Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen

Red Trousers is a fantastic work of art, intertwining a full-feature documentary with an action short. It transports the audience into a world of life-endangering stunts and uncovers the hardships and motivations that are the driving force for these Hong Kong stunt men. The documentary includes interviews with well-known martial artists such as Sammo Hung, Lau Kar Leung, and writer/director/actor Robin Shou as well as aspiring "red trousers" from a Peking Opera school in China, who all have heart-warming stories to share. "Red Trouser: The Life of a Hong Kong Stuntman" is a truly fascinating look at stunts as an art, a career, and a way of life.

Well, I've seen a lot of reviews on here giving it 10 out of 10 but they seem like duds in order to get people to buy the DVD...which i just bought and watched..so heres my sch-nickel Mikkel...

Bad points - the short film'lost time' - the cheese just oozes of this mutha and boy does it grate...on and on.

Written, directed and sprinkled with cheese by Robin Shou, I'm sorry but this mutha with its mortal combat techno-music droning away in the background and its cheese-laden dialog,needs EXCISING from the main documentary and is just an excuse for a toilet break - that is until you realize you've run out of toilet.

'embarrassing' and 'unnecessary' are two words that id use if i were having lunch with him right now.

Secondly, there's not much point to this Doc except to say, Hong Kong stunt-men would die for their art. Which is a great thing to say, except that it kinda drags like an extended outtakes from a Jackie Chan flick.

Shou as a personality, is a nice enough guy but lacks charisma as an actor which is a shame seeing as we have to watch him act his way out of a paper-bag in 'lost time'

O.K... 'nuff bitching - now the good stuff. Interviews with Sammo Hung rag on about pussy Hollywood stunt-men ...heart tingling moments where graduating kids from Beijing opera school cry over an unknown future in an ever-commercialised China....tough-nut Chinese stuntmen breaking their necks for a living , then not paid enough for the bus ride home...All in all...THAT'S DEDICATION.

I think if this Doc cut out the cheesy segment of 'Lost A-HOLE' and combined itself with 'Jackie Chan my stunts' - showing how Hong Kong stunts are done - i would have given this beast 8 out of friggin 10.

On the whole, thumbs up for showing how tough Chinese MEN really are ( Hollywood pussies bring it on ) and their dedication to their art.

Finally id give a 10 out of 10 to Robin Shou's mullet - in fact, last thing I heard is that Madonna is planning a remake of Shanghai surprise with Robin's mullet as her co-star.Ah the beauty of Hollywood rumours.

Caught this film at a film festival and was greatly impressed. I wasn't expecting much, but I was treated to an in-depth and interesting look of the lives Hong Kong stunt men. I didn't realize I could learn so much more about them.

I didn't care too much for the movie within the movie as a movie itself, but I appreciated it for the way it showcased the stunts being set up in the documentary portion of the film. By the end of the it you're left to wonder just how more stunt men aren't killed. Of course, it's their skill and training to fall without being hurt. Mortally, that is.

Red Trousers ROCKS! This documentary by Robin Shou and Tai Seng's maiden voyage into production is totally absorbing, shocking, and suprisingly funny. The entire length of the film is filled with "ohhs and ewws and ahhhs" from the audience. It's a real tribute to the guys who think wearing padding for a stunt means "you ain't got no balls". Hollywood stunts and all their special effects are childs play compared to what they do in Hong Kong. Also, the interviews of stunt vets such as Sammo Hung, Ridley Tsui and the children at the Peking art schools are so touching and shows what these people have sacrificed in the name of their art. The short film within is to facilitate examples within the documentary...very effective so don't try to follow the story too much. Just watch short movie within and remember how it was crafted. These men were definitely born with an extra alpha gene. One stuntman said "The first thing I think when I walk into any building in that I'm going to have to jump out of it". Another stuntman was tricked into falling onto a cement floor instead of a mattress for a more realistic reaction. Go check this film out if you can it's so worth it. Unfortunately it's only playing for 1 day in New York but it's showing around the country and I bet the DVD will be out soon.

I just caught Red Trousers against my own will when a martial arts fanatic friend of mine dragged me to the theater. And oh boy was I glad he did. Not only was Red Trousers uniquely made combining movie and documentary, but to refer to it as eye-opening is compeletly underselling it. The stuntmen in Hong Kong should be each be given an award for their dedication to an artform that is in every sense being digitalized everywhere else in this world. I checked out the Red Trousers website and was sad to see that the film is only in limited release throughout the country...however if you are one of the lucky millions living in the big cities nationwide, make sure you see it. This visually spectacular, stunning gem of a documentary deserves much much more recognition. The one part I liked the best (besides the absolutely breathtaking, bone-breaking sequences) were the interviews with children at various martial arts schools in China. The one-track focus many of these young children possess toward their goal and the torturous training methods really goes to show how easy kids in the U.S. have it. During his interview, Sammo Hung, star of Martial Law and hundreds of HK flicks, stated that during his childhood in those opera/martial arts schools, he had to do a one and a half hour handstand every morning before he was even allowed to brush his teeth. Congratulations to Tai Seng and Robin Shou for doing a great job presenting to us the fantastic world of stuntmanship.