Michelle-Yeoh-interview-Supercop-gq

The success of CRAZY RICH ASIANS at the box office is quite gratifying, because it proves that once every two decades, Americans can make a movie starring Asian people and the world will not end. Interestingly, in Asia they have a huge movie industry that makes movies starring Asians all the time, so it’s nice that we caught on.

Also Michelle Yeoh’s turn as a fierce, overbearing mother has inspired a new round of Michelle Yeoh profiles which show once again that she is the Greatest.  Supercop. Wing Chun. Herioc Trio. I mean where WERE you guys when she was literally kicking all kinds of ass in the HK movies of the 90s, a headlining action star long before Gal Gadot, sorry. It’s demonstrably true that she is the only good thing appear in Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond tenure. Plus she drove a motorcycle onto a moving train. No stunt people. No cuts. CGI barely existed.

 

Oh yeah, then there’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Chow Yun Fat is great but he can’t do martial arts (it was supposed to be Jet Li and I still cry about that) so Michelle had to totally carry him.

Actually the traditional “blooper reel” from the end of Supercop shows Yeoh’s fortitude even more with the OUTTAKES of the train scene where she FALLS OFF a motorcycle on a moving train. She also falls out of a moving car. Of maybe it’s not as scary as when Jackie Chan gets hit by a helicopter and PAs have to cut his unconscious, bloody,  limp body off of the rig. Did Henry Cavill or Tom Cruise have that happen to them while making Mission Impossible Fallout? I don’t think so, meaning it is great but NOT the greatest action movie of all times.

 

Anyway, Michelle Yeoh is one of the most amazing, beautiful, powerful, movie stars of all times. It’s nice that she had a 30 second cameo in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and a brief appearance in Star Trek Discovery but we need MORE MICHELLE YEOH. More movies with Asian people!

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(Apologies for the Miramax logo there.)

7 COMMENTS

  1. I think this movie was a hit because people wanted to see a romantic comedy (for a change). They’ve been fading in recent years; the studios aren’t making as many comedies as they used to, because American comedy doesn’t sell that well overseas. Not as well as superheroes and other CGI-heavy franchises.

    I’m sure the calculation behind CRAZY RICH ASIANS was that even if it flops in the U.S., it’ll make money in Asia because of the cast. And Asia is, increasingly, the only market that matters to Hollywood. That’s where audiences are growing and new theaters are being built.

    “More movies with Asian people!”

    The people who went to this movie in the U.S. probably didn’t care about the actors’ race. They just wanted to see a romantic comedy, and this looked like a good one — at least better than those awful Kate Hudson movies we used to get!

  2. But then we can talk about the cultural influence and fusion that occurred in Hollywood because of HK and Japanese films. The Matrix, with Wo Ping (I think) on fight choreography – who also did Crouching Tiger (and was a film made for and enjoyed by Western audiences itself) – is just one example of fusion and cultural fluidity. That Keanu appeared in The Man of Tai Chi was great, in my opinion (but 47 Ronin is a little too fantasy based for me). Lots of cultural fusion; great. The Indonesian-made The Raid movies are latest I’ve enjoyed.

    Big case for superhero movies existing and being way they are because of East-Asian movies.

  3. Ironically it’s getting crapped on in Asia for being racist because it only shows Eastern Asians in Singapore, completely ignoring the rest of the ethnicities commonly found there,unless they are servants.

  4. You’ve rekindled me and I’m splurging on a whole lot of martial arts movies that have previously been missing from my dvd collection. Not bad.

  5. “Ironically it’s getting crapped on in Asia for being racist”

    It’s not exactly a realistic depiction of Asians (or anyone else). Like most rom-coms with white or black characters, it’s set in a world where everyone is wealthy and glamorous, wears great clothes, drives great cars, constantly travels around the globe, and lives in apartments the size of football fields.In other words, it’s a fantasy.

    (Consumer porn is usually a big part of rom-coms and, especially, chick flicks. No chick flick is complete without the shopping montage set to bouncy, joyous music.)

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