface, ten more or less thematic chapter exploring kung fu films, actors, directors, and choreographers, a list of Meyers' personal top one hundred kung fu films up to 2010, and an index. The first chapter, "Kung Foundation," gives a basic overview and history of kung fu and kung fu films. From there Meyers examines Bruce Lee in "The King of Kung Fu," the films of the Shaw Brothers studio (many of which have only recently made their way to Western shores legitimately) in "The Shaw Standard" and Jackie Chan in "The Clown Prince of Kung Fu." "The Clown Prince's Court" looks at other influential players active around the same time as Chan. The changing roles of women in kung fu films is explored in "Women Wushu Warriors," Jet Li's career is featured in "Jet Powered" and the films of John Woo and the rise of firearms in movies are the focus of "Gun Fu." "Kung FU.S.A" examines the (mostly) sorry state of kung fu films in the U.S. Finally, there is "Kung Futures" in which Meyers looks at where kung fu films are heading and who we should pin our hopes on to be the next "greats."
The chapters of Films of Fury are arranged in a vaguely chronological order but as each one generally focuses on a particular subject rather than a specific time period there is plenty of overlap in history. It's somewhat difficult to establish a comprehensive timeline because of this, but overall I liked the arrangement by topic. Films of Fury seems to be written with a Western audience in mind which compounds the problem of discussing the history of kung fu cinema chronologically since many of the films were released abroad at different times and under different titles. Occasionally, Meyers' writing seems to devolve into a listing of titles and names (which are unfortunately not used consistently throughout the book) and sometimes he'll talk a bout a specific title at length without explicitly establishing why it is important to do so, but for the most part the book is interesting and engaging.
Although it is obvious that Meyers is quite knowledgeable about kung fu movies, Films of Fury is far from a scholarly work on the subject and serves more as a pop history. Meyers writing style is extremely informal which makes the book more approachable but is also cringe worthy due to bad puns and jokes (see the chapter titles for some examples) as well awkward grammar and structure. I also had hoped for better reference materials. Despite there being a "selected index," there are no coherent listings of the films or people mentioned which makes navigating and finding specific information in Films of Fury troublesome. However, Meyers enthusiasm and passion for kung fu movies is readily apparent as well as contagious. After reading Films of Fury, I wanted nothing more than to sit around and experience all the martial arts films discussed for myself.
Experiments in Manga
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Emery Books in 2011, was offered through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, I was very pleased when I was paired up to review the book. Meyers is an inductee of the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame for his contributions writing about Asian martial arts films and to the martial arts movie industry. In addition to numerous articles and reviews, he has so far written three major works on the subject: Martial Arts Movies: From Bruce Lee to the Ninjas in 1985, Great Martial Arts Movies: From Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan and More in 2001, and finally Films of Fury in 2011. (He was also a contributor to The Encyclopedia of Martial Arts Movies.) Films of Fury, in addition to being a stand alone book, is also a companion to the documentary Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Movie which was also written by Meyers.Films of Fury consists of an introduction, a preface, ten more or less thematic chapter exploring kung fu films, actors, directors, and choreographers, a list of Meyers' personal top one hundred kung fu films up to 2010, and an index. The first chapter, "Kung Foundation," gives a basic overview and history of kung fu and kung fu films. From there Meyers examines Bruce Lee in "The King of Kung Fu," the films of the Shaw Brothers studio (many of which have only recently made their way to Western shores legitimately) in "The Shaw Standard" and Jackie Chan in "The Clown Prince of Kung Fu." "The Clown Prince's Court" looks at other influential players active around the same time as Chan. The changing roles of women in kung fu films is explored in "Women Wushu Warriors," Jet Li's career is featured in "Jet Powered" and the films of John Woo and the rise of firearms in movies are the focus of "Gun Fu." "Kung FU.S.A" examines the (mostly) sorry state of kung fu films in the U.S. Finally, there is "Kung Futures" in which Meyers looks at where kung fu films are heading and who we should pin our hopes on to be the next "greats."
The chapters of Films of Fury are arranged in a vaguely chronological order but as each one generally focuses on a particular subject rather than a specific time period there is plenty of overlap in history. It's somewhat difficult to establish a comprehensive timeline because of this, but overall I liked the arrangement by topic. Films of Fury seems to be written with a Western audience in mind which compounds the problem of discussing the history of kung fu cinema chronologically since many of the films were released abroad at different times and under different titles. Occasionally, Meyers' writing seems to devolve into a listing of titles and names (which are unfortunately not used consistently throughout the book) and sometimes he'll talk a bout a specific title at length without explicitly establishing why it is important to do so, but for the most part the book is interesting and engaging.
Although it is obvious that Meyers is quite knowledgeable about kung fu movies, Films of Fury is far from a scholarly work on the subject and serves more as a pop history. Meyers writing style is extremely informal which makes the book more approachable but is also cringe worthy due to bad puns and jokes (see the chapter titles for some examples) as well awkward grammar and structure. I also had hoped for better reference materials. Despite there being a "selected index," there are no coherent listings of the films or people mentioned which makes navigating and finding specific information in Films of Fury troublesome. However, Meyers enthusiasm and passion for kung fu movies is readily apparent as well as contagious. After reading Films of Fury, I wanted nothing more than to sit around and experience all the martial arts films discussed for myself.
Experiments in Manga
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ISBN
0979998948 / 9780979998942