Choosing my favorite kung fu era is like performing an impromptu remake of Sophie's Choice. I love all kung fu films. There was a time, however, when I was more fastidious with my tastes. When I was a wee tyke, if a kung fu flick came out after the 70s, I wasn't a fan. In my mind, kung fu was an old genre that existed behind glass and shouldn't be attempted by anyone other than Bruce Lee or the Shaw Brothers.
Now that I'm older and less thick-headed, I'm uncovering a bounty of excellence that existed in the 90s. If you're familiar with 90s kung fu, you know that I'm talking about Cynthia Rothrock.
There were more prominent artists then—Steven Segal, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme—but Rothrock was the only one of the bunch that possessed the bonafide street cred of working in 80s Hong Kong cinema. Once the 90s rolled around, Rothrock became the face of straight-to-VHS kung fu in the 90s. Embedded above is her 1993 film Honor and Glory, in full.
