Chow Yun-Fat is a Gun Fu Star, True... But is he Kung Fu?

He kinda started out playing romantic interest roles. But quickly changed that heartthrob image when he started working with John Woo in 1986 to badass gangster.

Chow Yun-Fat's collaboration with Woo also sky rocketed him to superstar status and imprinted to the world that he is Gun Fu with movies like "A Better Tomorrow", "A Better Tomorrow II", "The Killer", "Hard Boiled", and epic "City on Fire" which according to wikipedia was the inspiration behind Quentin Tarantino's "Resevoir Dogs"

Yun-Fat didn't limit himself to action movies though, since he felt that action movies didn't stretch him as an actor his resume is peppered with Romantic and Dramatic films as well.

With movies like "Love in a Fallen City", "An Autumn's Tale", "Anna and the King", and "Curse of the Golden Flower" he proves that he is an actor that appeals to both women and men.

But let's be real, he broke with international superstardom by playing Wudang Swordsman Li Mu Bai when "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" hit the theaters. Yes, Kung Fu took him to the top.

This is why he has made it to my legends list. He really only did 2 modern Kung Fu movies this one and "Bulletproof Monk".

I don't consider him a Kung Fu star like Bruce Lee or Sammo Hung or Jackie Chan because he never trained in Martial Arts, but he is such an amazing Chinese star that I couldn't ignore him. And since I put Zhang Ziyi on my list I most certainly couldn't leave him out.

A really interesting fact I happened on about Chow Yun-Fat was that he actually turned down the role of Morpheus in The Matrix movie. Which is a mind blower when you think about anyone turning down a lead part in a feature film produced out of Hollywood.

But I'm guessing since he had spent almost a decade in the 90's doing action movies he figured this was just gonna be another action flick.

Little did he know that it would have been an amazing acting role too. Marrying great acting with great action. But his loss is Lawrence Fishburne's gain.

Chow Yun-Fat is still doing movies and you might have seen some of his more recent work but I haven't been paying much attention since I'm a guy and more interested in the Gun Fu Yun-Fat.

I do want to check out "Dragonball: Evolution" even though others have panned it, but that's cause I'm a big Dragonball Z fan.

There is a movie he's shooting right now that also stars Donnie Yen that I am interested in seeing though. It's called "The Monkey King". Now that should be interesting.

So to wrap it up. I respect Chow Yun-Fat's desire to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. It's just unfortunate that he never took a closer look at his contemporaries. Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Jackie Chan have all proved that Martial Arts movie stars can also be amazing actors. It's about the scripts and the directors you work with. Too bad Chow never followed their lead. I think if he had followed the Kung Fu path he would have been fulfilled in all the areas he likes to act in. Romance, action, drama and comedy; all wrapped up in one genre.

Again, this is what makes Kung Fu fans so awesome. They get it. To those who don't get it, go rent some real Kung Fu movies.

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