Nicholas Raymond is an author and journalist based in Alabama, where he is a proud member of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. A graduate of the University of Montevallo, he holds a degree in mass communications with a concentration in journalism.
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Jet Li has enjoyed a long and storied career as a martial arts film star, with the bulk of his filmography coming from his work in the Hong Kong film industry. But despite this past, the actor has only directed one film that can aptly be described as an old-school kung fu flick – and that was Shaolin Martial Arts.
Released in 1986 when his career was just taking off, Shaolin Martial Arts was Jet Li’s third leading role. Directed by the legendary Lau Kar-leungthe film concluded an unofficial martial arts trilogy that included his theater debut, Shaolin Templeand its sequel, Children of Shaolin.
What Makes Shaolin Martial Arts Such an Important Film for Jet Li
Unfortunately, Shaolin Martial Arts represented a dying era in the martial arts genre. Films of the 1970s and 1980s, considered old-fashioned kung fu films today, are known for their period settings, emphasis on Chinese martial arts, training sequences, revenge plots, and carefully choreographed fight sequences that relied heavily on over-the-top action and long takes.
Obviously, Hong Kong has never stopped making martial arts films, but this specific formula hasn’t been established in years. This trend was fading by the mid-1980s. The closure of the film division of Shaw Brothers – the largest studio associated with this side of the genre – was something of a death knell for the old school kung fu movie.
In its final year of filmmaking, Shaw Brothers produced Shaolin Martial Artswhich starred Jet Li. In keeping with the traditional style of a Shaw Brothers style, Shaolin Martial Arts tells the story of a young man who joins the Shaolin Temple to get the training needed to take revenge.
With Shaolin Martial Arts arriving just before the end of The Shaw Brothers’ historic kung fu film seriesit was the first and last time Jet Li made a film of this genre. Instead, Jet Li became a staple of the genre’s next major trends, namely historical martial arts epics and wuxia films, from Hero has Once upon a time in China.
The days when Hong Kong studios made films where fight scenes took weeks or even months or even films to film had become a bygone era. The fact that there never was another Shaolin Martial Arts for Jet Li makes it all the easier to enjoy, with the first and last team-ups of Lau Kar-leung and Jet Li producing some great fight sequences.