The laws of physics are the reason the world goes round -these principles are why some things are just plain impossible to achieve. However, in the cinematic universe, achieving the impossible is oftentimes the end goal of the story. Action flicks are notable for having such plots (over and over again). One type of movie that has risen in popularity are kung-fu films, which have become a defining genre of Chinese cinema. These movies are beloved for similar reasons as to why superhero action films are so popular in the United States - audiences feel a sense of satisfaction in the impossible being achieved and, in this case, this involves the use of pure physical strength to overcome the antagonist(s). In order to dramatize these character’s journeys, the martial arts is usually greatly exaggerated to the point of physical impossibility. The action/reaction principle is the law most commonly broken in these sorts of films. In order the demonstrate the supernatural strength of a character, they usually show no reaction when either unleashing a force or being hit with a force. The principle of action/reaction makes it so that for every action that occurs a reaction must also happen, which is why these impossible action sequences are oftentimes only accepted in superhero and kung-fu films.
Stephen Chow, a well-known director of hilarious kung-fu films in Hong Kong, is best known for his greatly exaggerated action scenes. Although his exaggerations are pushed for comedic effect, there is still a sense of dramatic satisfaction from the action scenes and they are usually successful in moving the plots forward. In several of his movies, Chow demonstrates how he effectively breaks the action/reaction principle in several different ways in order to visually express the power contained in his character(s), while keeping a unique comedic tone that is present in all of his films.
In the light-hearted science fiction film CJ7, there is a sequence where a bully tries to attack the main character but is stopped by a big girl. In the beginning of the scene, the bully charges towards the girl headfirst only to get thrown back about a hundred feet. The girl remains in her spot, barely exerting any energy. In real life, if a girl had enough strength to throw a relatively heavy boy so far back then there should be some recoil - if it were physically possible for her to perform that big of an action then there should be an equally big reaction. After the guy gets thrown back he picks up a huge water barrel and throws it at the girl. Just like the girl, the principles of physics do not affect the bully because despite performing such a powerful action, he has little reaction to it. Both characters being barely affected by these huge forces show how extremely sturdy and powerful they are. The girl, of course, is ultimately the stronger character because as the bully continues to pummel with attack after attack, she barely moves from her original position from the beginning of the scene. Even if the girl were that powerful in reality, another individual of that size should still cause her to react. A bowling ball, for example, despite being such a huge and heavy ball would still roll even a tiny bit if a smaller and lighter ball were to be thrown against it. By having none of the attacks affect the girl, the director makes it clear to the audience that she is even more powerful than a bowling ball (if proportionally sized).
In another popular Stephen Chow film, Shaolin Soccer, martial arts is incorporated into the game of soccer in order to create a hilarious and dynamic action/sports film. In the scene where the main character of the movie is first introduced (played by Stephen Chow himself), he performs several incredible feats of martial arts with a soccer ball to demonstrate his unique abilities. Like in CJ7, the character is being attacked although this time by multiple bullies. The only thing that the character can use to defend himself is a soccer ball, which he manipulates so dramatically that it would be physically impossible in real life. For example, in one scene he kicks the soccer ball into one of the bully’s stomachs and sends him scuttling backwards with the ball still accelerating into his stomach. In real life, of course, the ball would not be able to physically do that because it should have an opposite reaction (bouncing off of the character) after hitting something, rather than continue its forward-moving action. The action of the ball never produces a reaction after hitting another object, accelerating forwards instead - the scene was deliberately exaggerated to show the amount of force that the main character could produce into the soccer ball, powerful enough to accelerate even when coming into contact with other forces. Later in the scene, the character again uses the soccer ball as an extension to which to direct his strength. He kicks the ball into a pile of sticks and the sticks are sent ricocheting through the air, driving themselves into the ground around one of the bullies just barely missing him, creating a cage around him in order to prevent escape. The accuracy of the sticks’ landing is already an impossibility, but the fact that the main character used a soccer ball to do that makes it even more unnaturally impressive. The short sequence is so exaggerated that it was likely used for comedic effect, rather than dramatic effect since exaggerations in Chow’s movies are used for humor as well as dramatization. If a ball were to be kicked into a pile of sticks in real life, no matter how strong the force, it would probably not be powerful nor accurate enough to drive the sticks straight into the ground. However, these action sequences are used to demonstrate the entire mood of the movie - excessive strength and martial arts ability to exaggerated to the point of silliness in Shaolin Soccer in order to create a satirical tone about the impossible feats of kung-fu so regularly being churned out in Chinese cinema during that time.
One of Stephen Chow’s most successful films is Kung Fu Hustle, another comedic kung-fu action flick that emphasizes on several kung-fu movie tropes to the point of hilarity, but taking itself seriously enough that audiences can still appreciate the complexity of the plot. One of the most momentous fights is when several of the strongest characters in the film battle it out in a casino, where they demonstrate several incredible moves powerful enough to bring down their entire environment. The two “legends” of the film, a Landlord and a Landlady, finally meet the main antagonist of the film, an individual known as The Beast who acts as a sort of final boss whose existence has only been hinted at throughout the movie. When The Beast arrives at the casino, the Landlord and Landlady immediately delivers with a powerful opening double-blow, each of them attacking from either side of him so that he cannot escape. However, The Beast does not even bother to escape - instead, he stands rock solid and absorbs both attacks. This exaggerated effect is acceptable in the movie because The Beast is portrayed as a super-human capable of withstanding anything, including simultaneous attacks from the two most powerful characters portrayed up to that point in the film. However, in order to be at least the tiniest bit realistic, there should at least have been a reactionary recoil from the two attacking characters since they were unleashing so much force onto a stationary force. For example, if an object were thrown against a wall then it would bounce backwards from it. The object bouncing back is a reaction to the action of the object being thrown - even though the wall did not physically move or push the object back, a force from the action was still produced. However, after the two characters attack the stationary Beast, they are halted from their attacks having no effect, even floating in midair because it seems even the rules concerning gravity have been halted. In another attack, The Beast kicks the Landlord and Landlady causing them to land several feet away. He then jumps over to them, landing in-between them and crumbling the floor beneath his feet. However, the two characters on the ground do not react to this crushing impact happening several inches from their faces - instead, they merely roll away on their sides. In reality, the ground crumbling would cause objects and people in the vicinity of the impact to feel the force and, of course, react to such a strong action. In this case, it seems the director may have forgotten to create a reaction from the powerful impact as the two characters don’t even feel it. An exaggeration would have been them bouncing a few inches into the air, rather than casually rolling out of the way. This scene shows the Landlord and Landlady continually attacking The Beast and failing to create any significant damage on him, and The Beast continually unleashing powerful attacks on the two characters and everything around them without any recoil happening to him. This shows the rock-solid sturdiness of The Beast as well as his own immense strength, since the principles of action/reaction do not appear to have any meaning to him whether the force is happening upon him or if he is unleashing the force.
The action/reaction principle is important because it gives a logical direction for energy to go. If energy goes one way and hits something then it must also come back out the other way. These movie scenes deliberately ignore that principle in order to show that these characters are so strong that they are able to completely absorb these forces happening to them, and also unleash energy powerful enough to accelerate through other forces. These impossible scenarios are accepted because they fit perfectly into the theme of these movies, where the laws of physics are continually broken in order to visually exemplify an important story point in the film.
