Okay. Why is it that female martial arts in movies is always a joke? Let me give one example.. I was watching Charlies Angels for the second time last week. Being that I had a good chance to take a good look into it - most of the martial arts scenes and fighting scenes were very silly.

Example: "...and that's kicking your ass"...

How come when that first guy came running at her, when she (Drew Barrymore) stood up, he swung around and pointed his ass at her? At that point, she was able to kick it and he flew into everyone else and then she beat them all up with her hands tied behind her back...

That scene had some seriously ridiculous stuff in it. Was it meant to be funny? I know the movie had some humor in it, but I didn't see that as a funny scene. It was an action scene. And I just don't think they handled it correctly.

They certainly could have made it look more believable. Oh, and when she jumped in the air, they might as well have left the rope that pulled her up in the scene. It was ridiculously obvious that she was being hoised up. Why? I don't think that was meant either. They should have left the boom mic in too..

This is the 21st Century. I'm sure they could have done all of this much better. I could have made these action scenes more believable.. I know, I know.. Like the Matrix, there were some effecty things going on. But, I think they did a crappy job.

Now that Charlies Angels 2 is on its way - I hope they work harder. Maybe this time, 6 or 7 guys will slip on the same banana peel and all fall to the floor...

"...and that's kicking your ass"...

Please.. Work a little harder and give me some real entertainment throughout the entire movie...

I agree with ya sal. Those scenes were a joke. When I first saw the movie, I was like.. ya gotta be sh*tting me.They could have done so much better on the action scenes.

As for the sequel, if they want it to look more realistic, they need to bring in Jackie Chan to fill in as a stunt person.

Of course the thought of him in a blonde wig and in thier outfits,
just doesn't paint a pretty picture.:eek: :lol:

I agree, with the exception of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; women seem to start out tough but then end up as "the damsel in distress to be saved by the big male hero." Just look at an otherwise great movie like The Matrix. Carrie Ann Moss started out really kicking some a-s and a little a-s kicking at the end, but for the most part spent her time mooning after Neo. Oh well...

CTHD was an excellent movie!!! I loved that so much I got it on DVD....tremendous! I also saw Iron Monkey, which was very good, IMO. They really need to work on getting the action scenes down right with a lot of these other movies.

I just take most of that as a joke. I was NOT impressed with Charlie's Angels at all. Doubtful I will watch it again. Of course the fight scenes were blown WAY out of proportion... Drew fights off 3 guys with her hands tied behind her back? B.S.

I only watched about 30 minutes of Couching Tiger. The only reason I watched it is that I heard the special effects during the chasing scenes rocked. I thought they did! I will probably finish the movie off real soon.

The only movie out there that had awesome special effects, but I truly HATED it was Matrix. Out of every person I have ever met who has seen it, only two people I know HATE The Matrix. That is me and my g/f.

Oh well... we all have different taste.

Charlies Angels could have been done better. I think it was just made to be a comedy because the action was unbelievable. I think they spent their budgets on their so called outfits then on the actual action scene.

Nope, Aaron, I'm in there with ya!!

I sat down to watch The Matrix, and got about 20 minutes into it, and found that not only did I not understand the whole plot, but the effects were getting me confused. I was then told, by my b/f, that it's a "guy thing". Oh well, at least I tried!!:D (That and lox!!)

I agree Sal, those fight scenes in "Charlie's Angels" were sooo over the top that it was rediculous.
After watching the tv series and hearing that they were making a motion picture about the Angels, I wanted to see it. I was disapointed.
Hopefully the sequel will be more realistic, but I doubt it.

I'm not impressed by any actor's stunt where I can say this:

"that actor is doing absolutely nothing that I couldn't do with a multi-million-dollar special FX crew of my own".

If some kind of supernatural power is involved than there might be a legitimate movie reason to have the actor backflip 15 feet in the air and kick three guys at once, but otherwise it's just too stupid to overcome any "coolness" factor.

Jackie Chan rules! :D

I agree Sal. Too many times women kicking a guys butt becomes comical. Maybe it's the stereotypical attitude that guys have grown up with that women are the weaker sex. I'm not saying I don't have that attitude.There are lots of ways women are stronger physically! I know I would want to push a baseball out of my penis! It's just that women have always seemed weaker physically and that they need to be protected. So, when a women starts kicking a guys butt it's like "Yeah! Right!" It's like a joke and you gotta admit it usually looks funny because of the physical thing. Like when a little guy kicks a great big guys butt! Sure there are lots of women out their who can kick lots of guys butts as well as little guys who can beat up big guys but it just looks funny! Anyway, I took "Charlies Angels" as more like a somewhat satiracal remake that's why I figured they brought Bill Murray in as Bosley. It also didn't bother me because even the original series had some comedic moments. But there is no excuse for bad special effects! Especially in a high budget movie an dwith todays technology! The only thing I hate worse than bad special effects BAD EDITING of special effects. Case in point
Arnold's movie "Commando" Great movie,Serious movie,Serious star,Serious budget,Serious editing mistakes!
Arnold smashes his car passenger side against a bad guys driver side during a chase completely cratering in side of bad guys porshe,the bad guy crashes,
then Arnold and Rae Dawn Chong run off the road in their convertible and smash into a guard rail.Nice shot from side veiw ,car stops,front end smashed,hood pinned against rail. Then the total unecessary shot !BAD EDIT 1:An arial veiw of this
crash is shown !You see a obvious model crash the hood and its dummy passangers fly out of the convertible! Cut to Arnold jumping out of car Rae in car a little shaken. Arnold yanks bad guy out picks him up by one ankle with one arm(No problem it's Arnold for Godsakes!) Then holds him over a cliff threatening to drop him if he doesn't talk. BAD EDIT 2:The cable holding this guy is clearly shown at the top of the screen! Not once but 3 times!
The guy talks,Arnold drops him anyway . Arnold's car is shot so he goes over to the bad guy's car which is laying on its passenger side. Arnold pushes it over onto its wheels(Still no problem It's Arnie!)
He and Rae drive away clear veiw of the driver's side! Problem BAD EDIT3 Not a scratch on it! Sure Porshes are expensive and they probably used 2 one to trash and one to drive but the shot of them pulling away was unecessary! Was the editor of this movie asleep?If he got paid a dime he got paid too much! I want that job! I know I could do a better job than that! How could he not see those mistakes! How could anybody not see them? Was this movie screened before it was released?! Absolutely no excuse!
Anyway thanks for letting me vent. I'm almost done writing a movie script I'm going to submit and just the thought of
mistakes that bad being made in a movie I wrote pisses me off!

COOL BREEZE

"There's no film....I'm live"-drunken Father Mulcahy on MASH

That's the problem these days - too many special effects. A lot of these movies just leave me thinking "aw c'mon, that guy would have been dead twenty times over". And sending somebody out for two afternoons of martial arts training and then expecting us to believe they're black belts - yeah...right.

Time to pop an old Bruce Lee tape in the VCR. Now that guy - from the way it looks on screen, I'm surprised some of the other actors survived the filming! And Lee's movies had budgets that wouldn't pay for a weeks catering on most of these hollywood blockbusters.

I agree, Sal. I don't know about CTHD, because I haven't seen it, but Charlie's Angels was a big disappointment. Why did they try to make it funny, if indeed they did? There are female Martial Arts experts all over the place who could kick some serious ass!! This movie was a mockery to women who train for years to learn those moves to prove they can do it every bit as well, if not better, than men can. If it was meant to be a joke, I guess I just didn't think it was funny. ;)

they prob need someone with a bit more muscle (xena? chyna?) to be more realistic

only problem is that they don't have the "catwalk supermodel body" which brings the patrons in

it's all about $$$, not realism...which is one of the reasons why i don't watch hollywood flicks anymore

I didn't like Matrix one bit, and I love action movies. CTHD was fantastic! Michelle Yeoh is my hero, because she kicks *ss, and because she' s the same age as me and still totally hot! I agree completely that women in movies are usually not in the good action scenes - I especially hate it when they hang back screaming while the guys fight, when they could at least hit somone with a chair or something.

Originally posted by DD86


I was then told, by my b/f, that it's a "guy thing". Oh well, at least I tried!!:D

Well, DD he was wrong it is not a "guy thing" I thought that movie rocked. Can't wait for the next one.

Another thing about martial art movies, you got to love the movies from China, not for the effects or acting, just for the fact that they fight the girls as they fight the men. To hurt or kill them. That is what you guys are talking about, right?

How about in pretty much ALL fight scenes.. where one person has to kick the asses of a whole gang (such as Drew did in Charlie's Angels with her hands tied behind her back), isn't it amazing that they all wait their turns to get their asses kicked, rather than all jump her? It's that way in all movies!!! And when they DO all jump in at once, I'm always sitting there saying, "Hey! Wait your turn!" LOL :lol:

Now I know that's only an animated movie, but Mulan kicks some serious butt in this Disney flick!! How about that, Disney got progressive! I really hope they've got a few more like this in the works, the next is long overdue. It happens to be my 4 year old daughter's favorite Disney movie. And did you know that both Blue and Magenta in Blue's Clues are girls? I don't know exactly why that came to mind, but I'll toss it out there.

I really thought that the film took many scenes from the Matrix. All I really cared about was Cameron Diaz shake her booty!