Indiana Jet and the Struggle of Writers Block
Dr. Wai in "The Scripture with No Words" is a 1996 action-adventure-drama starring Jet Li, in the first time in his career where he did Acting for Two.
Jet Li plays Chow Si-kit, a pulp serial author struggling with writer's block, who is trying to write his next bestseller based on his creation, the fictional adventurer and blatant Indiana Jones-knockoff, Dr. Wai, an Adventurer Archaeologist in the 1940s seeking the Missing Scriptures before the Japanese can find it. While thinking about the direction of the story for his fictional character, Chow daydreams himself into the role of Dr. Wai, but more often than not the harsh realities of life, such as his career and relationship with his wife, drags him back into the real world.
The film tells two stories at the same time; Chow trying to overcome his writer's block and launch his new bestseller, and Dr. Wai trying to locate the missing scriptures before it falls into the wrong hands.
This film contains examples of
- Actor Allusion:
- Chow Si-kit’s wife, Cammy, is played by Rosamund Kwan. Jet Li and Rosamund Kwan previously played lovers in Once Upon a Time in China.
- In the banquet duel, Dr. Wai fights a Japanese bodyguard played by Billy Chow, who previously fought Jet Li in Fist of Legend.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Dr. Wai, obviously.
- Artifact of Doom: The titular scriptures, which grants ultimate powers for those who finds it.
- Author Avatar: Dr. Wai for Chow Si-kit. In the real-world Chow leads a boring, mundane life as a struggling writer, and lives out his fantasy as a badass hero imagining himself in the form of his fictional creation Dr. Wai.
- Badass Bookworm: Dr. Wai, who much like Indiana Jones, moonlights as a doctor as his civilian job. Complete with Specs of Awesome.
- Disguised in Drag: During the banquet scene, Dr. Wai and Shing infiltrates the ballroom’s office while disguised in gowns, wigs, jewelry and fake boobs. Not a first for Jet Li, though.
- Epic Flail: The ninjas in the gas chamber fight uses flails as weapons against Dr. Wai, but Wai use his pen to catch all their flails and turns it back against them.
- Expy: Besides the obvious Indiana Jones parallels, Dr. Wai is also a blatant one to Dr. Wisely Wei, a pulp hero down to his surname, a character previously played by Chow Yun Fat in The Seventh Curse (and was created by author Ni Kuang).
- Face Doodling: After Dr. Wai defeats the Japanese bodyguard with his pen, he purposely left the words scribbled on his opponent’s face: "Dr. Wai was here!"
- Facial Horror: The Big Bad loses half of his face after being exposed to the titular scripture.
- Fantasy Sequence: Basically, every action sequence involving Dr. Wai, is Chow (the writer in the real world) dreaming himself to be a badass hero, while leading a really boring life as a struggling writer.
- Framing Device: Chow Si-kit writes a story, imagining himself to be the badass adventurer he created on paper, and the movie promptly segues to the pulp adventure of Dr. Wai. Although in several scenes, the movie quickly shifts back to reality, such as when Chow finds out his wife Cammy is in the hospital.
- Flaming Sword: In the penultimate battle of the fictional story, Dr. Wai fights the Big Bad, both of them armed with Whip Sword which are on fire.
- Gas Chamber: A lengthy action scene in the film is set in a gas chamber, where the Japanese are testing their poisonous gas on innocent prisoners. Dr. Wai had to infiltrate the chamber to bail Shing out.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Some Japanese soldiers and researchers in the gas chamber shootout wears gas masks.
- Gratuitous Ninja: The gas chamber is guarded by several ninjas that ambush Dr. Wai the moment he took out the soldiers and guards. Why? Rule of Cool, that’s why!
- Leap and Fire: Dr. Wai did this in the gas chamber shootout. And doesn’t miss any shots at all.
- Longing for Fictionland: Chow the struggling writer wishes himself to be his own fictional creation, Dr. Wai the badass adventurer.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Kick-ass Imagine Spot action scenes aside, it's a drama about a man trying to overcome writer's block.
- Nested Story: Jet Li plays fictional writer Chow Si-kit, and Chow Si-kit writes about fictional archaeologist Dr. Wai. Oh and Dr. Wai is also played by Jet Li...
- Oddball in the Series: Jet Li playing a Ridiculously Average Guy instead of an action hero in the real world, for starters. There are notably more dramatic scenes in this movie as well in the real life moments, compared to the rest of Jet Li's output in the 90s. Jet wouldn't star in another drama movie until Ocean Heaven 14 years later.
- Offhand Backhand: Dr. Wai did the gun version of this trope after taking down a small platoon of Japanese guards, one of them tries coming up from behind him. Wai promptly fires a shot behind him and guns down the guard without looking.
- One-Man Army: Dr. Wai in most of his fight scenes. His sidekick is a Non-Action Guy and none of his allies have any experience in kicking ass, so he’s fighting off hordes of mooks by himself… and damn good at it.
- The Pen Is Mightier:
- Dr. Wai’s preferred secret weapon is his pen, which can launch its tip with a Razor Floss attached, which he used to take out the Japanese bodyguard when the latter tries to pull a gun on Dr. Wai in the office fight.
- Dr. Wai vs. the ninjas. They have flails, and Dr. Wai had his pen. Dr. Wai wins.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Shing, Dr. Wai’s sidekick and The Lancer, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro at his pluckiest.
- Proto-Superhero: Dr. Wai himself, a Badass Normal adventurer who can kick massive amounts of ass.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: During one of Dr. Wai’s adventures, he gets attacked by a rodent exposed to the scriptures and turning giant-sized, in a scene that is a blatantly ripped off from The Princess Bride
- Scarf of Asskicking: Dr. Wai and the Big Bad both wears scarves. Naturally, the impracticality of this trop comes up when Shing managed to assist Dr. Wai by grabbing the scarf of Big Bad, causing a scarf snag.
- Show Within a Show: A Type 1 example, Chow Si-kit is the creator of Dr. Wai, and imagines himself to be the hero he made.
- Sumo Wrestling: During the gas chamber fight scene, two Giant Mook fighters Dr. Wai had to contend with are Sumo wrestlers, which he defeats by flinging them into the air before sending them landing on the gas-discharging equipment.
- Two-Faced: The Big Bad, whose right half of his head is a Skull for a Head.
- Writer's Block: In real life, Chow Si-kit struggles with this problem as he tries to think of how to come up with the adventures of Dr. Wai.
