Top Five Movies of Ziyi Zhang

I heard an interesting statement this morning as I tossed and turned while the radio played and I tried to ease myself back into sleep. Somehow, Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg were discussing statements that would stir up controversy. Golic?s two statements were ?The Beatles are overrated,? and ?Batman is not a real superhero.? The first one didn?t surprise me too much, because even though I?m a Beatles fan and I would consider them the greatest musicians of all time, I could understand arguments for Elvis, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis or even Led Zeppelin as better, depending on your taste in music. It?s a very subjective thing.

However, Batman not a superhero? That kind of floored me. I had almost forgotten it as I found the realm of dreams again and slept for another three hours before easing myself out of bed this morning. Then as I paged through the movies of Ziyi Zhang and I started to write this essay, I began to think that maybe Golic was onto something. Are the martial arts heroes of movies superheroes? The perfect example of that might be Bruce Lee in his movies. (Not so coincidentally the subject of Ziyi?s next movie is the story of the man who trained Bruce Lee, Ip Man, and it?s called, ?The Grandmaster.?)

Bruce Lee is a warrior. Bruce Lee is a fighter. Bruce Lee knows martial arts. But, I don?t think I?ve ever heard him called a superhero. Maybe it?s because he?s a real person and real people aren?t superheroes. Maybe it?s because he doesn?t wear a mask. I don?t know. I just know that I will look at Batman a little differently now and may begin to think about how Batman makes a good subject for movies where a lot of other comic book characters don?t come close. I won?t look at Ziyi any differently and I look forward to watching these five movies again.

5. Rush Hour 2

I had forgotten how much I liked Chris Tucker as an actor until I saw him again in ?Silver Linings Playbook.? My favorite movie of his is ?The Fifth Element,? but both of the ?Rush Hour? movies aren?t too bad for buddy cop action films.

4. The Warrior

I remember when this movie hit theaters on the heels of the number one movie on Ziyi?s list, but I don?t remember that much about it, other than the gorgeous landscapes, which are typical in war movies on horseback.

3. Hero

Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung join Ziyi in this movie (as well as #2 and the ones mentioned there as well) as foes to Jet Li?s ?Nameless.? Jet Li works to foil their plan of assassinating the king of Qin.

2. 2046

Wong Kar Wai, who is directing the aforementioned ?The Grandmaster,? also directed this movie that is a sequel of sorts to one of my favorites of all time, ?In the Mood for Love.? Wong Kar Wai creates great atmospheres in his movies that make the character?s actions and words seem much more weighty to me. (Whether or not that?s a good thing, I?ll let you decide.)

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The Academy Award winning film marks the first time I saw Ziyi. It also brings back to mind the questions of superheroes mentioned before as the people in this movie do some amazing things like walking on trees that I don?t even think Batman could do. (Tarzan, maybe, but I?m not sure raised my monkeys qualifies for superhero status either.)

Agree? Disagree? Which movies would make your Ziyi Zhang top five?