I always loved when you wrote about cinematic action, going all the way back to your Stunt People reviews. To this day, no one breaks down techniques/choreo/angles the way you did and it's why I'll watch any essay video you decide to put out. This was amazing.
This was awesome! I think a great follow up would be how Jackie Chan and the Hong Kong handover influenced Hollywood movies -- you touched on it with this video a little bit. I grew up watching Jackie Chan movies in Hawaii, before he got noticed by the USA (from "Rumble in the Bronx")
The first martial art movie I ever watched was Bloodsport and I became obsessed with it, especially because of the training sequence on the beginning. Later on, I came across Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies until I was finally able to purchase a set of Bruce Lee movies on DVD. Suddenly, martial art movies weren't just entertainment, they were practical and filosophical. This reinforced my interest on martial arts from Street Fighter and, particularly, my favorite character from the Alpha series, Guy. This character originally from Final Fight shared some similarities with Bruce Lee who went from China to San Francisco when he was young much like Guy who went from Japan to the fictional Metro City. The backflip kick from Enter the Dragon (17:47) is almost identical to Guy's Kamaitachi. Plus, the mix of traditional and urban elements such as Bruce Lee wearing a pair of yellow and black sneakers in contrast to his martial art and Guy wearing a pair of white and red Air Nike sneakers in contrast to his Bushinryu ninja garment, which led me to actually practice ninjutsu. Ultimately, I think is important for us to have this examples, be the legendary Bruce Lee or a fictional character like Guy, Ryu, Jin or any other game, manga, anime character. This alone keep our individual interest on what is actually important: Improving the health of both mind and body.
This is absolutely great, you've done his memory proud. I'm 36 and grew up just obsessed with martial arts. Thankfully I had some amazing movies to watch because of it. Miss the old Hong Kong cinema :(
Around 15:00, I'm glad you showed that Bruce Lee's kick was a hook kick instead of a roundhouse. Because for YEARS, I always thought it was a roundhouse.
Eric Jacobus is America's version of Jackie Chan. Why no enterprising producer has been able to take this tremendously imaginative, dynamic, and exciting to watch talent and bring him to American audiences is beyond me. Another example of unrealized potential in the martial arts movie genre. But fear not. Until we get a blockbuster film starring this amazing, much deserving talent, enjoy this superb essay on the art of cinematic kicking, by the man, Eric Jacobus, himself. I'm betting he'll be back, better than ever :)
Bruce Lee's wife,The late Linda Lee told the story about how Bruce Lee and the director of The Big Boss clashed and didn't get along especially when it came to the fight scenes.Bruce Lee had his own revolutionary ideas about how fights in films should be and the director didn't get or grasp the concept.But,in the end Bruce's ideas won and changed the way fight scenes were choreographed and shot(filmed).
Honestly an incredible job Eric Jacobus I can hear the passion in your voice for Martial Arts In film as well the Hong Kong Culture and saying Bruce Lee's Cantonese name Lei Siu Long Thank Man Keep up with the Action Essay's I love it and I also watched the Donnie Yen one beautiful work!
MOOOOORE!!!! Your perspective on action scenes and stunts is pretty unique. Maybe we can get "The Art of Cinematic Punching" next? I don't know how that essay would go, but if it comes from you, I can't wait!
Legend! I just went out of my mind with your dictionary of kicking and the Tekken imitations. Also your choreographies are insane. Return to action as soon as possible, buddy!!!
Man...I wish you were on the team working on the upcoming Mortal Kombat sequel cause the last film was lacking that cinematic fight scene quality...I also would love to see you play Stryker again but that's a different story😅
Thank you for taking the time to make and share this, this. was extremely informative and amazingly well done. Would love more of this educational content or even passing things that you might think about. Stay well!
Love the way that you explored other martial arts and their influences on each other and how it eventually came to Film. Looking forward to seeing your future work! 🙏
Great video! I'd love to see one about same-leg/chain kickers on film (eg. Ken Lo/Flashlegs Tan/Kim Won Jin/Hwang Jang Lee/etc etc). Always loved that kicking style
This is great man! I recommend this to anyone looking to get into kung fu or action acting films . Bruce Lee was known for his kicks. Dynamic kicking is something that a 34 year old man who has been a fan of Bruce Lee for over 20 years has never actually really practice. I basically only practiced one or two kicks one for sure the sidekick. I want what Bruce Lee wanted to do eclipse all the other kickers in the industry. He became just as good as Chuck Norris and anyone else. 10:51 I agree Bruce was getting inspiration from them. Look at his stance compared to the other guy in white it’s the same except for Bruce Lee has maybe a half inch shorter width stance, and his heel about a half inch off the ground, a eppe or fencing stance. 11:00 I agree with you that Bruce Lee brought theatre, and I can see it and I’m looking for the first time with fresh eyes. 12:13 I would love to see that kick in film, there’s three guys in a line and the TKD guy does a flying tripple lead round kick at the three of them in the face using the same right leg, 😱. Isn’t Bruce Lee’s yellow one piece overall suit a skiing suit? I think he went skiing with someone and they used those.
Big ups yo!!! Great Video. Keep this video series going. It's great that you dug into the history of kicking and broke these moves down. Also, Shout out to my late sifu Wing Lam in one of those clips.
That was outstanding! A personal note: I can distinctly recall discussing in high school Bruce Lee's "lame" kicks in "The Green Hornet." This discussion would have taken place years later in the early '70s, just when "The Big Boss" hit San Francisco's Chinatown before getter wider distribution as "Fists of Fury." Our THEORY was that Bruce was "holding back" because he didn't want to reveal to a mass "American" audience the full range of his skills. During the '60s, there was a reluctance among the Chinese martial artists to teach their techniques to non-Asians. although Bruce is famous for breaking that taboo himself at his own school. Anyway, that's what we TEENS talked about back then. Again, great video. I admire the time, research, and editing it took to put it all together!
Another person that people say Bruce learned kicks from is his friend TKD Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee. They’ve got beach pictures throwing high kicks at each other and he also took Bruce to all the big karate tournaments.
This video was great, you need to do a whole series, even a Ken burns' style documentary. I miss your tekken irl, one day you'll release lucky Chloe and all it's mad genius.
Dude. This is an absolutely fantastic video. Like... genuinely brilliant. This will become a legendary piece that martial arts movie heads will be talking about for fucking years. Hearing someone with this amount of understating, knowledge and passion for martial arts cinema just stepping up and delivering what I can only describe as an essay on fucking cinematic kicking... I hope your planning another video along these lines! Seriously, this is one of the best things I've watched in years. Thanks pal.
Just realized I described this video as an 'essay'... when that's exactly what you've called it in the actual name of the video... I deserve a nicely framed, expertly performed, dynamic kick to the head.
Found out about your work because I read you're the stunt mocap for KRATOS in the 2 most recent God of War titles. Never knew I'd stumble on this diamond in the rough. This was beyond impactful. Gained a greater respect for Bruce and Stunt crews in general. Thanks a bunch! Already subbed because I need more of this kind of content, have a good one.
Excellent video. A topic i would like to see is why and how moves that would be ineffective or even look silly irl may look pleasing in animations and videogames.
That was a really great video, it put to light things I never really thought about from the martial arts action movies I love. More of these essay videos please, it was great, and clear you put in a lot of work on the research for it!
thanks eric, great breakdown, with your knowledge, there's so many possibilities for video essays. examples, powder hits, cardboard boxes, slow motion hits, the hk style falls, one take choreography, list goes on and on. so glad you're doing this type of video!!
Amazing video; I love the depth of your knowledge. I would love some of your insight into Jet Li because as far as I can tell was never interested in being behind the camera which made his action look more inconsistent than others like Jackie Chan or Donnie Yen.
Great video! I am a veteran of (viewing) martial arts cinema (including "Contour," good sir) and have often wondered when crazy kicks were introduced to the screen. I'd assumed that cats like Ing-Sik Whang were doing it before Bruce but that was an assumption after having seen "Hapkido" (1972). Once the kicks started, it avalanched quickly! Can hardly wait for you to be interviewed by the great Scott Adkins!
I always loved when you wrote about cinematic action, going all the way back to your Stunt People reviews. To this day, no one breaks down techniques/choreo/angles the way you did and it's why I'll watch any essay video you decide to put out. This was amazing.
What other action essays would you like to see?
Getting more into the Hong Kong handoff would be super interesting!
hmm probably the art of taking a hit
This was awesome! I think a great follow up would be how Jackie Chan and the Hong Kong handover influenced Hollywood movies -- you touched on it with this video a little bit. I grew up watching Jackie Chan movies in Hawaii, before he got noticed by the USA (from "Rumble in the Bronx")
Do as many as you can! I’ll be here for all of them, you are awesome man.
Maybe one about Jackie and his stunt team. Absolutely action cinema legends!
Imagine if Bruce Lee lived longer. What kind of martial art cinema we would have.
This was kickass
He does it and he's a legend, when I do flying kicks in my yellow onesie everybody just says I'm weird
Sir, this is a Wendy's
The first martial art movie I ever watched was Bloodsport and I became obsessed with it, especially because of the training sequence on the beginning. Later on, I came across Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies until I was finally able to purchase a set of Bruce Lee movies on DVD. Suddenly, martial art movies weren't just entertainment, they were practical and filosophical. This reinforced my interest on martial arts from Street Fighter and, particularly, my favorite character from the Alpha series, Guy. This character originally from Final Fight shared some similarities with Bruce Lee who went from China to San Francisco when he was young much like Guy who went from Japan to the fictional Metro City. The backflip kick from Enter the Dragon (17:47) is almost identical to Guy's Kamaitachi. Plus, the mix of traditional and urban elements such as Bruce Lee wearing a pair of yellow and black sneakers in contrast to his martial art and Guy wearing a pair of white and red Air Nike sneakers in contrast to his Bushinryu ninja garment, which led me to actually practice ninjutsu. Ultimately, I think is important for us to have this examples, be the legendary Bruce Lee or a fictional character like Guy, Ryu, Jin or any other game, manga, anime character. This alone keep our individual interest on what is actually important: Improving the health of both mind and body.
This is absolutely great, you've done his memory proud. I'm 36 and grew up just obsessed with martial arts. Thankfully I had some amazing movies to watch because of it. Miss the old Hong Kong cinema :(
Around 15:00, I'm glad you showed that Bruce Lee's kick was a hook kick instead of a roundhouse. Because for YEARS, I always thought it was a roundhouse.
The first of many to come. Every segment of the video could open up the possibility for further exploration in a future video. Can't wait to see more!
Eric Jacobus is America's version of Jackie Chan. Why no enterprising producer has been able to take this tremendously imaginative, dynamic, and exciting to watch talent and bring him to American audiences is beyond me. Another example of unrealized potential in the martial arts movie genre.
But fear not. Until we get a blockbuster film starring this amazing, much deserving talent, enjoy this superb essay on the art of cinematic kicking, by the man, Eric Jacobus, himself. I'm betting he'll be back, better than ever :)
he reminds me of the hong kong masters of the 80s! get this man his own film series like jackie chan. what a guy!
Brilliant video 👍
Every night before he goes to sleep, Quentin Tarantino checks under his bed for Bruce Lee...
Well done Eric.
This deserves more view , likes and comments.
This was everything I needed in a video essay on martial arts films
Bruce Lee's wife,The late Linda Lee told the story about how Bruce Lee and the director of The Big Boss clashed and didn't get along especially when it came to the fight scenes.Bruce Lee had his own revolutionary ideas about how fights in films should be and the director didn't get or grasp the concept.But,in the end Bruce's ideas won and changed the way fight scenes were choreographed and shot(filmed).
thank you so much for making this 🤩
Thanks Eric. This is powerful. Bruce Lee was never shy to learn from others. That made him GREAT!!!!
This series is the best thing since your Tekken takes, I love both of the episodes so far.
MOAR please :D
amazing video, it contains information I have never heard before!
A scholar and a warrior. Great presentation. Miss ya, brother!
Honestly an incredible job Eric Jacobus I can hear the passion in your voice for Martial Arts In film as well the Hong Kong Culture and saying Bruce Lee's Cantonese name Lei Siu Long Thank Man Keep up with the Action Essay's I love it and I also watched the Donnie Yen one beautiful work!
This is DOPE, informative, and just the right length. I appreciate you incorporating your POV as well.
amazingly done man great shit
Yessss! Loved it! I want to see more ! ❤️
amazing essay
This was an INCREDIBLE breakdown, thank you so much.
For the first video essay. Honestly perfection. Keep it up
Blessings for this more to Love Bruce for.
Great job Eric. Love how this became a surprise Bruce Lee documentary
That was amazing dude. I am dying to see the next breakdown.
love the video man please do more of these
Thanks for coming on and sharing your knowledge Eric.
it's look pretty greate. Hope that you will do more of this in the future
Absolutely brilliant Eric,it’s because of Bruce Lee why I took MartialArts over 47 plus years ago 🙏🏽☯️🙏🏽
I love this! Focusing on the technique and not just scene in and of itself. Amazing!
MOOOOORE!!!! Your perspective on action scenes and stunts is pretty unique. Maybe we can get "The Art of Cinematic Punching" next? I don't know how that essay would go, but if it comes from you, I can't wait!
This was awesome! You're so knowledgeable about the history! Really great Essay
My good sir these 2 essay videos are amazing. You know your onions about contact sports. Thank you. Enjoyed it
Awesome as always
Excellent breakdown. Would definitely love to see you do more of these
I miss Bruce too - once again excellent video - thanks Eric!
Legend! I just went out of my mind with your dictionary of kicking and the Tekken imitations.
Also your choreographies are insane. Return to action as soon as possible, buddy!!!
This is a well done essay enlighted me on many aspects of the art of kicking..Good job Eric.
OMG I'm over the moon at how good this essay are! A new era in the Eric Jacobus channel! More please!
Man...I wish you were on the team working on the upcoming Mortal Kombat sequel cause the last film was lacking that cinematic fight scene quality...I also would love to see you play Stryker again but that's a different story😅
Thank you for taking the time to make and share this, this. was extremely informative and amazingly well done. Would love more of this educational content or even passing things that you might think about. Stay well!
Loved this Eric! Very nicely paced and some really interesting info. Would love to see more!
Thank you Eric.
I quite like that shonky kick from Ji Han-jae. Shows how powerful he was that even with rough form, he can still knock you sideways.
This essay was brilliant, Really great work.
Excellent essay, a wealth of experience and observation!
Well researched, entertaining and enlightening.
awesome content
amazing
What an amazing and thorough breakdown! Loved this
Beautifully said Eric 👏
Incredible stuff! Can't wait to see more.
Perfect video essay
Love the way that you explored other martial arts and their influences on each other and how it eventually came to Film. Looking forward to seeing your future work! 🙏
Amazing breakdown. Keep it up.
Great video! I'd love to see one about same-leg/chain kickers on film (eg. Ken Lo/Flashlegs Tan/Kim Won Jin/Hwang Jang Lee/etc etc). Always loved that kicking style
This is great man! I recommend this to anyone looking to get into kung fu or action acting films . Bruce Lee was known for his kicks. Dynamic kicking is something that a 34 year old man who has been a fan of Bruce Lee for over 20 years has never actually really practice. I basically only practiced one or two kicks one for sure the sidekick. I want what Bruce Lee wanted to do eclipse all the other kickers in the industry. He became just as good as Chuck Norris and anyone else.
10:51 I agree Bruce was getting inspiration from them. Look at his stance compared to the other guy in white it’s the same except for Bruce Lee has maybe a half inch shorter width stance, and his heel about a half inch off the ground, a eppe or fencing stance.
11:00 I agree with you that Bruce Lee brought theatre, and I can see it and I’m looking for the first time with fresh eyes.
12:13 I would love to see that kick in film, there’s three guys in a line and the TKD guy does a flying tripple lead round kick at the three of them in the face using the same right leg, 😱.
Isn’t Bruce Lee’s yellow one piece overall suit a skiing suit? I think he went skiing with someone and they used those.
best channel!
This is the type of video i've always wanted!
Big ups yo!!! Great Video. Keep this video series going. It's great that you dug into the history of kicking and broke these moves down. Also, Shout out to my late sifu Wing Lam in one of those clips.
Wow! This was such an incredible breakdown!! Looking forward to more!
Thank you so much for making this
Awesome vid! Need more of these.
Beautifull thanks ✌️😎✨
This was really informative and entertaining, thank you for making this! Would definitely look forward to more of these! Cheers!
Amazing ! I love this channel. Wow!
Thank you for this video!
AWESOME!!
That was outstanding! A personal note: I can distinctly recall discussing in high school Bruce Lee's "lame" kicks in "The Green Hornet." This discussion would have taken place years later in the early '70s, just when "The Big Boss" hit San Francisco's Chinatown before getter wider distribution as "Fists of Fury." Our THEORY was that Bruce was "holding back" because he didn't want to reveal to a mass "American" audience the full range of his skills. During the '60s, there was a reluctance among the Chinese martial artists to teach their techniques to non-Asians. although Bruce is famous for breaking that taboo himself at his own school. Anyway, that's what we TEENS talked about back then. Again, great video. I admire the time, research, and editing it took to put it all together!
Thank you
Thank you sir. Thank you very much.
Another person that people say Bruce learned kicks from is his friend TKD Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee. They’ve got beach pictures throwing high kicks at each other and he also took Bruce to all the big karate tournaments.
Excellent job bro!
Great video
This video was great, you need to do a whole series, even a Ken burns' style documentary. I miss your tekken irl, one day you'll release lucky Chloe and all it's mad genius.
Eres un grande Eric.
Dude.
This is an absolutely fantastic video. Like... genuinely brilliant.
This will become a legendary piece that martial arts movie heads will be talking about for fucking years. Hearing someone with this amount of understating, knowledge and passion for martial arts cinema just stepping up and delivering what I can only describe as an essay on fucking cinematic kicking...
I hope your planning another video along these lines!
Seriously, this is one of the best things I've watched in years.
Thanks pal.
Just realized I described this video as an 'essay'... when that's exactly what you've called it in the actual name of the video...
I deserve a nicely framed, expertly performed, dynamic kick to the head.
Found out about your work because I read you're the stunt mocap for KRATOS in the 2 most recent God of War titles. Never knew I'd stumble on this diamond in the rough. This was beyond impactful. Gained a greater respect for Bruce and Stunt crews in general. Thanks a bunch! Already subbed because I need more of this kind of content, have a good one.
Awesome I love it. Great
Excellent video. A topic i would like to see is why and how moves that would be ineffective or even look silly irl may look pleasing in animations and videogames.
We need to see Eric on The #ArtOfAction, make it happen #ScottAdkins!
Loved it. Great work! :)
Great stuff!!
That was a really great video, it put to light things I never really thought about from the martial arts action movies I love. More of these essay videos please, it was great, and clear you put in a lot of work on the research for it!
This was great ! super instructive and well researched. Thanks, definitely want to see more.
Good stuff Eric.
thanks eric, great breakdown, with your knowledge, there's so many possibilities for video essays. examples, powder hits, cardboard boxes, slow motion hits, the hk style falls, one take choreography, list goes on and on. so glad you're doing this type of video!!
dope stuff dude
its very informative esssay dude! you should make more content like this!
Amazing video; I love the depth of your knowledge. I would love some of your insight into Jet Li because as far as I can tell was never interested in being behind the camera which made his action look more inconsistent than others like Jackie Chan or Donnie Yen.
Eric's dad beard is coming in nicely
great again, whatched the #2 nd first.
Great video! I am a veteran of (viewing) martial arts cinema (including "Contour," good sir) and have often wondered when crazy kicks were introduced to the screen. I'd assumed that cats like Ing-Sik Whang were doing it before Bruce but that was an assumption after having seen "Hapkido" (1972). Once the kicks started, it avalanched quickly! Can hardly wait for you to be interviewed by the great Scott Adkins!
I'm glad i found you!
I definitely didn't expect Sepak Takraw to be mentioned here... wow...