The currently-filming Fast & Furious 7 is set to showcase the Hollywood debut of Thailand’s premier punch-thrower Tony Jaa (if you don’t know him, stop reading right now and go get dazzled by Ong-Bak and Warrior King,) the latest in a long line of successful martial arts actors from the vibrant Asian film industry with designs on cracking the US – and global – action market.
But, compared to their US or European counterparts, Asia’s action elite struggle to make the same kind of waves across the water that they do in their respective home countries. Despite being loaded with charisma, screen presence and packing moves your average muscleman could only dream about, the fact remains that the most popular non-American martial arts actor in American cinema is England’s Jason Statham.
It’d be all too easy to just put this situation down to something lost in translation, known in some cases as the “Van Damme Effect,” but that’d be letting off an industry that’s placed some of Asia’s best action stars in second banana and comic relief roles far too easily. The following is a list of some of the more notable names to have made the trip from the Far East to Hollywood, their more notable successes, and forgettable failures, that may or may not give us an inkling as to how the impressive Mr. Jaa will fare in the West.
JET LI
The Beijing-born Li was a genuine master of the Wushu discipline before taking up acting (according to the actor, he was even once asked to be Richard Nixon’s personal bodyguard) and starring in action classics like Fist Of Legend and Once Upon A Time In China. He made a particularly arresting debut Stateside, beating seven bells out of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover (also Chris Rock) as main villain Wah Sing Ku in Lethal Weapon 4, then turned down roles in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Matrix sequels before going on to be the best thing in many a duff actioner and getting a mo-cap and voice outing in his own videogame, Rise To Honour. Most recently, he can be found filling out Sly Stallone’s ensemble of badasses as Yin Yang in The Expendables series.
BEST US FILM – Kiss Of The Dragon (2001)
Okay, so technically it’s a European film with US distribution, but this raucous actioner gets by a cheesy script by letting Li do what Li does best – kick everybodys’ asses, using everything from irons to snooker balls to hat pins (seriously.) The showdown with a little-and-big lookalike henchmen tag-team feels like a videogame come to life, and with Li calling the stunt shots, it adds up to a bone-crunching good time.
WORST US FILM – Romeo Must Die
It was a three-way toss-up between this, sci-fi multiverse twaddle The One (which a thousand Jet Lis couldn’t save) and Cradle 2 The Grave, which put him in a stable with DMX, Anthony Anderson and Tom Arnold, but Romeo Must Die wins for completely ignoring Jet Li’s undeniable martial arts prowess in favour of crummy wire-work and a non-event relationship with late singer Aliyah. When you’re leading man can do all the awesome stuff by himself, it makes zero sense to tangle him up in bits of string.
MISUSED OR NOT? – They certainly tried, but Li’s enough of a household name with action fans to escape Hollywood’s cack-handedness.
JACKIE CHAN
One of action cinema’s legends, Chan went down a different road to most, leaving a trail of tickled funny bones alongside the ones he broke on screen by adding a deft comic touch to some outrageous stuntwork. Chan had already gained traction in the West with Rumble In The Bronx before striking up a surprisingly lucrative partnership with comedy loudmouth Chris Tucker and comedy derp Owen Wilson in the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon/Shanghai Knights series respectively. Since then his fortunes varied as he turned his peerless talents to family movies (he even had his own cartoon series), tried his hand at dramatic acting back in Hong Kong, and most recently prompted scores of children to remove and replaced their jackets in the Karate Kid remake.
BEST US FILM – Shanghai Noon (2000)
The East-meets-Wild West gag shouldn’t work, but Chan carries it off, putting in the best action and comic performance of his Hollywood career as he plays livewire to Wilson’s lazy-eyed buffoon thief. Whether scrapping in bell towers or playing drunk with a goofy horse, Chan fires on all cylinders and makes what could have been a poor one-joke picture highly enjoyable.
WORST US FILM – Rush Hour 3 (2007)
You could have taken your pick of Chan’s rubbish kid-flicks, but even The Medallion – which puts a wired-up and phoning-it-in Chan on an adventure in Dublin – doesn’t compare to this train wreck of a picture which for some reason thinks a chubby Chris Tucker and some questionable humour is the heart and soul of the series. Thank your lucky stars a sequel would be too expensive to make.
MISUSED OR NOT? – For a brief period, Hollywood actually got it right. But things have waxed more off than on in recent times.
CHOW YUN-FAT
Not strictly a martial arts actor, Fat has been around since the late 70s, forsaking a popular career on telly to team up with John Woo for classics like Hard Boiled and The Killer, earning himself the nickname “Babyface Killer” thanks to his youthful looks, tough-guy demeanour, and fondness for gun-based destruction. His success saw the LA Times dub him “The Coolest Actor In The World” in the 90s, prompting a move to Hollywood which saw him embrace a variety of roles, including a spot opposite Jodie Foster in Anna and The King, and caused controversy when he was cut from the Chinese screening of Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End due to backlash over his characters portrayal of the Chinese.
BEST US FILM – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Ironic that his biggest Hollywood success would be a co-production done in a foreign language, but there’s no denying what Crouching Tiger achieved; massive box office, Oscar nominations, and being a damned good example of how Far East filmmaking can cross over geographical boundaries. Fat’s pretty damn good in it too.
WORST US FILM – Bulletproof Monk (2003)
Why do hotdogs come in packages of ten, and hot dog buns come in packages of eight? A better question would be – why did someone think putting the Coolest Actor In The World in a crappy Matrix knock-off with Stifler from American Pie and “genius” dialogue like the above was a good idea? If you can answer it without your head blowing up, you may actually find enlightenment.
MISUSED OR NOT? – Add in The Replacement Killers, and no amount of Oscar noms can prevent Fat’s US adventure from being a big fat anticlimax.
SAMMO HUNG
Another legend in his native land, Hung has almost as many stunt, producing, writing and directing credits as he does for acting, including a stint behind and in front of the camera alongside Jackie Chan in Mr. Nice Guy, and displaying comic touches in the likes of Enter The Fat Dragon.
He’s also the only member of this list to have only ever had one major starring role in Hollywood, and that was in the vastly different world of TV. Playing the lead role in 1998 action cop series Martial Law, he saw great success on the small screen, making him the only East Asian headlining a prime-time US show during its two-season run that saw him crossover with the likes of Walker Texas Ranger and Early Edition, leaving nothing but good memories before returning to a continuing career in Hong Kong.
MISUSED OR NOT? – Very much not. More like this please, Hollywood.
MICHELLE YEOH
Crossover success for female Asian actresses is even more difficult than it can be for males, but Yeoh certainly came with the goods; a former Miss Malaysia and one of 1997’s 50 Most Beautiful People, Yeoh caught the attention of Hong Kong film companies after appearing in an advert with Jackie Chan and soon developed a reputation for doing her own stunts on a series of action pictures in the likes of Yes, Madam and Police Story 3: Super Cop. She certainly made an impact on her debut, turning up as an ally to the greatest spy in cinema in her role as Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, she appeared in the Oscar-baiting Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and has gone into some more dramatic roles with turns in the likes of Memoirs Of A Geisha and the upcoming Aung San Suu Kyi biopic The Lady.
BEST US FILM – Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Despite not getting to do her own stunts in the picture, Yeoh’s cool performance got her noticed next to James Bond. In a James Bond film, that’s saying something. The film itself is nowhere near the best in the canon, but Yeoh is without doubt one of the better things about it.
WORST US FILM – The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008)
This franchise rose from the dead despite a CGI Dwayne Johnson’s best attempts to put it in its sarcophagus, but proved every bit as lifeless as its titular lead. Yeoh plays an immortal sorceress, but you’re not likely to care since you probably won’t ever watch it.
MISUSED OR NOT? – She’s not exactly grossing blockbusters, but Yeoh’s carved out a solid career.
ZIYI ZHANG
Breaking onto the scene after only two movies with her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zhang has perhaps the least amount of experience in martial arts and action pictures, but she’s been in some of the more popular ones this side of Hollywood, like Hero (also starring Jet Li) and its sequel House Of Flying Daggers.
She joined other members of this list in Rush Hour 2 (Jackie Chan) and Michelle Yeoh in Memoirs Of A Geisha, for which she received a Golden Globe Nomination. She’s recently taken a bit of a change of pace, appearing as a judge on X Factor: China’s Strongest Voice.
BEST US FILM – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Okay, so it’s a Hollywood co-production, but since most of her other Hollywood roles aren’t action based (except for her worst one) this one makes the grade, for all the same reasons it ranks on the “Best Of” lists of the other stars who make this list.
WORST US FILM – Rush Hour 2
Actually, it’s not THAT bad a movie, and she’s not that bad in it, but it’s probably her worst performance in a Hollywood picture. She’s lucky she dies at the end and didn’t have to come back for Rush Hour 3.
MISUSED OR NOT? – As a dramatic actor, she’s done fine, the action genre however, is hit and miss.
DONNIE YEN
You probably won’t know him, but you’ve seen his work; Donnie Yen is one of Chinese cinema’s premier fight choreographers and directors, with his work being credited as popularising the Wing Chun style of martial arts in his native Hong Kong, where he is considered one of the top action stars. He’s only appeared in a handful of Hollywood movies, but if fist meets face in an awesome way in them, it’s partly him you have to thank.
BEST US FILM – Blade II (2002)
Without speaking a word of dialogue as cool-as-ice vampire mercenary Snowman in the Wesley Snipes action picture, he only gets one real moment of action glory – a dandy bit of swordplay against one of the nutso Reaper creatures – but his work is felt in some of the key actions scenes of Guillermo Del Toro’s bloody brilliant sequel as part of the fight team.
WORST US FILM – Highlander: Endgame (2000)
The lowest of the low for the Christopher Lambert immortals-with-swords franchise, its last cinematic outing is utter tripe, and far below both the acting and choreography talents that Yen brings to the table.
MISUSED OR NOT? – Without doubt. Yen ought to be a much bigger presence in Western action cinema.
