When I first moved to Canada
I didn't speak a lick of English
But I was lucky to have some friendly classmates
Despite the language barrier, they still approached me and struck up a conversation
And the first thing they'd ask me?
Do you know Jackie Chan?
There is just something universal about Jackie Chan movies
The choreography
The stunts
The humor
It transcends culture
But I think there is one element that sets Jackie Chan apart from all other kung fu stars
His pain
In most films, the hero getting hit is either a minor inconvenient
Or a major dramatic moment
But for Jackie, getting hit is part of the fight
Front fall
Back fall
The Bayblade
He can make you laugh
Make you gasp
Or keep you on the edge of your seat
That struggle is, in my opinion
What makes his character so relatable to people all around the world
It's an underappreciated art
Something stunt performers trained for their entire lives to do safely
And stylishly
So today, let's give it the appreciation it deserves
And break down the elements of a good hit
How to act
How to edit
And how to tell a story with it
There's a lot to cover, so let's get right into it
[HOW JACKIE CHAN TAKES A HIT]
[CHAPTER ONE]
Throughout his career
Jackie really only has like... one hairstyle
With minor variations
That's because his hair is one of his secret weapons in selling a hit
See how he whips his hair around?
In comparison, when Jackie wears a hat
Without the hair movement
The motion feels more rigid, doesn't it?
That's the importance of selling a hit
Overselling it can make a slow kick feel powerful
Underselling it can make a fast punch feel weak
His hair amplifies the impact
And amplifying the impact is the first step to a good hit
But it's not just his hair that gets whipped around
During a hit, Jackie's entire body bends like it's made out of rubber
Curving away from the impact, like a cartoon character
Even rising his arms to make the shape more obvious
This cartoon exaggeration is perhaps why Jackie's fights have such universal appeal
It's direct and visual
The shape of the body is even clearer during Jackie's fall
See how he always kicks his legs up to make the fall more visually interesting
Selling not just the impact
But also the reaction that follows
Sounds simple, but it's not that easy to pull off
Even the best in the industry sometimes have trouble pulling it off
Heck, even Jackie himself has trouble selling it now
With his age and numerous injuries over the years
He just isn't as flexible as he used to be
It's part of the reasons why his later films don't feel as spectacular
He can still fight
But he can't sell the hits to the degree he used to
But Jackie has one more trick
And this one, it's not limited by his age
His face
Sometimes it feels like all kung fu stars share the same stoic face
They all have the same expression
But not Jackie
Check out Jackie's face when he frantically blocks the hits
He never forgets to act
His expression is selling the hit before the contact is even made
Building anticipation
And once the hit makes contact
Oof, you feel it, because you were paying attention
When contact is made
Jackie is there to show a reaction, however brief and subtle
Because, alas, it builds character
When a character is consistent and relatable
We are more inclined to share the pain
Making the hit just that much more powerful
In Operation Condor, Jackie plays a more confident skilled fighter
His blocking is still frantic, but his expression looks more calculated
That's "character"
This is what sets professionals apart from amateur stunt fights
"Wrong shoes, wrong pants"
When others are showing off their choreography
Jackie is there to act
Few, if anyone can match Jackie's personality during a fight
His performance elevates each impact into a character-building moment
In both hitting and getting hit, Jackie is full of characters
And if you feel the character, you feel the pain
[CHAPTER TWO]
It's almost cliche to say, most people prefer slow-edited action scenes
Which is fair
I mean, if your edit looks like ass
How are we supposed to even know what's going on?
But there's more to slow editing than readability
It's also about showing the casual relationship between an attack, its impact
And the reaction
For example, here, Jackie gets hit
The attack and the impact are all in the same shot
And then we cut to a better angle, showing the reaction from Jackie
Falling backward because of the impact
You can also cut before the hits
After three frames of the cut, impact
This time, the reaction lingers
In all these examples, there is an ATTACK, creating an IMPACT
Followed by a REACTION of some kind
And the audience only feels the power
When the entire sequence of event is over
And the pace slows down
Compare this to some of Jackie's Hollywood ventures
Here, the attack and the impact are in two sperate shots
Or here, the film cuts away without showing a reaction from the goons
See how the last punch feels more powerful than the rest?
Removing any one of the three steps
Means the chain becomes incomplete
And you lose the power for the entire thing
Here, from the hit to the reaction, there are 5 shots in total
Instead of an immediate consequence
The reaction and the impact feel too distant, unrelated
If you edit too much
The chain of events becomes separate actions
If it's not a causal chain
It doesn't have the power
That's not to say you always have to show everything
Here, Jackie's kick connects in between cuts
Deliberately removing the initial impact
Delaying the audience reaction
Saving it for the stunt instead
Now that hurts
When editing a fight scene
Treat each engagement as a chain of events
The attack, the impact, the reaction
And cut it like a four-panel comic
How one action leads to another
And present it as a whole, not too much, not too little
And remember, it's not the punch itself that hurts
It's the reaction to the punch that gets the audience
Beyond attack, impact. and reaction
There is actually a fourth step:
Consequence
How does a hit change the fight going forward?
Not all hits have consequences
But when they do
It usually sends you into an inspirational flashback
Being able to feel and expresses pain humanizes Jackie's character
We empathize
It's common to see Jackie playing an underdog, fighting an unfair fight
But that isn't always the case
As Jackie ages (and gets more famous)
It becomes harder for him to play a nobody
And his characters also tend towards more skilled fighters
But even when he's playing a legendary fighter like Wong Fei-Hung
He still gets hit by low level grunts
You always feel like the fights can go either way
And each hit brings out some emotion from Jackie
In Wheels on Meals, the pain builds frustration
Which leads to Jackie's attack being more desperate
Notice how as the fight progresses, Jackie blocks less and less
Leaving him more open to attacks
All he wants is to land a hit
As an audience member, we feel that frustration
We relate
All this frustration builds towards this moment
Jackie calms himself down, and fights like he's having fun
And from that point on, Jackie feints his attacks, baits his opponent
Dodges instead of blocks
Pain is just another obstacle a hero has to overcome
And like any good narrative obstacle
It also reveals something about the character
In Police Story, Jackie's pain angers him
Before, he's mostly trying to subdue his opponent
After he gets kick in the face, the level of violence increases
Jackie's character would do anything to ensure justice is served
In City Hunter, pain is a signal to Jackie's disadvantage
Every time he is in pain, he tries something new afterward
From blocking with arms, to legs, to dodging, to using his own weapons
Showing the character's resourcefulness, but also his over-confidence
In Project A, Jackie's character is just a low-level cop
Appropriately, his first fight shows him getting hit a lot
Jackie takes a lot of abuse in this, even when compared to his other works
Setting up the story of a small-time police doing big things
There is always a story behind a hit
A good hit isn't just well-acted and well-edited
It has to be well-written
As Jackie's career progresses, he takes fewer and fewer hits in each film
But he's never quite invincible like many other heroes
He's always scrambling, struggling to win
This struggle through hardship
Is what makes his characters, his fights, and his hits so relatable
How appropriate, for a man who started from the bottom
And climbed his way to the top of the world
"Thank you, Bruce!"
"No problem"
CONCLUSION
In Gorgeous, pain reminds Jackie to have fun instead of fighting for a win
And that's perhaps what sets him apart from all other kung fu stars
Others fight for the dramatic
For honor and tradition
Jackie fights for fun
Instead of traditional kung fu
Jackie injects his own style and personality into everything
Creating one of the most memorable fight scenes in cinematic history
So, how does jackie takes a hit?
And what makes it so special?
Well, he acts it out head to toe
With the best his body can do
They are edited precisely and cleanly
Presented as a cohesive sequence of events
They are well-written actions, revealing character traits one hit at a time
And most importantly
They are fun
Look at that smile
Look at that persistence
All that effort, and he's the one getting punched
Back to my friend's question
Do I know Jackie Chan?
Hell yeah, I do
He's one of the most dedicated filmmakers around