The action genre usually referred to as martial arts movies were originally referred to as Kung Fu movies. The reasons for this are explained below. For our purposes, the terms are interchangeable. The focus of this genre is fighting using techniques developed in the Far East, which is where the genre originated.

The use of martial arts skills is central to the genre. As is common in other movies centered on the development and exercise of physical skills, training montages are often included. Stunt work in these usually low budget movies was traditionally done by the actors themselves. This began to change in the Nineties.

Two developments, wire work and digital film making, have fundamentally changed the martial arts movie over the past fifteen years. In wire work, a harness is hidden under an actors costume. Thin, strong wires run from the harness to a pulley system overhead. Wire work fight sequences create the spectacular illusion of fighters unencumbered by gravity. Typically these feats are attributed to the fighting skills of the characters rather than to super powers.

Digital film technology allows the wire work fighting sequences to be shot in front of green or blue screens. In the editing process the highly choreographed sequences are underlaid with the scenery in which the action supposedly occurs. The 1999 American film The Matrix introduced this technique to western audiences. It has since become common.

Film historians point to The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple as the first example of a Kung Fu movie. Made in China in 1928, Red Lotus was released as an 18 episode serial. In fact, it was shot as complete film. At 27 hours, Red Temple is reputed to be the longest film ever to see general release.

The action genre commonly pays little attention to the narrative devices common to mainstream entertainment. Plots are devices for the presentation of fights. Character development is minimal, with the characters more caricature than anything else. The plots are no more or less what western audiences came to expect from cowboy movies, simple moral tales of good versus evil. With a few exceptions, the target of the genre is the engagement of visceral lower brain functions rather than an intellectual engagement.

The reason martial arts films were initially referred to as Kung Fu movies is that they originated in China. Kung Fu is a style of martial arts that developed in Chine over the course of centuries. It combines many different styles and so lends itself to many action sequences.

A principle part of the attraction of traditional martial arts movies made in the Far East is, because they are low budget, real martial artists are used as actors. The gives the action sequences a credibility they could not achieve otherwise. With the development of computer generated effects and digital filming, there is a danger that this authenticity will soon be lost forever. Kung Fu movies, in the traditional since of the word, may soon only exist in the same dusty bin as Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rodgers and the Lone Ranger.

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