After a quick search of movies on YouTube, you will soon find everyone is looking for the next big thing.
The problem i find, there always billed as the new version of something we already have. Studio executives are so scared of taking a risk in advertising they have to tag an existing name to anything new!! Only today i saw an advertisement for Rian Johnson's Looper (From the guy who did.... The Brothers Bloom). "This years Matrix" it read.
Now, i'm a big Martial Arts fan. I have to admit this is probably the genre of movies that has the most "New" Stars.
Lets start in the present,
The Raid: Redemption's lead Iko Uwais. In my eyes is the next big thing in martial arts movies. In the media's eyes hes the new Tony Jaa. When Ong Bak came out in 2003 he was the new Jackie Chan.
Donnie Yen and Jet Li in there time were the new Bruce lee. Both actors embracing this with remakes of Fist of Fury (1972). Yen's Legend of the Fist - The return of Chan Zen (2010) was more of a sequel than a remake. Li's Fist of legend in 1994 was what propelled him to international stardom.
Today I saw the trailer for Swordsman (the original title is Wu Xia) staring Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro. Now this is being billed as the 'New' One Armed Swordsman! reading the synopsis it sounds nothing like the original. Is this again just marketing hype? Is the only similarity that Yen's character loses an arm?
Check out the trailer below or if you have seen the movie please let me know.
By the looks of it most people are happy to watch the same thing over and over again. Hollywood has rammed the same rubbish down our throats for years. I'm always looking for an innovator. A trend setter, someone
bringing something original.
Something truly NEW!!!
