Jet Li vs. Jackie Chan

Jet Li is one hundred times better than Jackie Chan will ever be. Now, just let that sink in for a minute. The thing that I always hear from people is, "Jackie Chan is way better than Jet Li, 'cause he does his own stunts!!!" Let's examine that statement. So, Jackie Chan doing his own stunts makes him better than Jet Li? How so? There are hundreds of stunt men out there, what about Jackie Chan is any different? The fact of the matter is that they are both competing martial arts super stars - and they key words are "martial" and "arts." Jet Li was the Wushu champion of the world for several years in China. He learned REAL martial arts and actually competed and was chosen better than anyone else at what he did. Jackie Chan grew up in an opera school, learning how to perform. He may know a little bit of martial arts, but most of what he learned was how to flip around and jump off things and do prat-falls. And this is very apparent when you watch him fight!!!! If you know anything about martial arts above a basic level, you will see that Jet Li's martial arts are beautiful, captivating, and meaningful. And that is why Jackie Chan is most peoples' favorite - most people don't know a thing about martial arts, they just want to see some funny guy jumping off of ladders and into windows. And I guess if that's all you want, then you can go get yourself a Jackie Chan movie and watch him jump around and act goofy. I suppose if that's all you look for in a "martial arts movie", then Jackie Chan will give that to you. But he'll be cheating you. Because a real martial arts movie will concentrate on the martial arts used, and the stunts can be done by stuntmen or wires, and it shouldn't matter. Jackie concentrates only on the stunts and humor, and his martial arts really leave something to be desired. He owes me serious dues.