Bangkok Knockout (2010)

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Bangkok Knockout (2010)

Innovative head kicking and insane stunts abound in this relentless Thai fight film from Panna Rittikrai, the genius behind Born to Fight and the Ong-Bak franchise. This, like Rittikrai’s other post Ong-Bak exploits, suffers from a genuine lack of star presence and relies on an ensemble cast to deliver the exuberant action set pieces. All of which are quite sublime, if a little too close to exhibitionism, like the sort of thing you might find on a TV talent show.

Indeed, the film’s main conceit involves this premise, where two rival combat collectives are pitted against each other to impress a …

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City Hunter (1993)

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City Hunter (1993)

An exaggerated crime caper with Jackie Chan fighting international terrorists on board a luxury liner in shades of Steven Seagal’s Under Siege, but that’s where the similarities end. City Hunter is a truly wacky and eccentric gem, relentless in its childish humour and top notch action.

Based on a Japanese manga, Chan is the womanising Ryo Saeba, or ‘City Hunter’ to his fans. He’s a top cop sent on a mission to retrieve a newspaper tycoon’s rebellious daughter (Goto). She boards a luxury cruise ship only for it to be hijacked by dastardly gweilos, led by Norton and his sidekick Daniels.

The …

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The Expendables (2010)

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The Expendables (2010)

Sly Stallone’s geriatric action movie renaissance works solely because of its sense of irony. With so much testosterone squeezed into one picture it couldn’t have been any other way. But this is far from a spoof on the 80s American action movie. Stallone has made a heartfelt re-imagining of a dated genre, using Americans as the villains and with only the slightest hint of misogyny (that might have something to do with the fact there are only two women in the movie, both of which are somehow in need of rescuing).

The main emphasis is on bettering the death counts of both Commando and First …

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Never Back Down (2008)

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Never Back Down (2008)

Concussed teen movie attempting to do for mixed martial arts what Grease did for leather jackets and Brylcreem. This is essentially The Karate Kid for The O.C. generation, exonerating the archetypal jock persona by adding metrosexual tendencies and substituting the football field for the sweat and grapple of the MMA stage. Jake Tyler (Faris) is an ex-collegiate football star who moves from Iowa with his widowed mother and kid brother to the sun-kissed playboy mansions of Florida. Jake is no ordinary high-school beefcake, though. He reads from The Iliad, befriends an Xbox nerd and charms the school babe, all on his first …

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The Matrix (1999)

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The Matrix (1999)

Adapting many of its geekier concepts from Hong Kong action films yet subverting them to create a dystopian experience like no other, this landmark sci-fi is a riveting watch and the film that firmly signalled the end of the 90s with a solid roundhouse kick to the face. The film’s visceral, highly charged action sequences make it a giddy ride – a blend of John Woo style slow-motion firepower and traditional kung fu fighting. The hiring of Yuen Woo-ping to handle the choreography was a master stroke and a sure-sign that the Wachowskis – both huge comic-book fans – were not …

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The Glimmer Man (1996)

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The Glimmer Man (1996)

Relatively speaking, this was the last of Seagal‘s golden period of great action thrillers, before his meteoric decline into straight to video tedium. At this stage he could still attract a high pedigree of A list accomplices to his crass vanity projects: prominent comedian Wayans as a sidekick, a charismatic Brian Cox as the wily villain. With his belt buckle straining and his razor-sharp aikido skills truncated by over-editing, there are clear signs of the action man’s credibility beginning to slide. The film is salvaged by Gray who keeps the cliched cop routine tongue-in-cheek and his focus firmly on the …

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Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)

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Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)

Jackie Chan’s first box office triumph is a marvelous kung fu movie which ranks as one of the best martial arts films ever made. Revolutionary as it is splendid and bolstered by a palpable spirit of free-flowing creativity, the film was only made possible at the behest of prolific producer Lo Wei. Lo agreed to release Jackie Chan from his own stifling, straight-jacketed contract to make an independent picture with Ng See-yuen’s fledgling new company Seasonal Films. The film would pair Chan with a new and unproven director, Yuen Woo-ping. Lo Wei, who believed Chan to be “box office poison” …

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The Killer in White (1980)

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The Killer in White (1980)

Roy Chiao and Stephen Tung play cop buddies in a sort of Holmes/Watson style double act in kung fu costume. Chiao plays the brains and Wei the brawn as they hunt for the infamous White Killer, rumoured to be the wealthy gambling entrepreneur Master Mang (Yen Shi-kwan) in disguise. Not a particularly convincing disguise, either, opting for an all-white kung fu suit and hat with fake eyebrows. This film has one of those random plot contrivances tacked on at the end – the sort of thing they probably made up on the spot – involving a white-suited doppelganger played by …

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A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)

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A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)

A traditional Chinese fable subject to western technicalities, the sheer exuberance of this zany Hong Kong classic will leave you well and truly ravished.

From producer Tsui Hark and wire-fu genius Tony Ching Siu-tung comes this crazed love story besieged by a high-octane pulse, rapid editing and smart special effects. The result is both elegant and chaotic at exactly the same time. Not only a box office hit throughout Asia, ACGS has now achieved a cult following around the world and remains one of Hong Kong’s breakthrough films.

Based on a Pu Song-ling’s novel, the film starts with wandering tax collector Ning …

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A Touch of Zen (1971)

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A Touch of Zen (1971)

An exhilarating watch, King Hu’s epic masterpiece A Touch of Zen is his best work, and was internationally recognised with a top prize at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Full of trademark wuxia thrills and exuberant free-falling heroes and heroines, the film’s eerie cinematography and steady, provocative pacing is enough to make this one a genuine classic of the genre. Based on a ghost story by early Ching dynasty writer Pu Songling (whose writings were also adapted for A Chinese Ghost Story), King Hu spins an involving and evocative tale far beyond the creepy hauntings at Du Ling Fort. The …

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