Right now, I feel like I might devote some leisure time to watching some Chinese movies a the Lunar New Year 2021 is about to strike. He had various roles in action movies such as The Return of Chen Zhen and Dragon Tiger Gate to name a few. Who can also forget him as Ip Man in the Ip Man film series? The first exposure I had towards him was in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and in Huadu Chronicles where his character was called as such. Then one film which I felt was underappreciated is called The Lost Bladesman which focuses on the legendary hero Guan Yu from the Romance of the Three Kingdom Chronicles.
There were other portrayals of Guan Yu even before Donnie took the role. One of them was in the series The Legend of Guan Gong starring Wang Yingquan. I tried to watch the series but it felt that Donnie, not Yingquan, actually made Guan Yu feel like he was never executed. Perhaps it's because Donnie has that fierce expression that went well with the beard he grew (or fake one in the credits) which made him more convincing to be that fierce warrior. This in turn made me wish that Donnie himself was actually Guan Yu in the Red Cliff movies over the Mongolian actor Ba Sen. In Resurrection of the Dragon - he was played by Ti Lung. This isn't to say the other actors didn't do well. Just that Donnie came in naturally to make Guan Yu for me.
I guess it's for the fact that Donnie is such a big legend. If you're a fan of Super Sentai then you may be familiar with Juken Sentai Gekiranger. Notice that the gorilla character is named Gorie Yen -- an obvious pun on Donnie Yen. You don't have any of the Fist Saints named after other characters who would later play Guan Yu four years later. Nope, you had Donnie as one of the Legendary Fist Saints aside from the obvious Sharkie Chan (Jackie Chan reference). Later, Donnie would play the character of Sun Wukong in The Monkey King movies. Was it really THAT intentional throwback to Gekiranger? Seems to be that. Donnie's previous roles in other movies may have cemented him to really make Guan Yu still feel like he was alive in The Lost Bladesman.
I guess it's for the fact that Donnie is such a big legend. If you're a fan of Super Sentai then you may be familiar with Juken Sentai Gekiranger. Notice that the gorilla character is named Gorie Yen -- an obvious pun on Donnie Yen. You don't have any of the Fist Saints named after other characters who would later play Guan Yu four years later. Nope, you had Donnie as one of the Legendary Fist Saints aside from the obvious Sharkie Chan (Jackie Chan reference). Later, Donnie would play the character of Sun Wukong in The Monkey King movies. Was it really THAT intentional throwback to Gekiranger? Seems to be that. Donnie's previous roles in other movies may have cemented him to really make Guan Yu still feel like he was alive in The Lost Bladesman.
A bit of research will tell you Guan Yu is considered the most popular of the Peach Garden Oath trio. Liu Bei may be the leader of the group but it's Guan Yu who gets called Guan Gong (or Teya Kong) while Liu Bei and Zhang Fei don't have "gong" as a suffix. You may have Zhuge Liang seldom referred to as Zhuge Gong but it seems Guan Yu is regarded as that great warrior. Guan Yu is also given the monicker of Senor Santiago by the Filipino-Chinese. You can consider how Guan Yu manages to have a draw with Lu Bu and would late beat more powerful opponents. Donnie having that great experience in martial arts was more than qualified to play the warrior saint himself.
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