Post by porgyman on Aug 19, 2021 21:42:26 GMT -5
Martial arts fans will remember this guy. The COVID delivered the death blow.
Comparisons to famed Hong Kong American martial artist Bruce Lee were inevitable. But Chiba's distinct fighting style was unlike anything Lee attempted. Chiba went ballistic on his enemies and appeared to use more force to land his blows, a method that de-emphasized the choreographed nature of his cinematic spars. And his characters almost always killed his opponents.
Any similarities to Lee were squashed with the 1974 release of the shockingly violent international crossover hit "The Street Fighter," in which Chiba, as martial arts mercenary Takuma Tsurugi, socks a man hard enough to make him lose several teeth, and crushes another man's skull. Chiba's protagonists were ruthless antiheroes who were willing to spill blood, a character trait that informs many contemporary action films.
"For me, the most enjoyable role to play is the bad guy," he said in a 2007 interview with UK TV personality Jonathan Ross. He gushed that one particularly brutal scene that cut to an X-ray of a skull after Chiba's character smashed it was his idea, a workaround to show the damage of a blow without attempting the blow itself, he said.
Chiba's style earned him famous fans like Tarantino, who first referenced the great martial artist in the 1993 film, "True Romance," for which he penned the screenplay. Chiba would later appear in both of the director's "Kill Bill" films.
In "True Romance," Christian Slater's Clarence Worley calls Chiba "bar none, the greatest actor working in martial arts movies today."
RIHSB.
Comparisons to famed Hong Kong American martial artist Bruce Lee were inevitable. But Chiba's distinct fighting style was unlike anything Lee attempted. Chiba went ballistic on his enemies and appeared to use more force to land his blows, a method that de-emphasized the choreographed nature of his cinematic spars. And his characters almost always killed his opponents.
Any similarities to Lee were squashed with the 1974 release of the shockingly violent international crossover hit "The Street Fighter," in which Chiba, as martial arts mercenary Takuma Tsurugi, socks a man hard enough to make him lose several teeth, and crushes another man's skull. Chiba's protagonists were ruthless antiheroes who were willing to spill blood, a character trait that informs many contemporary action films.
"For me, the most enjoyable role to play is the bad guy," he said in a 2007 interview with UK TV personality Jonathan Ross. He gushed that one particularly brutal scene that cut to an X-ray of a skull after Chiba's character smashed it was his idea, a workaround to show the damage of a blow without attempting the blow itself, he said.
Chiba's style earned him famous fans like Tarantino, who first referenced the great martial artist in the 1993 film, "True Romance," for which he penned the screenplay. Chiba would later appear in both of the director's "Kill Bill" films.
In "True Romance," Christian Slater's Clarence Worley calls Chiba "bar none, the greatest actor working in martial arts movies today."
RIHSB.
