The Crusades was a famous religious movement in history. Generally speaking, the Crusades was a failure, and the main reason was the complex social composition of participants, non-unified weapons and equipment. The Crusades made great suffer to the East and West Europe, caused huge material losses, but they had a long-term effect on the European civilization. The Crusades actually opened the door to the East Trade, promoted the development of Western science and technology. It found an outlet for the civil war in the Christian kingdoms of Europe, drove the European continent onto the cosmopolitan Road, made them open their eyes to the broader external world.

The external world included China in the Far East. The Westerners began to learn from China to make incendiary agents, gunpowder and firearms, began to use a compass, replaced rowing by sailing ships in Navy new development, and valued the status and role of the light cavalry. Literature and poetry flourished. In the knowledge dissemination caused by the Crusades, the positive role outweighed the negative effects.

Although the positive role of China in the knowledge transmission during the Crusades is acknowledged, there are few movies that relate the Crusades and China. Outcast is the only one by far. Outcast, a 2014 American-Chinese-French action film, directed by Nick Powell, stars Nicolas Cage, Hayden Christensen, Liu Yifei, Ji Ke Jun Yi and Andy On. The Crusades soldier Jacob tortured by war is stranded to the Far East to escape the painful memory of the Crusades war. But he is engaged in the imperial throne inheritance dispute between the princes, again he is in war to protect the younger prince and his sister, the princess. That may be the most dramatic and sad love story that the soldier travels so fast to meet and love the princess, then parts alone. The film gives an implicit background that it happens in China.

The Crusades soldier travels at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

From the history truth, we can find some stupid mistakes the film makes.

First, the Crusades soldier would never travel so far. According to history, the Crusades broke out during 1096 to 1291, during which was the Song Dynasty in China, or the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Unlike the Han dynasty (202 – 220B.C.) or the Tang dynasty (618—907), the Song Dynasty the territory was relatively smaller. And the neighbouring countries were bellicose and tough, and war broke out everywhere. On one hand, the Crusades went as far as within Europe. On the other hand, the Song Dynasty didn’t directly adjoin the Central Asia, not to say the West Asia. It made it hard to go to China from the West through land way. What about the seaway? That was impossible for the Westerners because of their poor navigation technology and shipbuilding level.

We don’t know exactly when the Crusades soldier goes to China in the film. Even he comes in Southern Song Dynasty that has the relatively bigger territory, and he never has the chance to arrive in China. Look at the territory map of Southern Song Dynasty below. The coastal green part was the Southern Song Dynasty territory.

Second, the Jinyang City once existed, but it couldn’t wait until the Crusades soldier arrival. The Jinyang City was located in nowadays Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, China. At the beginning of Song Dynasty, Jinyang City was not under the reign of Song Dynasty, but Song Dynasty always wanted to take it into its own territory. In 979, the second emperor, Emperor Taizong, led his army to conquer Jinyang City. The rampart was tall and tough, and the enemy was skillful, which made the Song army suffer heavy casualties. After the occupancy of Jinyang City, Emperor Taizong decided to destroy the city and the rampart completely. For one hand, he vented his resentment, and for the other hand he thought that such a city easy to hold but hard to attack would give the chance for other persons to claim Emperor in the city. So, the city vanished in 979. The citizens migrated to other cities under the Emperor order. In the film, the Crusades soldier has to go back to 979 through time travel to meet the Chinese princess in Jinyang City. The map below shows the City gate of Jinyang City in the film.

Third, the desert appears in the wrong place. In the film, the Crusades soldier and the Chinese princess go into Jinyang City after the long escaping journey in the desert. But check the territory map of Southern Song Dynasty, you will find that Jinyang City was located in the area far from desert. The red circle shows the location of Jinyang City. It was a temperate continental climate, hot and rainy in summer, cold and dry in winter, and it would never become desert.

Fourth, the Western caravan appears in the wrong place. In order to cope with the previous and following plot about the desert journey, the Western caravan is present in the desert to give the Crusades soldier and the Chinese princess the chance to go into Jinyang City. But as mentioned before that the Song Dynasty territory was far from the West, the road is blocked. The Song Dynasty territory was surrounded by several bellicose and tough neighbouring countries. No one would take the chance of being robbed to go to China for the trade.

The killer theme has been put on screen for dozens of years. It is easy to make the killing processes and scenes good, but difficult to make the difference. Unfortunately, Bangkok Dangerous makes no difference from other killer films. The Hollywood leading man, the Bangkok story place, it is really not stimulating, except the other Asian actors, because you know the end when you know the beginning. Our killer, Nicolas Cage, starts in the so cool voice-over, a little lonely, and with the cold and indifferent look. The film is meant to shoot a man in the night, so whole film is almost shot in the Bangkok night, but it is never thought that the killer dies silently in Bangkok, without value.

Bangkok Dangerous is a 2008 crime thriller film written and directed by the Pang Brothers, and starring Nicolas Cage. Killer Joe (by Nicolas Cage) is a quiet man, he disappears quietly somewhere in the world after he finishes the job. This time, he goes to Thailand in the name of vocation to launch the new job. In Bangkok, he meets a deaf-mute girl, Fon. He fabricates new identity to get close to Fon. In order to reduce his chances of exposure, Joe chooses Kong as his assistant, a corner boy, to do some dangerous liaison work. Joe finds Kong smart and capable, and he accepts Kong as his student and friend. Because of his beloved Fon, it is a violation of the regulations for Joe to abandon the assassination, which greatly infuriates the buyers. The buyers begin to insanely assault Joe. Joe fights back the gangsters, for his new life, lover and friend.

After all, Nicolas Cage is good actor, not handsome, but sexy. He treats actor’s lines well. When watching such an unpopular film, most people don’t know Thai language, and the leading lady is deaf and mute, so the Nicolas Cage actor’s lines is very important. Especially his voice-over sounds very aesthetic. He will add his creativity to the role in the film. He is the kind of charismatic actor who handles and grasps the role appropriately.

But, his hairstyle is a real failure in the film, because the hair scatters scruffy. I don’t know why the girl would fall in love with such an old sloppy bald-headed man.

Nicolas Cage teaches Kong Wing Chun.

In the film, Nicolas Cage teaches Kong Wing Chun, which is commendable melee action scene. It is said that Steven Seagal and Robert Downey Jr. all studied Wing Chun. Now, it is found that Nicolas Cage studied Wing Chun, too. There are two plots.

One is the dagger lesson. In the beginning, Kong asks Nicolas Cage to teach him to fight, but Nicolas Cage takes up a dagger to try to kill Kong who knows too much. Kong is so agile to block Nicolas Cage’s hand when the dagger is next to his neck. After several trials, Nicolas Cage finds him a man of great potential, and accepts him as student. The other lesson is the chi sau training, a way of dual practice of Wing Chun. But here we know that Nicolas Cage is not familiar with the Wing Chun theory. The Wing Chun theory is to withdraw the chest, erect the back, loose the shoulders down, and punch out in the middle line of the body. But Nicolas Cage raises his shoulders, and punch out in the side line of the body.

The Chinese Wing Chun.

Wing Chun, a traditional Chinese martial art, belongs to the southern China school of fist martial art and is based on the “Central Line of Human Body” theory. With its focus on defense, Wing Chun develops an active and concise system of defense and the proper use of force in necessary circumstance. The basic Empty hand forms of Wing Chun are Siu Lim Tao, chum kiu and Bil Gee, and major practice method is chi sau, a way of dual practice, and the main instrument used include man-shaped wood stool, sword and sticks, and auxiliary equipment include sandbags on walls, and three-star stools. It advocates the flexible movement of four limbs under the guidance of right concept and mindset.

The true origin of Wing Chun remains mystery now and is highly disputed. The history of Wing Chun is not seen in written documents, but passed on orally among people as folk-legends. It is widely believed that it originated in border areas in Sichuan and Yunnan Province, then gained prevalence in Fujian Province and eventually established itself as a prominent school of martial arts in Foshan, Guangdong Province.

It is explicit that Yip Man learned Wing Chun from Chan Wah Shun who was an accountant in an old-time Chinese private bank. As Chan Wah Shun charged a high fee, the art of Wing Chun did not reach out wide then. Yip Man showed prodigious ability for martial arts but was poor in physical health. In the hope of boosting his health, Yip Man was allowed to be one of Mr. Chan’s followers. Yip Man was both talented and diligent, so he was favored and instructed by Chan in person more often. And Chan Wah Shun asked his elder disciple Wu Zhongsu to practice with Yip Man a lot, further improved Yip Man’s skills.

After Chan Wah Shun died from stroke, Yip Man followed Wu Zhongsu and practiced hard for three years before he was even 15. After that, Yip Man went to St. Stephen’s College in Hong Kong as demanded by his father. And during his college time, he was able to meet Leung Bik, the Wing Chun master, with whom he practiced Wing Chun together. In 1949, Yip Man left Foshan for Hong Kong to teach Wing Chun art to make a living for the following 20 years.

There are many renowned disciples of Yip Man, in particular Bruce Lee who enjoyed worldwide reputation for being a master of Chinese martial arts and a movie start. Bruce Lee learned Wing Chun from Yip Man since he was young, and then left to study in the United States when he was 18. After his graduation, he founded the Jun Fan Gung Fu Instituteto pass on Chinese martial arts. During this time, he conducted in-depth study, drew on the strength of both Chinese and foreign martial arts, and eventually established his own martial art sect, Jeet Kune Do. In 1971, he returned to Hong Kong and started staring in films, and many of his films about Chinese Kung Fu were huge successes, earning the title of “King of Kung Fu” for himself and made Wing Chun world renown which he learned in his early days.

Nowadays, Wing Chun becomes the most famous Chinese martial arts in the West. In some countries, Wing Chun is the standard martial art for police and military forces. Though karate, Taekwondo, Brazil Jiu Jitsu are very popular with the Western Folk, there are many fanatical Wing Chun practitioners. With its rapid, efficient and practical style, Wing Chun greatly influences the world fight ring.