Rest in Peace, Corey Yuen (Feburary 15, 1951 - 2022)
Last month, the world learned through Jackie Chan's account on Weibo that Corey Yuen Kwai had passed away. It was later clarified that Yuen had died of complications due to COVID back in 2022, but news of his death had been kept secret at his family's request. In any case, this represents a great loss to the martial arts and Hong Kong cinephile community, as one might include him in the top five action director/fight choreographers of all time.
Yuen Kwai--his artistic name taken from his Peking Opera days--was a member of the Seven Fortunes, training and working alongside Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and others during his youth. Once Peking Opera as an artform diminished in popularity at the hands of cinema, Yuen Kwai sought his fortune on the big screen. He started off as a stuntman at the Shaw Brothers studio, playing nameless thugs and bandits. He quickly expanded to doing the same in Golden Harvest and indie productions, too.
In 1973, Yuen started assuming Action Director duties in movies, starting with films like Kung Fu 10th Dan and Cub Tiger from Kwangtung, which was Jackie's first starring role. By the second half the 1970s, he had moved onto meatier action roles in films Secret Rivals II and Dance of the Drunk Mantis, which also gave him experience working behind the screen as Assistant Fight Choreographer to Yuen Woo-Ping. He also served as the principal Fight Choreographer in classics like Hell's Wind Staff and Joseph Kuo's classic The 7 Grandmasters.
By the time the 1980s came around, Corey Yuen was dividing his time between working with up-and-coming visionary director Tsui Hark (We're Going to Eat You; Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain) and the usual fight choreographer routine, which saw him work a lot with Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee. In 1982, producer Ng See-Yuen gave Corey his first directing gig on the genre classic Ninja in the Dragon's Den, which was a huge success (according to star Conan Lee). Like his fellow 7 Fortunes, Corey Yuen was able to make a smooth transition into modern action films, which became the vogue thanks to Jackie and Sammo. He directed and choreographed films Yes, Madam! (1985) and Righting Wrongs (1986), which are classic action flix--the former introduced the world to the fighting prowesses of Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock. He also directed and choreographed No Retreat, No Surrender, which introduced the world to some guy named Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Around 1990, Corey Yuen was still pretty busy making modern action films when he struck up a creative partnership with Hong Kong director Jeff Lau, one of the territory's greatest purveyor's of Mo Lei Tau, or Nonsense Comedy. Yuen and Lau would collaborate on projects up until Corey's final film, Soccer Killer, in 2017. Corey would also serve as Action Director on a number of funnyman Stephen Chow's early projects--the biggest name in Mo Lei Tau films. Corey also found himself working frequently with a Mainland Chinese wushu actor named Jet Li.
That last collaboration would serve Corey particularly well: when Jet Li went to Hollywood in 1998 to appear in Lethal Weapon 4, Corey went with him to direct the fight sequences. Corey worked with Jet Li on most of his American films, save Unleashed and Forbidden Kingdom (which were choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping). But his presence in Hollywood did not go unnoticed and Corey was invited to direct the fight sequences in X-Men and then the Transporter films.
Sadly, after 2000, the quality of his work in Hong Kong started to suffer. A lot of it had to do with the growing popularity of integrating digital effects in action sequences, which seemed to be a bit beyond Corey's talents. Although some action directors like Tony Ching Siu-Tung were able to work within these new parameters, it never seemed to work for Corey--just watch A Chinese Tall Story or Avenging Fist to see the man's talent obscured by CGI. Thankfully, Corey did manage to crank out a few final masterpieces of fight choreography before age and health problems cut his career short. He did great work on Shaolin and Rise of the Legend, and the epic battle/fight scenes of the Red Cliff films would have made a wonderful stopping point for his career.
Corey Yuen was talented in that he was just as comfortable doing grounded action as he was doing wire-fu. In that way, you could say he combined the best aspects of his colleagues Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo-Ping. Much like Sammo Hung, the man knew how to draw out the best physical performance from his leads, even when they were not trained martial artists. Cynthia Rothrock once said in an interview that during her earliest years in Hong Kong, Sammo Hung was very careful with her, while Corey Yuen pushed her beyond what she thought were her limits. But when wire-fu became vogue in the early 1990s, Corey was just as comfortable with the paradigm, having already developed his high-flying choreography skills on Zu: Warriors from Magic Mountain.
Corey also had a talent for making female-centric action films, starting with Yes, Madam! He made the Girls n' Guns classic She Shoots Straight; the Category III action thriller Women on the Run, which features nude fu; Enter the Eagles, starring Bruce's daughter Shannon; So Close; and finally the video game adaptation DOA: Dead or Alive, which has developed a cult following in the years since its release.
Filmography (Behind the Camera):
The Cub Tiger from Kwangtung (1973)[Action Director]
Duel of the Dragons (1973)[Action Director]
The Evil Snake Girl (1974)[Action Director]
Kung Fu 10th Dan (1974)[Action Director]
Bruka Queen of Evil (1975)[Action Director]
Heroes of the Wild (1977)[Action Director]
The Invincible Armour (1977) [Assistant Martial Arts Director]
The Secret Rivals, Part II (1977) [Assistant Martial Arts Director]
The 7 Grandmasters (1978)[Action Director]
Drunken Master (1978) [Assistant Martial Arts Director]
The Instant Kung Fu Man (1978)[Action Director]
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978) [Assistant Martial Arts Director]
A Massacre Survivor (1979)[Action Director]
Dance of the Drunk Mantis (1979)[Action Director]
The Dragon and the Tiger Kids (1979)[Action Director]
Crystal Fist (1979)[Action Director]
The Buddha Assassinator (1980)[Action Director]
The Ring of Death (1980)[Action Director]
Tower of Death (1980) [Assistant Martial Arts Director]
We're Going to Eat You (1980)[Action Director]
Hitman in the Hand of Buddha (1981)[Action Director]
Dragon Lord (1982)[Action Director]
Ninja in the Dragon's Den (1982)[Director/Action Director/Writer]
Zu: The Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)[Action Director]
Aces Go Places - Our Man from Bond Street (1984)[Action Director]
Heart of the Dragon (1985)[Action Director]
Yes, Madam! (1985)[Director/Action Director]
Mr. Vampire Part 2 (1986)[Planner]
No Retreat, No Surrender (1986)[Director/Action Director/Story]
Righting Wrongs (1986)[Director/Producer/Action Director]
Eastern Condors (1987)[Action Director/Planner]
No Retreat, No Surrender 2 (1987)[Director/Action Director]
Promising Young Boy (1987) [Planner]
Dragons Forever (1988) [Executive Director/Planner]
In the Blood (1988)[Director]
Picture of a Nymph (1988) [Planner]
Spooky, Spooky (1988)[Planner]
The Blonde Fury (1989)[Producer/Action Director]
Lost Souls (1989)[Action Director]
Pedicab Driver (1989)[Planner]
All for the Winner (1990)[Director/Producer/Action Director/Story]
Mortuary Blues (1990)[Producer/Action Director]
Shanghai Shanghai (1990)[Producer/Action Director]
She Shoots Straight (1990)[Director/Action Director/Story]
American Shaolin (1991)[Action Director]
Bury Me High (1991) [Planner]
Fist of Fury 1991 (1991)[Producer/Action Director]
Lee Rock (1991)[Action Director]
Lee Rock II (1991)[Action Director]
Legend of the Dragon (1991)[Action Director]
The Magnificent Scoundrels (1991)[Action Director]
Saviour of the Soul (1991)[Director]
The Top Bet (1991)[Director/Producer/Action Director]
Fist of Fury 1991 II (1992)[Producer]
Ghost Punting (1992)[Director/Action Director]
The Moon Warriors (1992)[Action Director]
Operation Scorpio (1992) [Action Director]
Saviour of the Soul II (1992)[Director]
Fong Sai Yuk (1993)[Director/Action Director]
Rose Rose I Love You (1993)[Action Director]
Fong Sai Yuk II (1993)[Director/Action Director]
Women on the Run (1993)[Director/Producer/Action Director]
The Bodyguard from Beijing (1994)[Director/Action Director]
The New Legend of Shaolin (1994)[Action Director]
High Risk (1995)[Action Director]
My Father Is a Hero (1995)[Director/Action Director]
Black Rose II (1997)[Director/Action Director]
Hero (1997)[Director/Action Director/Writer]
Mahjong Dragon (1997)[Director]
Enter the Eagles (1998)[Director]
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)[Action Director]
Timeless Romance (1998)[Action Director]
Romeo Must Die (2000)[Action Director]
X-Men (2000)[Action Director]
The Avenging Fist (2001)[Director/Action Director]
Kiss of the Dragon (2001)[Action Director]
The One (2001)[Action Director]
So Close (2002)[Director/Action Director]
The Transporter (2002)[Director/Action Director]
Bulletproof Monk (2003)[Action Director - uncredited]
Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)[Action Director]
The Twins Effect II (2004)[Director/Action Director]
A Chinese Tall Story (2005)[Action Director]
Transporter 2 (2005)[Action Director]
DOA: Dead or Alive (2006)[Director]
Red Cliff (2008)[Action Director]
Transporter 3 (2008)[Action Director]
Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)[Action Director]
Red Cliff: Part 2 (2009)[Action Director]
The Expendables (2010)[Action Director]
Shaolin (2011)[Action Director]
Treasure Inn (2011)[Director/Action Director]
The Man with the Iron Fists(2012)[Action Director]
Naked Soldier (2012)[Action Director]
Wu Dang (2012)[Action Director]
Badges of Fury (2013)[Action Director]
Rise of the Legend (2014)[Action Director]
Wild Card (2015)[Action Director]
Birth of the Dragon (2016)[Action Director/Assistant Director]
A Chinese Odyssey: Part Three (2016)[Action Director]
Master of the Drunken Fist - Beggar So (2016)[Producer]
Master of the Shadowless Kick - Wong Kei-Ying (2016)[Producer]
Soccer Killer (2017)[Action Director]
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