This brisk and breezy overview of the beloved chopsocky genre covers a lot of ground in an incredibly short'n'snappy 80 minute running time: Starting with the genre's origins in the Peking Opera, with everything from "Enter the Dragon" to "Kung Fu Panda" crammed in between, this honey just about covers all the essential bases. Naturally, such legendary martial arts trailblazers as Bruce Lee (natch), Jackie Chan (of course), and the unavoidable Chuck Norris get a lion's share of attention, but fortunately we also get segments on Sammo Hung, Gordon Liu, Donnie Yen, Stephen Chow, John Woo (who almost single-handedly created his own sub-genre called "gun fu"), and Jet Li. The ladies are well represented as well by such notable luminaries as Angela Mao, Michelle Yeoh, and Cynthia Rothrock. Naturally, there are oodles of choice clips from movies that range from well-acknowledged classics to lesser known oddball obscurities, plus more outrageous karate fights and astonishing physical feats than you can shake a pair of nunchuks at. Narrated with infectious go-for-it zeal by Yuri Lowenthal, with neat use of stylized animation in the connective segments, an exceptionally thorough and illuminating script by Ric Meyers, and a cool theme song named -- what else? -- "Kung Fu" by Ace, this doc rates as mandatory viewing for both wet behind the ears newbies and seasoned veteran aficionados alike.

I managed to sit all the way through this bargain-bin schlock only because watching clips of martial art movies provides a minimum level of entertainment. The animated framing device and the annoying, "Yahoo web clip"-sounding voice narration that link the clips together provided virtually no insight into history of kung fu movies. The intellectual level of the narrated "analysis" is about on par with a thesis-lacking essay from a below average student in high school. The historical analysis presented amounted to basically just putting a random movie on screen and mentioning who starred in it. Attempts at linking films together to provide a sense of historical development were largely absent and completely inept when present. The film might have worked better if it stayed in strictly chronological order but it jumps back-n-forth in time so much that it leaves the viewer confused. The film is shapeless and shallow. The writers seem to only have had a superficial understanding of subject matter and it just seems like a couple of kung fu geeks somehow managed to convince somebody to fund this. In this end, this is a movie built to ride of the coat-tails of the films it covers. Given the history of exploitation of kung fu stars (something mentioned in the film) makes this rather ironic.

Having viewed Cinema of Vengeance and The Art of Action, I was on a quest to find a film that was an update on the current status of the martial arts genre in those two movies' same style, and this is it. A hilarious and fun look into the history of the genre, this film takes its own approach. The normal everyday guy who loves these films wants to tell you about them in everyday speaking and charming animation. I applaud the movie for sticking with this style. Its less formal than any documentary you may ever see, but its completely relatable in the excitement one may have for these movies.The movie follows the history of martial arts cinema, basically. The Art of Action did a better job of going in chronological order compared to this film, which jumps back and forth in the timeline. This can be excused though since it wants to group everything together that belongs in a certain category. The film's strong point though is that its up to date and covers more than The Art of Action did, being 9 years newer. A lot has happened in the genre and that's what I wanted to see. This film is heavy on using clips from several movies which is great. It gets you interested in some of the films shown.Some personal highlights for me: -Seeing Jacky Wu Jing get a mention! He is a very underrated modern star of the genre who deserves more serious roles. Sadly nothing was mentioned about Fatal Contact, an awesome movie that he stars in. -Showing how Hollywood ripped off Police Story, with side-by-side comparisons to prove it! -Everything about Bruce Lee was covered, and acknowledged that Bruce-splotation was terrible.My minor complaints: -Footage from Legend of the Drunken Master was used instead of Drunken Master II. The former release of the film had dull sound effects, a butchered soundtrack and a changed ending. Even though it was stated once in this film as Drunken Master II, the footage was not of that and was not stated about the American changes. -Sammo Hung deserved a bigger chunk of the film. He was breezed over and just sort of mentioned. What he has done for the genre is immense. -Yuen Biao was not mentioned at all! How can you have Jackie and Sammo and no Yuen?? -Woo Ping should of also got his own section of the movie. His contributions to the genre as a director and choreographer are legendary.For a big martial fan like myself, this movie is a godsend. It is a welcome update to The Art of Action. It makes you appreciate the genre and may get you interested in some new films you haven't seen. To any newcomer to the genre who may have seen only a hand full of martial arts films, this is a great film to see where the genre came from, where it's going, and what is out there for you to start watching. I recommend it to anyone!

Found out about Films of Fury through some Kung-Fu fan friends of mine, and thought I'd look into it... It was truly awesome. As a film enthusiast, I learned a lot about Kung-Fu in film, its history and influence on pop-culture. This chronicles Kung-Fu films as far back as "The Magnificent Butcher" and comes to more recent films like Kung Fu Panda. Ric Meyers (the writer) claimed that Kung Fu Panda is the greatest Kung-Fu film that America has produced, due to its complete representation of "The Full Glory" of Kung Fu... Spirituality and the betterment of one's skill. I learned A LOT. I write screenplays and will produce movies one day, so this is a film I'll keep at hand whenever the DVD comes out. You can catch it on-demand, it truly is a hidden gem.