Action highlight new in home cinema: martial arts hit with Donnie Yen & Michelle Yeoh for the first time on Blu-ray

Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen have been highly sought-after action stars in Hollywood for several years, but their worldwide popularity has recently taken another big leap with “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “John Wick 4.” But long before their breakthrough in the dream factory, the two action fans delivered countless spectacular, acrobatic and brutal hits that are still relatively unknown today. A true genre gem, for which the two even appear in front of the camera together, is now finally about to receive more attention:

“Wing Chun – Dangerous as a panther cat“ starring Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen is available on Blu-ray for the first time since November 3, 2023 – and celebrated the long-awaited comeback of home cinema. The film was re-released following its local DVD premiere shortly after the turn of the millennium in 2008, but even the re-release has only been available on the third-party market for some time. Now the film is finally returning – and being released to boot for the first time in HD, of course completely unabridged:

At least For the author of this article, a long-cherished wish has come true. For him, ‘Wing Chun’ is not only one of the best martial arts films of the 90s, but also clearly the strongest collaboration between Yeoh and Yen. – who were also known to have appeared alongside each other in Netflix’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny” and in “The Power of the Sword”. The Blu-ray is an absolute must-have for him. The only question is which version. In addition to the above variant, the foil is also available with one alternative coverages*.

Old-school martial arts spectacle: this is “Wing Chun”

At the center of the story is the experienced Wing Chun fighter (Michelle Yeoh), whose small village is regularly visited by a gang of robbers. But enough is enough: the young woman no longer wants to accept exploitation and oppression – and decides to declare war on the criminals.

‘Wing Chun’ lives mainly from the spectacular fight scenes, which not only Yeoh and Yen, but especially the director Yuen Woo Ping thanks to one of the most influential figures in martial arts cinema. He not only celebrated his debut with the Jackie Chan classics ‘The Serpent in the Shadow of the Eagle’ and ‘Drunken Master’ aka ‘They Called Him Bonebreaker’, but also signed for numerous from other cult films. years of career -Hits responsible.

His incomparable style of choreographing and capturing fights with dance-like ease also landed him numerous engagements in Hollywood: The impressive hand-to-hand combat in “Matrix” And “Kill BillWe have Yuen Woo-Ping to thank for this.

Which, in the case of ‘Wing Chun’, of course, also contributed to capturing action on film that is still astonishing thirty years later: Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen were at their absolute peak at the time (mid-90s), especially physically. This is noticeable in every action scene where the two fly their fists, swing their swords or run through the air. But even though the film is based on a certain brutality, you should not expect hard horror here. ‘Wing Chun’ is an over-the-top hit that’s primarily intended to be fun – with a mix of action and comedy.

These are Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen

Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen are among Hong Kong’s biggest action stars. Yeoh made her breakthrough in the ’80s and ’90s alongside Jackie Chan before gaining international fame with her roles in the Oscar-winning ‘Tiger & Dragon’ and ‘The Geisha’. She is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (in two different roles!) and is a crowd favorite of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’, which is now even getting its own series spin-off.

Yen has been synonymous with masterful martial arts cinema since the 1990s such as ‘Iron Monkey’ (also by Yuen Woo-Ping), but only conquered the international film world in the 2000s – with roles in ‘Blade II’, ‘Hero’ and ‘Shanghai Knights ” alongside Jackie Chan. Nowadays, the almost 60-year-old martial arts star is best known for the series ‘Ip Man’ about Bruce Lee’s mentor and of course as the blind assassin from ‘John Wick 4“.