Gun fu
Encyclopedia
Gun fu, a portmanteau of gun
and kung fu, is the style of sophisticated close-quarters gunplay seen in Hong Kong action cinema
and in Western films influenced by it. It often resembles a martial arts
battle played out with firearms instead of traditional weapons. It may also be described by other terms such as bullet ballet, gun kata, or gymnastic gunplay.
The focus of gun fu is both style and the usage of firearms in ways that they were not designed to be used. Shooting a gun from each hand, shots from behind the back, as well as the use of guns as melee weapon
s are all common. Other moves can involve shotgun
s, Uzis, rocket launchers
, and just about anything else that can be worked into a cinematic shot. It is often mixed with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers, with many of the moves being derived from the works of Fiore dei Liberi
's Fior di Battaglia.
"Gun fu" has become a staple factor in modern action films due to its visually appealing nature (regardless of its actual practicality in a real-life combat situation). This is a contrast to American action movies of the 1980s which focused more on heavy weaponry and outright brute-force in firearm-based combat.
originated the style in the Hong Kong film
A Better Tomorrow
in 1986. The film launched the "Heroic bloodshed
" genre in Hong Kong, and "gun fu" action sequences became a regular feature in many of the subsequent heroic bloodshed films. John Woo continued to make several classic heroic bloodshed films, all featuring gun fu, and all starring leading man Chow Yun-fat
. Chow wielding a gun in each hand became an iconic cinema image around the world.
Anthony Leong wrote of the gunfights in A Better Tomorrow,
Stephen Hunter
, writing in The Washington Post
wrote,
Other Hong Kong directors also began using gun fu sequences in films that were not strictly heroic bloodshed films, such as Wong Jing
's God of Gamblers
(1989). And there were several heroic bloodshed films that did not feature gun fu, but opted for more realistic combat, such as Ringo Lam
's City on Fire
(1987).
's films, and the heroic bloodshed
genre in general, in the West helped give the gun fu style greater visibility. Film-makers like Robert Rodriguez
were inspired to create action sequences modelled on the Hong Kong style. One of the first to demonstrate this was Rodriguez's Desperado
(1995). The Matrix
(1999) played a part in making "gun fu" the most popular form of firearm-based combat in cinema worldwide; since then, the style has become a staple of modern Western action films.
One classic gun fu move consists of reloading two pistol
s simultaneously by releasing the empty magazine
s, pointing the guns to the ground, dropping two fresh magazines out of one's jacket sleeves, or strapped to one's legs, into the guns, and then carrying on shooting. In the film Bulletproof Monk
(2003), The Monk With No Name (portrayed by Chow Yun-fat
) empties two pistols, ejects the magazines and spins to kick the empty magazines at his assailants. In The Rundown
(2003), Beck (Dwayne Johnson) fires two shotguns, flips both to be up-side down and pointing backwards, and snaps them between his arms and torso to reload them in an instant. The style is also featured (albeit in a small way and with the assistance of gadgets) in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
movies. In Wanted (2008), assassins belonging to The Fraternity possess the skill of "bending" bullets around obstacles; in a gunfight early in the film, one assassin knocks another bullet out of the air with his own round. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine
(2009), Agent Zero
(Daniel Henney) reloads his handguns by throwing them into the air and catching them with the magazines he's holding in his hands.
1992 saw the introduction of gun fu to the horror movie script. In Sam Raimi
's cult classic Army of Darkness
(1993), Ash (Bruce Campbell
) uses a 12 gauge Remington double-barreled stage coach gun as both a close combat weapon and as the gun it is. Many scenes show Ash doing flips over the various undead, landing, shooting over his shoulder, even throwing the weapon and catching it only to continue to fire.
The character John Preston (Christian Bale
) demonstrates a system of martial arts called Gun Kata in writer/director Kurt Wimmer
's Equilibrium
(2002). Gun Kata is differentiated from other Gun Fu styles by a focus on rote memorization of probabilities, instead of feats of pure reflex. Through repeated simulations and practice, practitioners are able to fire at their attacker's position, while moving out of their attacker's most likely return fire trajectory and essentially dispatching their enemy while dodging their enemies' bullets. Preston also has special devices mounted into his sleeves/wrists that feed magazines smoothly into his weapon, but the Gun Kata itself provides him with optimum firing angles as well as defensive postures and movements. The 2006 film Ultraviolet
, also written and directed by Wimmer, featured much-anticipated "Gun Kata 2.0" scenes, which utilized a super-powered protagonist and futuristic technology to expand on the Gun Kata ideas created in Equilibrium.
In the 2010
movie, Kick-Ass
, the character Hit-Girl, played by Chloë Moretz
, uses a lot of gun fu, with inspirations from Hong Kong action cinema
movies of Chow Yun Fat and John Woo
, and western films such as The Matrix
.
is one of the very few examples of multiplayer "Gun Fu". The mod features melee and gun combat, with encounters often resulting in frenzied exchanges involving both types of attack. Dual-wielding weapons, slow motion, and advanced melee are popular features of the mod which still has a loyal following years after the final version was announced. Another Half-Life mod, "The Opera", is named after Hong Kong blood operas, and features akimbo-wielded handguns and stylized gunplay - players are awarded cash for stylish kills performed during flips, cartwheels, and other martial-arts inspired maneuvers.
"Gun fu" moves, closely tied with a slo-mo concept essential to their execution, appear in the video game Max Payne
, along with dual-wielding various weapons, including Beretta
s, and machine pistol
s such as Uzis, and the Ingram
MAC-10
. The game, itself heavily influenced by the trend-setting The Matrix movie, arguably signified the advent of extensive slo-mo as an interactive device in videogames.
Shadow Hearts: From the New World
features a character, Natan, whose special skill is labeled "Gun Fu" and is designed to resemble the martial art.
Dante, from the Devil May Cry series
, employs "gun fu" using a variety of firearms, the wielding of dual pistols being his trademark.
In 2007, Stranglehold
, a game sequel to John Woo's cult film 'Hard Boiled' was released, which featured the protagonist 'Police Inspector Tequila' on another blood driven conquest. With 'slo-mo' action sequences precision sniping in areas such as the crotch and face and persistent use of two hand guns or sub-machine guns.
Noel Vermillion from the fighting game BlazBlue also uses gun kata with her two Nox Nyctores pistols, Arcus Diabolus Bolverk.
In 2009, Cryptic Studios
released Champions Online
which features a "munitions" class that contains several abilities that utilize dual-wielding pistols. Many of the powers combine firing with martial arts, including a "Bullet Ballet" power and a high level ability called "Lead Tempest". Likewise, the similar game City of Heroes
is incorporating a Dual Pistols power set into the game in the upcoming expansion pack, Going Rogue, which involves switching between ammunition types mid-combat and various trick shots.
In the Buffyverse role-playing games
, gun fu is the name for the firearms skill, but this is more likely meant to be humorous rather than to imply characters practice an actual firearm-based martial art.
In the Ninjas and Superspies
supplement Mystic China Gun Fu is referred to as the Triad
Assassin Training and is a martial arts skill that can be available to player characters. It primarily emphasizes the use of paired 9mm pistols.
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
and kung fu, is the style of sophisticated close-quarters gunplay seen in Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
and in Western films influenced by it. It often resembles a martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
battle played out with firearms instead of traditional weapons. It may also be described by other terms such as bullet ballet, gun kata, or gymnastic gunplay.
The focus of gun fu is both style and the usage of firearms in ways that they were not designed to be used. Shooting a gun from each hand, shots from behind the back, as well as the use of guns as melee weapon
Mêlée weapon
A melee weapon is any weapon that does not involve a projectile — that is, both the user and target of the weapon are in contact with it simultaneously in normal use...
s are all common. Other moves can involve shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s, Uzis, rocket launchers
Shoulder-launched missile weapon
A shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-launched missile or man-portable missile is a projectile fired at a target, small enough to be carried by a single person, and fired while held on one's shoulder...
, and just about anything else that can be worked into a cinematic shot. It is often mixed with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers, with many of the moves being derived from the works of Fiore dei Liberi
Fiore dei Liberi
Fiore Furlano de Civida d'Austria delli Liberi da Premariacco was a Medieval master of arms and the earliest Italian master from whom we have an martial arts manual...
's Fior di Battaglia.
"Gun fu" has become a staple factor in modern action films due to its visually appealing nature (regardless of its actual practicality in a real-life combat situation). This is a contrast to American action movies of the 1980s which focused more on heavy weaponry and outright brute-force in firearm-based combat.
Heroic bloodshed and gun fu
Director John WooJohn Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
originated the style in the Hong Kong film
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow is a 1986 Hong Kong action film which had a profound influence on the Hong Kong film-making industry, and later on an international scale.Directed by John Woo, it stars Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung...
in 1986. The film launched the "Heroic bloodshed
Heroic bloodshed
Heroic Bloodshed is a genre of Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence. The term heroic bloodshed was coined by editor Rick Baker in the magazine Eastern Heroes in the late 1980s, specifically...
" genre in Hong Kong, and "gun fu" action sequences became a regular feature in many of the subsequent heroic bloodshed films. John Woo continued to make several classic heroic bloodshed films, all featuring gun fu, and all starring leading man Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
. Chow wielding a gun in each hand became an iconic cinema image around the world.
Anthony Leong wrote of the gunfights in A Better Tomorrow,
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter is an American novelist, essayist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic.-Life and career:Stephen Hunter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. His father was Charles Francis Hunter, a Northwestern University speech professor who was killed in 1975....
, writing in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
wrote,
Other Hong Kong directors also began using gun fu sequences in films that were not strictly heroic bloodshed films, such as Wong Jing
Wong Jing
Wong Jing is a Hong Kong film director, producer, actor, presenter, and screenwriter. A prolific filmmaker possessed of strong instincts for crowd-pleasing and publicity, he is often cited as the most consistently successful filmmaker , in commercial terms, in the Hong Kong cinema of the last...
's God of Gamblers
God of Gamblers
God of Gamblers is a 1989 Hong Kong action comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Jing, and featuring an ensemble cast.- Synopsis :Chow Yun-fat plays Ko Chun, an extremely talented and well known gambler...
(1989). And there were several heroic bloodshed films that did not feature gun fu, but opted for more realistic combat, such as Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam Ling-Tung , born in 1955 is a Hong Kong film director, producer and scriptwriter.He is known for gritty, dark and realistic action thrillers. He was born in Hong Kong and studied film at York University film school in Toronto...
's City on Fire
City on Fire (1987 film)
City on Fire is a gritty and stylish 1987 Hong Kong action crime drama film produced and directed by Ringo Lam, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee and Sun Yueh...
(1987).
Spread to the West
The popularity of John WooJohn Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
's films, and the heroic bloodshed
Heroic bloodshed
Heroic Bloodshed is a genre of Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence. The term heroic bloodshed was coined by editor Rick Baker in the magazine Eastern Heroes in the late 1980s, specifically...
genre in general, in the West helped give the gun fu style greater visibility. Film-makers like Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
were inspired to create action sequences modelled on the Hong Kong style. One of the first to demonstrate this was Rodriguez's Desperado
Desperado (film)
Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover....
(1995). The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
(1999) played a part in making "gun fu" the most popular form of firearm-based combat in cinema worldwide; since then, the style has become a staple of modern Western action films.
One classic gun fu move consists of reloading two pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
s simultaneously by releasing the empty magazine
Magazine (firearm)
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Magazines may be integral to the firearm or removable . The magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored in the magazine into a position where they may be loaded into the chamber by the action...
s, pointing the guns to the ground, dropping two fresh magazines out of one's jacket sleeves, or strapped to one's legs, into the guns, and then carrying on shooting. In the film Bulletproof Monk
Bulletproof Monk
Bulletproof Monk is a 2003 action film starring Chow Yun-fat, Seann William Scott and Jaime King. The film was directed by Paul Hunter. It is loosely based on the comic book by Michael Avon Oeming....
(2003), The Monk With No Name (portrayed by Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
) empties two pistols, ejects the magazines and spins to kick the empty magazines at his assailants. In The Rundown
The Rundown
The Rundown is a 2003 American action comedy film starring The Rock and Seann William Scott about a bounty hunter who must head for Brazil to retrieve his employer's renegade son. It was directed by Peter Berg...
(2003), Beck (Dwayne Johnson) fires two shotguns, flips both to be up-side down and pointing backwards, and snaps them between his arms and torso to reload them in an instant. The style is also featured (albeit in a small way and with the assistance of gadgets) in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a 2001 adventure thriller film adapted from the Tomb Raider video game series. Directed by Simon West and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001. The film was a commercial success...
movies. In Wanted (2008), assassins belonging to The Fraternity possess the skill of "bending" bullets around obstacles; in a gunfight early in the film, one assassin knocks another bullet out of the air with his own round. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a 2009 American action film based on the Marvel Comics' fictional character Wolverine. The fourth installment in the X-Men film series, it was released worldwide on May 1, 2009...
(2009), Agent Zero
Agent Zero
David North is a mutant comic book character in the fictional Marvel Universe. He was originally known as Maverick, and more recently as Agent Zero. North first appeared in X-Men David North (born Christoph Nord) is a mutant comic book character in the fictional Marvel Universe. He was originally...
(Daniel Henney) reloads his handguns by throwing them into the air and catching them with the magazines he's holding in his hands.
1992 saw the introduction of gun fu to the horror movie script. In Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
's cult classic Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness, also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness or simply Evil Dead III, is a 1992 horror comedy fantasy action film directed by Sam Raimi. It is the third and final installment in The Evil Dead trilogy. The film was written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, produced by Robert Tapert,...
(1993), Ash (Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
) uses a 12 gauge Remington double-barreled stage coach gun as both a close combat weapon and as the gun it is. Many scenes show Ash doing flips over the various undead, landing, shooting over his shoulder, even throwing the weapon and catching it only to continue to fire.
The character John Preston (Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
) demonstrates a system of martial arts called Gun Kata in writer/director Kurt Wimmer
Kurt Wimmer
Kurt Wimmer is an American screenwriter and film director.Wimmer is of German descent, he attended the University of South Florida and graduated with a BFA degree in Art History. He then moved to Los Angeles where he worked for 12 years as a screenwriter before making his 2002 film, Equilibrium...
's Equilibrium
Equilibrium (film)
Equilibrium is a 2002 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. It stars Christian Bale as John Preston, a warrior-priest and enforcement officer in a future dystopia where both feelings and artistic expression are outlawed and citizens take daily injections of drugs...
(2002). Gun Kata is differentiated from other Gun Fu styles by a focus on rote memorization of probabilities, instead of feats of pure reflex. Through repeated simulations and practice, practitioners are able to fire at their attacker's position, while moving out of their attacker's most likely return fire trajectory and essentially dispatching their enemy while dodging their enemies' bullets. Preston also has special devices mounted into his sleeves/wrists that feed magazines smoothly into his weapon, but the Gun Kata itself provides him with optimum firing angles as well as defensive postures and movements. The 2006 film Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet (film)
Ultraviolet is a 2006 American science fiction action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer and produced by Screen Gems. It stars Milla Jovovich as Violet Song and Cameron Bright as Six. It was released in North America on March 3, 2006...
, also written and directed by Wimmer, featured much-anticipated "Gun Kata 2.0" scenes, which utilized a super-powered protagonist and futuristic technology to expand on the Gun Kata ideas created in Equilibrium.
In the 2010
2010 in film
The year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
movie, Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass (film)
Kick-Ass is a 2010 superhero comedy film based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who co-produced the film with actor Brad Pitt, and co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman...
, the character Hit-Girl, played by Chloë Moretz
Chloe Moretz
Chloë Grace Moretz is an American actress, known for her role as Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. She also appeared in The Amityville Horror, Days of Summer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hugo, and portrayed Abby, the child vampire, in Let Me In.-Personal life:Moretz was born in Atlanta,...
, uses a lot of gun fu, with inspirations from Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
movies of Chow Yun Fat and John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
, and western films such as The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
.
Video games
The heavily John Woo-influenced Half Life 1 game modification The SpecialistsThe Specialists
The Specialists is a multiplayer modification for the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life. The final version of the mod is 3.0.-History:...
is one of the very few examples of multiplayer "Gun Fu". The mod features melee and gun combat, with encounters often resulting in frenzied exchanges involving both types of attack. Dual-wielding weapons, slow motion, and advanced melee are popular features of the mod which still has a loyal following years after the final version was announced. Another Half-Life mod, "The Opera", is named after Hong Kong blood operas, and features akimbo-wielded handguns and stylized gunplay - players are awarded cash for stylish kills performed during flips, cartwheels, and other martial-arts inspired maneuvers.
"Gun fu" moves, closely tied with a slo-mo concept essential to their execution, appear in the video game Max Payne
Max Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
, along with dual-wielding various weapons, including Beretta
Beretta
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta is an Italian firearms manufacturer. Their firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and military purposes. It is also known for manufacturing shooting clothes and accessories. Beretta is the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the...
s, and machine pistol
Machine pistol
A machine pistol is a handgun-style, often magazine-fed and self-loading firearm, capable of fully automatic or burst fire, and normally chambered for pistol cartridges. The term is a literal translation of Maschinenpistole, the German term for a hand-held automatic weapon...
s such as Uzis, and the Ingram
Ingram
- Places :* Ingram, Northumberland, England* Ingram, California, community in Mendocino County, California, USA* Ingram, Pennsylvania in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA* Ingram, Texas, city in Kerr County, Texas, USA...
MAC-10
MAC-10
The MAC-10 is a highly compact, blowback operated machine pistol developed by Gordon B. Ingram in 1964.-Design:The M-10 was built predominantly from steel stampings...
. The game, itself heavily influenced by the trend-setting The Matrix movie, arguably signified the advent of extensive slo-mo as an interactive device in videogames.
Shadow Hearts: From the New World
Shadow Hearts: From The New World
is a console role-playing game developed by Nautilus and published by XSEED Games in 2005. It is the third official game in the Shadow Hearts series....
features a character, Natan, whose special skill is labeled "Gun Fu" and is designed to resemble the martial art.
Dante, from the Devil May Cry series
Devil May Cry (series)
Devil May Cry is a series of five action hack and slash video games set in the modern day. The series was developed by Capcom and created by Hideki Kamiya. Originally intended to be a sequel in Capcom's Resident Evil series, Devil May Cry was such a radical departure from the series' style that it...
, employs "gun fu" using a variety of firearms, the wielding of dual pistols being his trademark.
In 2007, Stranglehold
Stranglehold (video game)
Stranglehold, or John Woo Presents Stranglehold, is a third-person shooter developed by Midway Games' Chicago studio, released in late for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 3...
, a game sequel to John Woo's cult film 'Hard Boiled' was released, which featured the protagonist 'Police Inspector Tequila' on another blood driven conquest. With 'slo-mo' action sequences precision sniping in areas such as the crotch and face and persistent use of two hand guns or sub-machine guns.
Noel Vermillion from the fighting game BlazBlue also uses gun kata with her two Nox Nyctores pistols, Arcus Diabolus Bolverk.
In 2009, Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios, a wholly owned Perfect World subsidiary, is a small American massively multiplayer online role-playing game developer headquartered in Los Gatos, California.-History:...
released Champions Online
Champions Online
Champions Online is a free-to-play superhero-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game by former City of Heroes/Villains developer Cryptic Studios based on the Champions license. The game's rules and setting are loosely based on the HERO System ruleset...
which features a "munitions" class that contains several abilities that utilize dual-wielding pistols. Many of the powers combine firing with martial arts, including a "Bullet Ballet" power and a high level ability called "Lead Tempest". Likewise, the similar game City of Heroes
City of Heroes
City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...
is incorporating a Dual Pistols power set into the game in the upcoming expansion pack, Going Rogue, which involves switching between ammunition types mid-combat and various trick shots.
Other media
Gun Fu is also the name of a series of comic books by Howard M. Shum and Joey Mason about a Hong Kong police officer in the 1930s who employs a combination of gun-play and martial arts. In the Iron Fist comic books, the character Orson Randall uses his Iron Fist power with his two fire-arms, which a colleague jokingly refers to as "Gun-Fu".In the Buffyverse role-playing games
Buffyverse role-playing games
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel Role-playing Games are complementary, officially licensed role-playing games published by Eden Studios, Inc. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Core Rulebook was published in 2002, while the Angel Corebook followed in 2003...
, gun fu is the name for the firearms skill, but this is more likely meant to be humorous rather than to imply characters practice an actual firearm-based martial art.
In the Ninjas and Superspies
Ninjas and Superspies
Ninjas & Superspies is a role-playing game written by Erick Wujcik and published in 1988 by Palladium Books. The game is designed around espionage and martial arts action in the modern world, similar to movies such as the James Bond series or Chinese martial arts films...
supplement Mystic China Gun Fu is referred to as the Triad
Triad
Triad is a term used to describe many branches of Chinese criminal organizations based in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau, Taiwan, China, and also in countries with significant Chinese populations, such as Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom...
Assassin Training and is a martial arts skill that can be available to player characters. It primarily emphasizes the use of paired 9mm pistols.
See also
- Girls with gunsGirls with gunsGirls with guns is a sub-genre of films and animation, especially Hong Kong action films and anime, with a female protagonist in a strong lead role, set in a modern context. The genre involves gun-play, stunts and martial arts action...
- Heroic bloodshedHeroic bloodshedHeroic Bloodshed is a genre of Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence. The term heroic bloodshed was coined by editor Rick Baker in the magazine Eastern Heroes in the late 1980s, specifically...
- GunspinningGunspinningGunspinning refers to the old west tradition and Hollywood legend of a cowboy gunslinger twirling his pistol around his trigger finger. Gunspinning is a western art such as trick roping, and is sometimes referred as gunplay, gun artistry, and gun twirling...
- GunZ: The Duel
- Combat pistol shootingCombat pistol shootingCombat pistol shooting is a modern martial art that focuses on the use of the handgun as a defensive weapon for self defense, or for military and police use...