[Weekly Update] September 20, 2021

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! It's a festival of reunion in China. Hopefully everyone have a good night spent with their loved ones. And if you can't go home because of the pandemic, a video call is an option, too!

CHANNEL UPDATE

• Currently stuck writing the script for Gun Fu Part 2. It's slightly too long to include a John Wick section, but there is not enough material for John Wick to get its own Part 3 video. Looks like I might have to start writing it from scratch, with a new direction.
• If you don't know, A bunch of Asian content creators and I did a live 2 hour podcast a few days ago. Currently the recordings are still being edited and processed, but should be available soon. Depending on how much time I have, there may be a highlight video on our channel.
• Currently considering doing a fight analysis for Shang-Chi when it comes to Disney+. Or I can finally do a video on how some of the Chinese dialogues are very awkward. Would you be down to see another Shang-Chi video, or do you already have enough of the film?

MEDIA TALK

• In preparation for Gun Fu Part 2, I watched a bunch of Gun Fu movies that seemed forgotten by time, including Ultraviolet and Shoot 'Em Up. One is better than the other.
• And this got me thinking... The 2000s has a lot of original idea films that didn't leave much of an impact on film history, didn't it? Looking back, it was such a different time.
• So, let's talk about some 2000s action movie.
• Shoot 'Em Up (2007) was essentially a meta-response to the growing cheesiness of John Woo style Gun Fu in Hollywood. By the time it came out, the audience was intimately familiar with the aesthetic.
• And when something becomes cheesy, a post-modernist deconstruction process will begin.
• This is when the genre becomes self-aware, from Halloween to Scream. From Friday the 13th to Jason X. From Hard Boiled, to Shoot 'Em Up. Many action scenes in Shoot 'Em Up is a straight parody of John Woo movies, from shooting while holding a baby, to the main character chomping on something constantly. John Woo characters slide down a set of stairs. Shoot 'Em Up slide 20 feet across different surfaces. It's cleverly dumb.
• The One (2001) is another weird one off movie. It features Jet Li in the role of a police officer being hunted by himself from a parallel universe. Something about the less version of you are out there, the more powerful you become.
• This premise sounds straight out of late 80s, but nope, it's a 2001 movie, and it definitely feels like it. That Linkin Park style angst and attitude is so strong.
• Despite being so poorly received, the movie is pretty memorable, though. The final fight where two Jet Li duking it out is still impressive today. Face replacement isn't that common in 2001.
• Remember that Hitman (2007) movie? Yeah, I don't know why they made it into a John Woo style gunfight movie, since the game series is never about shooting. But it does have some of the best Gun Fu from the 2000s. I'm not even joking.
• It's pretty clear that someone just really wanted to do a John Woo flick, and copied a lot of the style and aspects wholesale. But it works! If you have seen our Birth fo Gun Fu video, all of the techniques applied here.
• This movie might warrant a rewatch.
• Hancock (2008). How did this movie happen? What was the selling point of this film, other than seeing Will Smith as Superman... I guess I answered my own question.
• I remember being rather unimpressed with the movie. It's not bad, but the 2000s fatigue was setting in, and Hancock just feels like another one of those 2000s movie that all share the same style, aesthetic, and story.
• In fact, I think Hancock is like the best example of what 2000s movie feels like to me. Other such movies includes Alien vs. Predator Requiem, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, Jumper, DareDevil.
• It's difficult to see a decade defining aesthetic when you are in the middle of it. For a long time, people seem to think the 90s and the 2000s just don't have a clear theme and style. But now that we have 20 years of hindsight, things a beginning to become clear.
• For me, the 90s is defined by action films with more grounded heroes, and crap tones of gay undertone. It was the gay decade for me. And I mean it in the best way possible. Although this trend started in the mid to late either, with Nightmare on Elm Street 2, and The Lost Boys. It really hit its height with Point Break, and Top Gun.
• Yes, some may say these movies are more about the expression of male friendship and affection, something that is weirdly taboo these days. And it is a good point. But either way, I really wish we aren't so afraid of having two men being close together, one way or another, in cinema.
• As for 2000s... I am still not sure what defines the action genre aesthetic. but there is definitely something there. What do you think is the style of the 2000s? Let me know.

And that is the update. Hopefully I can finish up the script for Gun Fu part 2 soon. A video should be up sometime next week. And I'll see you in our next update!