It seems natural enough when director Robin Shou opens his documentary Red Trousers with a lengthy sequence from his undistributed Hong Kong action film Lost Time. The clip not only sets the scene for an examination of the movie's stunts, but it also reminds viewers how glitzy and polished a Hong Kong film can look, which becomes important once Shou begins delving into grainy video footage of the failed takes and training that audiences don't normally see. But when Shou returns over and over to Lost Time—repeating scenes, showcasing his character's angsty good looks, and plodding through plot rather than focusing on the stunts that Red Trousers is supposedly about—it becomes clear that he couldn't wrest the vanity out of "vanity project."
Somewhere behind all the Shou-centrism is a compelling documentary struggling to break free. A former Hong Kong stuntman who got his big Hollywood break starring as Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat films, Shou is enthusiastic about his trade, and he eagerly discusses its history when he isn't grilling sweaty, battered stuntmen and women about the bone-cracking rolls and falls they've just taken. The title Red Trousers refers to the traditional garb worn by Chinese-opera acrobats, who in modern times often go into cinema; Sammo Hung (whom Shou interviews) and Jackie Chan (whom Shou references repeatedly and reverently) were among the "red trouser" children who endured indentured servitude and savage beatings as they learned their craft. But after briefly focusing on the jaw-dropping stunts performed by modern opera-trainee kids, Shou moves into a less compelling pattern, alternating Lost Time clips with talking-head interviews in which modern-day stuntmen—most of whom were trained as martial artists rather than acrobats—discuss their work in proud but superficial detail.
Their testimony, Hung's reportage, and the footage of death-defying stunts are often fascinating, but Shou rarely delves deeply enough into any topic to fully satisfy, and he evokes and then brushes aside any number of relevant subjects: armed combat and weapon stunts, the difference between acrobat-trained stuntmen and martial-arts-trained stuntmen, and the state of modern opera schools in particular. Which wouldn't be so galling if Red Trousers didn't lose so much time on Lost Time. Shou focuses on a meaty subject, and he has an insider's access to the world he's exploring. But his behind-the-scenes film doesn't spend nearly enough time behind the scenes.