[eih]

Jackie Chan is more like Buster Keaton to me, just with some fighting and beating added to slapstick. I wish there were more actors and actresses like them, doing hard work, always rising the bar. After that, the cheap comedies or action films could be better value added productions (they won't be cheap in means of budget, I know). More like interdisciplinary works of art, combining acrobatics, coreography, pyrotechnics etc. with more modern technical aspects of film making. IMHO, without that effort and authenticity, most of those films would be just huge wastes of money and time.

[Noos]

Jackie isn't even that good. it's annoying because no one really seriously watches enough kung fu films to realize he isn't.

For example, Beardy (Leung Kar Yan) oozes charisma just by breathing, and does fights like these:

https://youtu.be/ViowFzbOxfU

...without any formal kung-fu training! He's just a gifted physical mimic.

Gordon Liu is another hugely influential actor who more or less is what people think of when they think of shaolin kung fu, and he starred in many of the most iconic films of that genre, like the 36th chamber of shaolin. Then you have the five venoms, etc. If you actually went through a collection of the best films, like the old Dragon Dynasty DVDs, you'd be shocked to see how little Chan is in them.

[eih]

Thanks for the recommendations, I will definitely check them. I was into kung-fu films back in VHS days but most of the time you couldn't see names on the cover, just one exaggerated film title translation. There were great performances but it is really hard to find them after all these years.

[lokedhs]

He is also a very good character actor. I realised this after watching New Police Story where he's really showing that he's not just capable of doing great fight scenes.

[eih]

I haven't seen such an acting performance of him yet, but I will check this one.