| Having been a fan of martial arts movies for a number of years, I had absolutely no clue that there were stunt teams throughout the country, as well as the rest of the world, that were dedicating themselves to martial arts training, as well as the mechanics of Hong Kong stylized action cinema. It was not until early 2006 that I came across the website that hosted the San Francisco based stunt team (by way of Redding), The Stunt People, which featured downloadable clips and short films of its members showcasing some of the most amazing feats of martial arts action ever displayed by Westerners on the small screen.
Up until then, the only stunt team I was aware of was Alpha Stunts, a stunt team founded by three martial arts performers from Japan responsible for the magic brought to children's homes on the hit television series headlined by the Power Rangers franchise. And after having seen the evolution of Westernized action cinema by Alpha Stunts with films like Guyver: Dark Hero, Drive, High Voltage, Shadow Fury and Special Forces, as well as other production companies with the crossover of Hong Kong action stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li, nobody really ever expected anyone not in the filmmaking industry to ever match the same standards on an independent level...
...And then along comes Eric Jacobus and his crack-team of aspiring filmmakers and martial arts performers to put the nay-sayers and non-believers in their place, impressing all who come to their website looking for some great eye-pleasing entertainment.
Undercut, a low-budget feature short film directed by aspiring young filmmaker and kung fu soup extraordinaire "Tuoc Vim Tuong!!!" (a.k.a. Stephen Reedy, lol), pulls out all the stops to deliver a wonderfully comedic screwball action comedy to fans everywhere. For a half-hour straight, watch the story unfold as Eric Ninja, down-and-out of luck ninja working for the city, fights to get his job back after being fired by cartoonish politician, Governor Begbie Carlyle, and ultimately replaced by Chinese Ninja Andy, a cheaper, more cost-effective ninja from China!
Eric Jacobus and Andy Leung, two originating founders of the team, display their dazzling martial arts choreography and performance, as well as their unique filmmaking style, which would have any right-minded studio director going "ga-ga" over these performers, or other performers of other teams alike that can meet the same standards met in virtually all Hong Kong action projects, by-and-large.
Undercut, which acts as a predecessor to Jacobus's directional debut, Contour, emulates anything and everything that martial arts cinema fans around the world have been waiting for for so many years; Great stuntwork, great cinematography, and a style of filmmaking that continues to help the team evolve in substance, as the members of The Stunt people continue to transcend the way Hollywood interprets the mechanics of kung fu genre.
Look for great things to come from this amazing stunt team in the future! And while you're at it, keep your eyes and ears open for more to come from Eric Jacobus;...
...Have you seen Jackie Chan movies, and similarly, ever wonder why Eric Jacobus almost never cuts his hair?!?...
...Clearly, the man is absolutely driven!...Driven I say!!!~~~lol
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS: The "Everyone Is Kung Fu Fighting" DVD series, "Bound By Blood", "Contour", "6 Hours", "Dogs Of Chinatown", "An Act Of Revenge", "Carmen's Virtue", "Yeah Sure Okay" and "The Witness". |
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