Figured this might be a good jumping off point to introduce neophytes to some of the greatest action films ever made, and for existing fans to chat about what's new or upcoming. Home media, streaming, and theatrical releases. We've got some good news this week from Eureka films and Shout! Factory. Shout! announces Blu-ray for ‘The Stephen Chow Collection’ arriving in November American audiences should recognize Chow from Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. He's a solid action comedy director and star, so I'm hoping this implies we'll be receiving more classic Chow like The Flirting Scholar, God of Cookery, and A Chinese Odyssey (which I'm willing to forgive for swiping sight gags from Ace Ventura now that I've tamed somewhat with age) down the road. 88 Films announces ‘The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk Collection’ on 4K Ultra HD arriving in November This is great news for some Jet Li classics! Fong Sai Yuk 2 has one of my favorite fight scenes filmed. In upcoming news the genre defining Yuen Woo Ping has a new movie in the works, and I'm looking forward to it. Master Z demonstrated he hasn't lost touch with his craft. Crafting compelling cinematic action at 73 years of age when Hollywood directors half his age struggle to use all the might of computer effects to create movies as dull as video game cutscenes. Not to mention being a spin-off movie every bit as great as the Ip Man films. Hopefully Blades of the Guardians will be another worthy addition to the bluray collection when it releases. More on Yuen Woo Ping’s ‘Blades of the Guardians’ starring Wu Jing, Nic Tse, Tony Leung and Kara Hui
Here's one of my favorites from Yuen Woo-Ping, Iron Monkey. This is despite my early disdain for Donnie Yen back in the 90's, which is fortunate as the fantastically underrated Rongguang Yu is the lead of the film, one of my all time favorites. It's recently received a respectable modern 2K release and is a fantastic entry point to Hong Kong action flicks. If you enjoy pulp heroes like Zorro or the Phantom, I'd say Iron Monkey is an eastern equivalent of that hero mold. Does anybody here subscribe to Hi-Yah? How deep does the catalogue run? My home internet connection is unreliable for film streaming, but if they offer some of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms TV series I might be willing to risk a month of service.
Yes! The Iron Monkey is such an underrated HK Kung Fu flick! Tbh I’m quite busy if not I’ll post here more. Back in the 80s and 90, I watched alot of these flicks but mostly the action genres
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin: Only recently have I heard about this movie from some martial arts channels I follow in which they say it is one of the best Kung-Fu movies ever made, and I say it did live the hype. Granted I've seen enough Martial Arts movies in my life to set a clear bar but of the ones I personally saw I think this was one of the best presentation of martial arts training and the Shaolin is better presented here than in Shaolin Wooden Men where they were pretty much big assholes. But it takes its time until it reaches the interesting part. The first act was just people getting killed left and right you couldn't tell who is going to be the main character, and once the training part is over it dives back to being a standard martial arts revenge story with an abrupt ending. 8/10
I have no particular interest in Hong Kong cinema, but here's one I'll definitely be picking up when 88 Films release it on blu-ray later this year: Magnificent Bodyguards, the 1978 Jackie Chan 3D film. Storyline is something about Jackie Chan and others being hired as bodyguards to escort a gravely ill man in urgent need of medical attention. They take a route through the 'stormy hills' a dangerous region filled with bandits and other threats. Apparently it does feature that very familiar music heard in the trailer. 3D Films of the 70s and 80s were shot very differently from most post-Avatar 3D Films. They're not afraid to have fun with it, and the pop-out gags tend to be a lot more effective and abundant. You can see the dual lens system they filmed it with in the trailer. 88 Films release will have 2D, true 3D, and colored lens anaglyph 3D versions.
Ah yeah...Hong Kong Cinema... Some of the classics: This blu-ray below includes both versions: Cynthia Rothrock starred in a bunch of Hong Kong action flicks. Her name is right up there with famous ones like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, etc etc Can't forget Jet Li... Or Donny Yen for that matter. Man, I can flood this thread with clips Gotta say I'm a little biased as I grew up watching a ton of Hong Kong cinema, particularly the action movies. In comparison to the movies of the day elsewhere? The action scenes just don't compare especially when you read about how they actually hit each other in the scenes (though not hard enough to seriously injure let alone kill).
My knowledge of Hong Kong cinema is limited to martial arts films and recent wuxia films (from the 90s and onwards, though they have lasted longer). They're a fun and thrilling niche. Standouts to me are: - the Big Boss and Fist of Fury (classic Bruce Lee) - 36th Chamber of Shaolin (classic Gordon Liu) - Mr Vampire (a fun comedy horror) - Flying Daggers (a comedy about feuding bounty-hunter sisters and brothers)
This is more or less the basis of the thread. Probably due to the high exportablity of action films, and during the British occupation HK films were produced with multiple audio dubs for non-native tongues. Hong Kong was doing the easy export action movie before Hollywood jumped onboard with the bloodless, second unit director handling the active, action choreography lacking, and CGI slathered multiplex monstrosities that bore audiences these days. This is a solid video essay on Donnie Yen's body of work: Accented Cinema is also another video essayist whose work I enjoy, and who will turn you on to hidden gems and other films:
There's also this video recently talking about the decline of Hong Kong cinema citing reasons such as the control of Mainland China over Hong Kong, the retirement of the Old Guard, the lack of interest in traditional Kung-Fu, the audience moving to more down to earth dramas, and the changes streaming and online distribution brought up by the pandemic
There's some good stuff in there, but the pronunciation of wuxia sets off my AI Script Reader alarms. I also question the veracity of streaming and Pandemic impacts as Hong Kong historically had to contend with rampant media piracy. There does seem to be a lack of new generation HK stars of the same caliber as the Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, and others caliber. Hopefully they're still out there, or aspiring to model their careers after their cinematic heroes and the distribution to Western audiences isn't as great as it used to be. It's also worth noting, while being sensitive to the matter that the cultural absorption of Hong Kong into Mainland China has also impacted the modern cinematic output. It was depressing to view #FreeHongKong posts from artists I was following at the time, and hardly anybody outside of the HK sphere seemed to have any concern. This is a fairly nice essay covering the history of HK film and recent developments:
