Entering the cinema of attractions’ Matrix: Yuen Wo-Ping’s merging of Hollywood spectacle with kungfu choreography

Abstract

Abstract On its ascension to its current status as Hollywood’s chief competitor and collaborator, mainland Chinese cinema has benefited from a select group of filmmakers who contributed to blockbuster films overseas. Many of these filmmakers, including Yuen Wo-Ping, returned home and fused the awe-inducing visual effects (e.g. ‘the bullettime effect’) of the new wave of Hollywood’s cinema of attractions with the acrobatics of Chinese wuxia and kungfu films. This article will look closely at Yuen’s work in Hong Kong cinema before moving onto an analysis of his work on films such as The Matrix trilogy and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I will then demonstrate how his experience abroad brings a transnational aesthetic to mainland Chinese cinema that proffers new senses of global identity and being amidst its thrills.