It's ironic that one of the biggest action stars in the world doesn’t really watch action movies.
“Maybe it’s because I can’t help but be critical throughout the entire movie,” Donnie Yen theorised to StarLifestyle during a phone interview with the Malaysian press. “I prefer watching drama movies.”
The Hong Kong actor and martial artist was speaking to Malaysian journalists while in quarantine back home, after he’d completed the filming of his part in the Keanu Reeves-led John Wick 4, in Germany and France.
Currently, the 58-year-old can be seen in the new action-packed film Raging Fire, playing at cinemas nationwide.
The final feature from director Benny Chan (New Police Story, Gen X-Cops) – who passed away during the film’s post-production stage on Aug 23, 2020 – can be described as an old school Hong Kong police thriller, not unlike City On Fire (1987) and Hard Boiled (1992). Released worldwide in August, Raging Fire has earned US$224.9mil (RM953mil) as of October.
Of its release in Malaysia on Dec 2, Yen said: “I have always been very grateful for the love from Malaysian fans.
“From Ip Man till now, everyone has been extremely supportive. Thanks to everyone’s enthusiasm, I am very happy every time I get the chance to come over to Malaysia to promote my movies.
“It is a pity that, because of the pandemic, Raging Fire’s release in Malaysia has been delayed, and made it impossible for me to come to Malaysia to promote the movie in person. I hope that I can meet you all soon after the pandemic situation stabilises.
“Meanwhile, do watch Nicholas Tse and I in the explosive action-packed movie, Raging Fire, directed by Benny Chan in Malaysian cinemas. Make sure you keep yourself safe and, wear a mask.”
Raging Fire centres on honest cop Bong (Yen), who never overcame an incident involving a younger officer, Ngo (Nicholas Tse), in which the latter was sent to prison because of Bong’s testimony.
Now, years later, Bong has to face the consequences of his past action as Ngo is out for revenge and is determined to take down as many cops as possible before getting to him.
Besides his acting duties in the film, Yen is also the action director.
And Raging Fire boasts a number of thrilling sequences that allow the ageless star to show off his physical skills such as jumping through one window to another, crashing through ceilings of old houses and wrestling with a foe.
Yen shared what he wanted to showcase in Raging Fire where action was concerned: “I love modern cop action movies, from SPL, Flash Point to now Raging Fire. They are different from martial arts action movie like Ip Man.
“With modern cop action movies, the action styles are created to bring out the personality of a character.
“For example, how a policeman on duty reacts during a fight scene – they are more cautious and alert of the safety of public bystanders – compared to a fugitive or antagonist who are more violent and reckless. This makes the characters real and believable.”
While Raging Fire has numerous explosive action scenes, one of the highlights is the climactic hand-to-hand fight scene between Yen and Tse among the rubble of a run-down church.
Yen stated this final showdown as the most challenging action sequences he had to prepare for Raging Fire.
“It took me a long time to come up with the action sequence at the church,” he confessed.
“From the start, I was aware that the street fight will lead to the scene in a church. But, I did not have a clear idea on the choreography for what is to be the finale; that face-off scene.
“(I knew) it had to be fierce and intense as it’s the final showdown from the built-up rage.”
Having had years of experience in doing action stunts, Yen places great importance on not only making it realistic – by using minimum wirework – but also ensuring the stunts are performed safely.
In that brawl at the church, for instance, Tse’s head is dragged across the piano keys.
Before shooting this particular scene, Yen assured his co-star: “This scene looks painful, but it is actually very safe.”
Likewise, when characters are using firearms in the film, Yen is just as prudent.
Even more so because of the recent incident in Hollywood where a crew member was killed due to a prop gun misfiring.
Yen commented to Malaysian journalists: “I will definitely be more cautious before filming gun fight scenes – double checking the firearms carefully as I do not want anyone to be accidentally injured or hurt.”
Having started his acting career in the mid-1980s, Yen obviously has a long list of Hong Kong films to his name.
Among them are Once Upon A Time In China 2 (1992), Dragon Inn (1992), Iron Monkey (1993), Wing Chun (1994), Hero (2002), SPL (2005), Flash Point (2007) and the four Ip Man movies (2008–2019) and last year’s Enter The Fat Dragon.
The Chinese star has also added a number of Hollywood films to his resume, starting with Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Blade 2 (2002), and more recently Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), xXx: Return Of Xander Cage (2017), Mulan (2020) and of course John Wick 4, scheduled to be out at cinemas next year.
According to Yen, the biggest difference in shooting an action sequence in a Hong Kong film and a Hollywood film is in the pre-production stage.
“For Hollywood movies, due to its higher production budget, sometimes actors have months to prepare and train for their roles.
“As for Hong Kong movie, some stars may not even have one month to prepare prior to production.”
Ever the patriot, Yen continued: “However, Hong Kong films are still able to come out with great action (sequences) as everyone is aware that time is of the essence and everyone does their absolute best in every take and every scene to make it as realistic as possible.”
In that sense, Yen admitted that he’s very satisfied with Raging Fire as its actor, action director and producer. After all, his standards are pretty high.
Unlike most of his Western counterparts, Yen is a trained martial artist who started at a very young age, first learning tai chi from his mother, who’s a kung fu master.
Over the years, the actor accumulated taekwondo, wushu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu to his skill sets in martial arts.
In his 40s, for the role of grandmaster in the film Ip Man, Yen studied martial arts wing chun for nine months before tackling the part.
In a 2011 interview, Yen said that combining many martial arts brings out the best style for him.
He’s quoted: “When you watch my films, you’re feeling my heart.”
At the same time, Yen thinks it’s not necessary to have martial arts background to be an action star.
He cited Tse as an example of someone who does not have a martial arts background, but has honed his skills to be a formidable actor in the action genre.
Yen mentioned to StarLifestyle: “Like any artist, be it an actor in any movie genre or singer performing a song or dance – passion and hard work are key.
“As action director for Raging Fire and working on past movies like SPL and Flash Point, you come up with action sequences depending on the background of who your partner or opponent is, and the character in the movie.
“For instance, the fight between myself and Wu Jing, with his martial arts background, in SPL is iconic. I wanted to create something as impactful yet different with my fight with Nicholas Tse in Raging Fire.
“It is like a dance, and your action movements need to be in sync with your partner to elevate the realism of the action scenes and keep the audience captivated and rooting for the characters.”
Raging Fire is showing at cinemas nationwide.
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