How To Grow Your Geek: Parenting and More!

Hey guys,
This time around I though I would review my second type of movie I love. A martial arts one.
I have always loved it, for as long as I can remember, it’s so much like dancing when you think about it. Punch, block, kick. All timed to be a graceful dance across the screen when done right.

I have three favorite martial actors, Jackie Chan that I wrote about earlier, Michelle Yeoh, the beautiful woman from crouching tiger; (She’s a grandmother and still does films! that so rocks.) and there there is the star of this film Jet Li. I’ll have some cool things about him after my review. He’s a real life hero, and someone to look up too.

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk – A dvd review by Darcy Low

“Jet Li stars as a carefree young martial arts expert who gets involved with a government official’s daughter just as he discovers his family is part of a rebel resistance movement. While his fighting ability and charm made him a local champion, his epic battle for freedom would make him a legendary hero. Acclaimed choreographer Corey Yuen. (who helped on all the Transporter movies) directs Li at his jaw dropping best, including an unbelievable sequence fought entirely atop the heads of stunned onlookers. (that was awesome) Winner of the best action choreography at the hong kong film awards. The Legend of Fong Sak Yuk ranks way up there on the list of great Hong Kong Cinema experiences.”

Okay let me say this is one of my all time favorites. It is just so much fun to watch. Jet Li is really having fun with this one. His charm and humor really comes out.

When the movie starts out, this is a big contest in the middle of the village. Two very tall towers made of bamboo have been built, and the challenge is two houses have to send out their best martial artists to compete for the hand in marriage of official mentioned above. The winner is the first to reach the top of the towers, fighting the other the whole way. If they fall or for some reason any part of them touch the ground; they are counted out. That is where the fighting on top of people’s head and shoulders come in. The champion of the other house turns out to be the a young girl. (who was mentioned above as well.) She gives the story that she is doing this for the honor of her house, but she has other reasons for wanting to get close to the official. As they both fight, they both trade insults to each other as well as kicks and punches. Fong Sai Yuk does it laughingly and jokes a lot, but soon finds the girl is pretty much his equal. He lets her win, but I won’t say why. (don’t want to spoil it)

It’s later in the movie we learn that the girl is really an killer who is trying to get close to the official, thinking that he is the one to blame for the people’s oppression. Fong finds this out and decides to follow her around. Together they learn that there is much more going on than anyone realizes. And Fong then learns the truth about his father and the rebels.

Fong’s father is captured and is brought out in the middle of the village for a public execution. Fong races to his aid, but has to confront the real person to blame for all the people’s troubles and stop the robe that is burning that holds the very heavy blade that will cut off his father’s head. Will he make it in time? And who is it really that is pulling the official’s strings?

At one point in the movie, Jet Li confronts the bad guy and they have to fight under a boardwalk. There is just enough room for both of them to crouch down and the boards above them are real. During the fighting, our hero is knocked back but returns the kick by jumping forward and spinning like a corkscrew. Now I know it was wire work, having seen Crouching Tiger. But I still have no idea how they did it.

The movie is one of the best I have seen and I think you guys would like it a lot. One note to the parents. The film is rated R. But there is no reason at all for this. There is no blood or gore, no cussing, and no boobs. They rated it that for the fung fu violence. Seriously. So don’t let that worry you any.

As in a lot of Jet Li’s films, this was based on a true story. So if you guys don’t mind the long review here, I thought I would tell a bit about the real Fong Sai Yuk and a bit about Jet Li himself.

Fong Sai-yuk is a native of Zhaoqing, Guangdong province. His father, Fong Tak, is a rich businessman while his mother Miu Tsui Fa is a highly-skilled martial artist. His mother is also the daughter of one of the legendary Five Elders of the southern Shaolin Monastery.

According to legend, his mother breaks every bone and limb in his body after his birth and bathes him in Chinese Rubbing Alcohol to make him practically invulnerable. Fong Sai-yuk’s body becomes “copper skin and metal bone” after the treatment. (Yeah doubt this myself, but makes for a good story)According to legend, Fong Sai-yuk is killed by Bak Mei, the notorious pugilist in a battle of vengeance. But according to the history, Fong Sai-yuk was killed during the fight with Ng Mui during the burning of Shaolin.

Jet Li is one of my favorite actors and is on my list of people I have come to admire. The following I got on Wiki, but I will add something very cool I learned about him myself from being on Facebook.

Li was born Li Lianjie in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Li’s father died when he was two years old, leaving the family to struggle on its own, with Li being the youngest of two boys and two girls.

Li was eight when his talent for wushu was noticed at a summer course at school, and he began his practice there. Li participated in the sport of wushu in the non-sparring event. He began his wushu on the Beijing Wushu Team, an athletic group organized to perform martial arts forms during the All China Games. As a member of the team, he received wushu training and went on to win fifteen gold medals and one silver medal in Chinese wushu championships. According to Li, once, as a child, when the Chinese National Wushu Team went to perform for President Richard Nixon in the United States, he was asked by Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied, “I don’t want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!” which earned him much respect in his homeland.

Li is a master of several styles of wushu, especially Changquan (Northern Longfist Style) and Fanziquan (Tumbling fist). He has also studied other arts including Baguazhang (Eight trigram palm), Taijiquan (Tai chi), Xingyiquan (Shape intent fist), Zuiquan (Drunken fist), Ying Zhao Quan (Eagle Claw Fist) and Tang lang quan (Praying mantis fist). He did not learn Nanquan (Southern fist), because his training focused only in the Northern Shaolin Styles. He has also studied some of wushu’s main weapons, such as San jie gun (Three sectional staff), Gun (Staff), Dao (Broadsword), Jian (Straight sword) and many more.

Here is what I have learned myself. He was once a US citizen but rumors came about that he renounced that and went to Singapore to live. There was a lot of controversy about it at the time, and the media blew it all up like they always do. The truth was Jet Li decided that the educational system there was better for his two daughters and he wanted to raise them in the culture he grew up in. (I like that, and when you look at all the reports who in the world comes out on top as better educated? Asian kids every time.)

Another cool thing, he has been giving his reviews from films to charity since 2006, and is an ambassador to the red cross. Saying once, “”grassroots NGOs can help the government in its blind spots. Government relief is not always detail-oriented. Grassroots NGOs can’t be as big as a government effort, but they need to be flexible and independent.”

Last thing, when I was on Facebook and was following him; the tousomi hit while he and his family were there on vacation. At one point both of his daughters were swept up in the tidal wave. Just like his on screen heroism; he jumped in the water and saved both of them himself. Now that’s awesome.

So I hope you guys will check out this and his other movies. Sorry for this being so long, but I keep finding new stuff to add.

see you later,

Darcy