Never in my life would I thought I’d see Wong Jing be an frontrunner of anything.

You have to consider in the early 80s, Hong Kong movies were still moving away from aping 1970s Japanese crime cinema, period chop stocky was still the norm, and the gwailo on the other side of the sea had yet to go full guns blazing. In 82, Raiders was one year old. Forget Commando, forget Italian Rambo clones; First Blood just came out and wasn’t Rambo yet as we know it. Jackie hadn’t yet made Police Story, hadn’t yet to teamed up with Sammo and Biao for any big outings. Even the films that we consider proto Heroic Bloodshed, like Men from the Gutter, Long Arm of the Law, and Hong Kong Godfather, were a couple years out from existing. New Wave filmmakers like Tsui Hark and Patrick Tam were just setting their feet. 

When you consider all that, there’s no reason for Mercenaries to go as hard as it does. This has that mid to late 80s action movie energy. Whether Wong was inspired by his master Chang Cheh’s Four Riders and/or the 60s American WWII men on mission films, it’s many urban scenes and the blend of hardcore gunplay with cqc make it a wholly different animal. Even the hand to hand in this is un-Shaw-like. This isn’t simple copycat hack work. Even if you can catch a whiff of workmanlike indifference in the style, or the early signs of that icky trademark WJ humor, where the hell did this come from? 

Someone show me a modern set Hong Kong action film with action of this scope and caliber from this year or earlier, otherwise I’m going to keep on believing Wong Jing might have accidentally leapfrogged all the Hong Kong action giants (and maybe even the American ones) without us realizing it.

I have nothing to add that others haven’t already covered, but I set up a movie night with two other friends where we watched this with Thrilling Bloody Sword back to back for the first time and needless to say we got pretty high off those fumes without any drugs. 

Should’ve done TBS first though, because this was crazier overall.

When I was told this was one of the lost great blockbusters of the 90s decade, from Joel Silver no less, I was sceptical. I’ve never end heard of it before! The more I looked into it, the odder it seemed. From the Aussie director of… Razorback? In that movie, a monster wreaks havoc on the hapless residents of the Outback. A work of style over substance to put it mildly. In this movie, John “Third Rock from the Sun” Lithgow wreaks havoc on the life of a still wet behind the ears Denzel Washington. So maybe there is more commonality than I initially thought. And Lithgow is here is far more of a monster than the overgrown wild boar in that other movie (as well as his own stint in Cliffhanger). Total psychopath, one of the most unconstrained and unhinged I’ve seen in an action film. Denzel, looking like he just came out of school, is shockingly already fully formed as a screen presence and acting powerhouse. My man. 

Of course, when I continued down Mulcahy’s resume to Highlander, things began to clear up even more. Much like he did in that film, Mulcahy knew damn well how to inject awe inspiring grand theatricality into the important dramatic moments, making them memorable… Yet on the whole his stories have a sort of wonky dream logic that disintegrated when scrutinized, relegating them to cult classics instead of just classic. Again, unsurprising given his background in music video directing. The action scenes, smeary but visceral, anticipate what Scott and Bay would do before they did it. 

Alas, in 1991, the world was not ready for this kind of ridiculously plotted, barely coherent, explosive but pseudo artsy MTV auteur driven neo urban crime thriller headlining an up and coming fresh black actor. A few years later, they were, when Bayhem landed fast and hard with Bad Boys. Shame, because Richochet has all the qualities we’ve come to know and love about the big 90s blockbusters, but there was not enough 80s in it at a transitional time when that audiences were still looking forward to the bookend of the previous era that was T2.

New Rose Hotel is not exactly in my wheelhouse. I’m not that familiar with Abel Ferrara’s body of work. What I’ve seen—a few of his New York set crime films—bears little resemblance to this one. It’s rare to see a sci fi film stripped so hard of the usual excesses we have come to expect of the genre. This may be out of budget and necessity, but Ferrara never relinquishes the vibe that such austere minimalism is also his deliberate choice. He achieves this by stripping the story bare as well, forgoing any kind of set up, exposition, and transition from the get go all throughout the rest of the film as we move from scene to scene. We’re left not so much with a low budget “sci fi” film that might bore us with all the genre trappings we’ve seen before or stump us with the lack there of, as we are witnessing fragments of a scheme involving four primary people we must piece together ourselves. One that happens to take place in a sci fi setting where the sci fi is only peripheral, and the 80s cyberpunk themes of dehumanization and transactional relationships are front and center instead. As many gaps and lapses in storytelling convention there may be, every scene’s intent was clear or gradually so, Ieaving me more fascinated by the form of it all than lost. If it were anyone other than Walken and Dafoe as centerpieces (phew what a heavyweight combo), this movie would not work, because it’d be crushingly dull. With them, it becomes mesmerizing. Asia Argento too might be an X factor. Although not what I’d consider a conventionally a good actress, her odd Euro charms adds an untamed mystique to the triangle her character forms with the two mad lads, being the center of their attention. Her presence turns the film into a surreal dream. This Able Ferrara guy knows the limits of what a story can be, knows where the boundaries are, and he sure likes to push them. That is the mark of a master if I’ve ever seen one, even through this detached experimentation.

Still the most creatively unshackled thing Masaaki Yuuasa has ever directed, all these years, movies, and Science Saru projects later. Masaaki Yusaku being the most creatively unshackled anime creator who’s ever lived of course.

As everyone here seems to know, Prime Cuts is one of the great studio oddities of its era, so I have nothing to add to that. I’m here to tell you it’s secretly one of the great action films of its era. All the set pieces are hard hitting as hell and as you can see from the run time, the thing really moves. The urban fish out of water (being Lee Marvin no less) in a non-urban setting is the X-factor that sets it apart from other 70s action thrillers and gives each action scene that extra kick. Memorable and rewatchable.

Sissy Spacek is this story having its beef and eating it too. Phew.

Belongs up there with Black Hawk Down, 13 Hours: Benghazi, No Escape, Operation Red Sea, as far as political shit-hits-the-fan tower-defense and escape-angry-hoarde nail biters go. Surprisingly deathless. The contrast and relational growth between the young and old ambassadors on each side of Korea gives the film a heart.

Moral of the story: don’t try to jam your loosely tied white flag on a long stick out the window in front of scared military men if your car is covered tightly in phonebooks.

More for gore hunters than action heads. Ton of effort making it as nasty and blood squirty as possible, not that much effort making the action varied or detailed. Kills off the best evil character early, and ends with a soggy limp dick climax. Hard not to when it went so hard for so long. Still, love the cast overall (Korean actors bring their A game even when it’s schlock), and the mysterious unraveling plot about super soldiers. Resident Evil? More like Xcom 2 the way characters just die. I was entertained. More than anything else, the enthusiastic giddy thirst for blood reminded me of Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive, and good old CATIII pictures of yore. 

Japanese unit 731 WWII flashback was by far the campiest and therefore funnest part.

I was ready to defend this one from the haters as a love letter to cinema rather than to pompous Hollywood.

Then I watched it. Oh. 

Supposedly the goal is to comfort us about the death of current cinema while celebrating where it’s been, but Babylon isn’t even really interested in movies, or even charting its characters careers in satisfying and complete arcs. None of the characters feel whole: Chazalle’s insistence that their downfall comes from their inability to change, but he paints them in such broad stroke caricatures they end up flat at best and stupid at worst. The snake scene is particularly forced. 

Maybe Chazelle’s point is how Hollywood is a machine that dehumanizes people and makes them lost and crazy so we don’t get to experience them in their entirety, but it doesn’t make this approach any more watchable, nor does it ever feel as organic as his approach to similar subject matter in say, LaLa Land. 

What Chazelle is really interested in is parties, funny anecdotes and instagram moments. This coincides best with the wild energy silent era Hollywood supposedly had behind the silence, and this is where Chazelle is best able to infect us his enthusiasm. Unfortunately, it’s entirely at the beginning of the of the film, and even if by design, the depressive downhill slide from there is unpleasant and eventually disengaging to watch, as your sense the director’s own interest diminish for depicting a transitional era that’s a hard pill for him to swallow. Soundtrack from previous collaborator Justin Hurwitz carries even the film’s lulls, and is so much more than the film deserved, I kept my ear on it long after the film ended. 

Babylon has all the aspirations, visual grandiosity, and thematic aims to feel important, but doesn’t actually have anything insightful to say. It really, really wants to be serious, tragic non-revisionist Singing in The Rain so badly it references it baldly in multiple ways and makes its themes the crux of the film’s core. But it’s far more hamfisted somehow than the simpler, more consistently joyous musical from 50+ years ago despite its supposed more mature nature. Yeah, silent films died so modern movies could live, just like modern movies are about to die so… seizure inducing Tik Tok can live? Or something. As Margo Robbie says in the movie, “You either are a star or you ain’t.” And sorry Babylon, but you just ain’t.

Everyone (including the movie itself) keeps talking about its similarity to Man from Nowhere, but I don’t see it. Why? Because a girl was kidnapped and the guy’s gotta save her? That’s a trope as old as time and that’s not even what happens in Man from Nowhere (spoilers: he didn’t save her). Not to mention I hate it when a movie references other movies it aspires to be, never works out in its favor and reminds me I’m watching an inferior movie. 

Korea was always good at action, but they didn’t use to make pure action movies. Their action use to be sprinkled between some tragic melodrama or techno thriller or screwball comedy or police crime procedural as just one of many ingredients, and for the longest time I wished they’d go straight for it. Then, they did. And now I kinda wish they didn’t. 

Because one thing that the Koreans do better than action, better than arguably anyone, is psychological trauma, mucking around in the deep dark depths of human ugliness, and exploring the lengths a person is willing to go through for what their heart desires most. That has always been their magic ingredient, an ingredient that has lessened over recent decades as their productions became more and more polished, more mainstream, more export friendly. 

The Killer, for all its Jang Hyuk swagger, commits the greatest crime an action movie could commit: its hero is invincible, and absolutely unfazed by anything he faces. In other words he never breaks a sweat. Why doesn’t this work? Let me asks you a question: what makes an action movie great, or an action scene great? If you said it’s because the hero kicks ass, you’d be right, but only partially. Action works only when there’s tension, there’s only tension when there’s danger, and there’s only danger is the hero is visibly threatened. The longer the action goes on, the more the threat has to escalate. So action can be great when a hero kicks ass, but it’s far better when they’re on the verge of getting their ass kicked, or look like they can’t take it much longer. Whether it’s the character or the actor, it doesn’t matter. Someone has to sweat. And sweat profusely. There has to be visible strain, visible effort. 80s action is the sweatiest. It’s why Die Hard and Predator are the best action movies ever. It’s why every Jackie Chan stunt is so nail biting. It’s why The Raid fight scenes are so awesome. It’s why that one take is so intense in Atomic Blonde. It’s why we like watching 60 year old Keanu do crazy shit even when John Wick 4 has the thinnest of threads. Heroes have to remind us they could be humans. 

There’s an exception to this, and it’s what I call payback action. Sometimes you enjoy an action scene that’s nothing but a guy ripping through their opponents. This can work, but it has to come after a great injustice has been committed by the antagonizing force. They’ve had their turn, and now it’s the hero’s turn. Totally different kind of action. It’s seemingly one sided, but you have to it’s a counter reaction. The greater the injustice that was done, the more one sided the ass kicking should be. Sometimes a movie spends the entire film building losses so the hero can have this one total ass whopping at the end. In this scenario, the hero has to be morally sound, because his opponent isn’t. Righteous anger type deal. The contrast, which is universal and mythic, just works. 

Every single action scene in The Killer is the latter kind. The one sided kind. But the hero isn’t morally sound. Nor is he emotional. The girl he’s trying to save is a jerk. He barely knows her. Despite trying to save her, he seems to have even less humanity than his enemies. Trash Mobs? Scared shitless. Final Boss? Trying his hardest. We’re told these people are horrible villains, but we don’t see it. What we do see is Hyuk being a total monster. They try to offset this by giving him a wife he supposedly loves, but its rather unconvincing. What is convincing is how good Jang Hyuk is beating and shooting and slicing the utter shit out of his enemies without breaking a sweat, holding his cup of Starbucks like this is just his daily gym routine. It’s hard to say if he enjoys his work too much, or if he’s so good he is sleepwalking through it. He’s got a smirking mask on at all times. It has all the stylish violence you come to expect from the Koreans, without any of the weighty psychology. Man from Nowhere, and going further back, A Bittersweet Life have such satisfying final action scenes because they are the natural conclusion to the development of their respective tragic heroes. We witness their gradual change. The choreo is wonderful, sure, but they play with the irony of heartless killing machines growing a heart and finding someone they truly care about only to be doomed to more violence than they’ve ever known for the sake of their newfound love. Hyuk’s titular killer doesn’t seem to truly love anyone, or anything. 

There’s a lot of fancy swinging cam/sparing use of cuts choreography that tells us which era of action we’re in. I’m not going to say it’s mediocre, because it’s pretty slick movement wise. From purely aesthetic and physical appeal standpoint it’s some of the most intricate hand to hand that a Korean action movie has attempted. And yet much like it’s protagonist it’s free of any real friction. Maybe I’m asking for too much. Or maybe The Koreans have gotten too smoothed over, too glossy for their own good.

Underwhelming after the masterpiece that was Shin Godzilla. Are my expectations in the wrong? After all, “Shin” means “new” right? Whereas Shin Godzilla swaggered in carrying timely sociopolitical commentary and Evangelion level crisis drama, making clear it wasn’t your dad or granddad’s Big G on every conceivable level, at the same time getting to heart of Godzilla 1954, Shin Ultraman is only a half step away from (popular in Japan but under the radar in the west) modern day Tokusatsu live action TV shows which carry the torch of their forebearers, relics of time that never left. Dare I say it could even be one of those shows condensed and recut into The Movie version, given how episodic it is in nature, how flat the characters are, and how little each scenario builds on the previous one to mount any kind of urgency until the near end. I know the episodic nature is due to the love of the original show format, but the lack of connective tissue really hurts the flow of the film. Despite characters talking about world impacting scenarios there isn’t enough tangible or visible large scale fallout from the alien visitors leading to a rising cycle of action->reaction which would give the movie that dramatic weight it so desperately needs. Instead there are several monsters of the week and then each segment just ends without much repercussions for either the characters of the world they inhabit. I’d like to think the essence of Ultraman is the threats he faces would be insurmountable to anyone else, not the fact that he does it every week and moves on without anyone noticing.  

Again, this is slightly more advanced than the aforementioned tokusatsu TV shows aimed at kids and tweens, but that’s a low bar. It just doesn’t subvert the genre enough to be truly exciting, or transcend the shortcuts it’s source inspiration takes to work as a children’s weekly show, no matter how many Tsui Hark esque creative camera angles it uses to frame everything (for no storytelling purpose). Even the special effects are not as good as I would’ve liked, which is ironic given the director’s pedigree. It cuts out a lot of long-standing nonsense associated with the genre, but then adds tropes from other genres in the process. And what is up with the fetishization of Masami Nagsawa? Is her constantly grabbing her own ass suppose to endear us to her somehow?

One might be tempted to compare the uncharismatic lead played by a stony faced Takumi Saitoh with Evangalion’s Shinji, but guess what? Evanglion worked with such a ive, cowardly, introverted character because he was sucked into high tension, psychologically mind fucking situations as the world exploded around him. It served as a counterbalance. Shin Ultraman doesn’t have any of that. 

Maybe it is unfair for me to expect so much from this movie. Ultraman didn’t stem from fears of nuclear trauma, and he was born on the small screen rather than the big, so perhaps this more lightweight undeconstructed retelling is true his origins. 

Or maybe who was in the driver’s seat had to do with a lot of it. Sometimes a deft director’s touch is all that’s needed to resolve all niggles. I pointed out to someone the other day this film clearly wasn’t from the same director as Shin Godzilla they retorted Shinji Higuchi was also co-director on that. Now we’ll never know how much Higuchi had the directorial reign in Shin Godzilla, but let’s be real here. He may have worked on new Gamera and several others as a SFX lead and even storyboarded parts of acclaimed Gainax shows, but that is still a far cry from overall directorial control. Mainwhile his Gainax buddy Anno has actual directing credit on some of the most generation defining anime ever, plus that insane live action Cutie Honey movie (which everyone who hasn’t seen should go watch right now). His authorial touch is obvious and well documented, and in line with what’s on display in Shin Godzilla. Higuchi’s biggest directorial credits are the live action Attack on Titan movies. Only one of them has directing credit on Shin Ultraman. Need I say more? 

I hate to sound like a broken record, but being in the same series this movie invites comparison the previous Shin movie and nearly does everything less or wrong that one did right. I’m excited to see Shin Kamen Rider to wrap up the trilogy.

This is a modernized 80s Wong Jing movie. More Specifically, The Last Blood—with all the awesome stunts and shootouts you might find from that, AND all the tonal comedic whiplash that’s either your comfort food or your marmite. I say it’s better than anything the man himself has done in 30 years, finishes in the length of time it took Bad City to get started, ballsier than any other country’s DTV offerings atm, and a giddy barrel of dual wielding wheelchair doctors. Despite coming out in a year of action resurgence from many countries at all budget levels, it holds its own by learning how to stop the brooding angersad and love the schlock. You know, what action movies use to be? Big explosions, loud emotions is the name of the game. Every gun fight is a fun fight (behold, it riffs on Resident Evil Vendetta’s infamous gun “duel”!). Yes there’s CGI but it’s almost exclusively for specific gimmick shots and otherwise not at all during the stomach bursting buffet of fairly above par action scenes. Lots of inspired situations to kickoff physical altercations. Anime “politics” in anime outfits. Did I mention it’s also an anti drug PSA like the kind from your childhood? Well, more like pretends to be, because putting bullets into bodies are the real squad goals here. 

After the triple threat of The Sniper (a painfully generic name for a blissfully swift and brutal gem), Blind War (Hong Kong industry survivor Andy On vehicle), and this, Chris Huo is proving himself to be one of the few new ace action directors. God knows we need way more of those. Either way, he’s one to watch out for. His muse is Yang Xing, a delightful versatile actress who specializes in crazy and has this unique wicked look about her (similar to their last team up, Blind War). She can also throw a kick convincingly and act the hell out of a scene. Bright future, that lady has. 

The 4 people who discredited this already criminally unseen movie on here are crazy (one of them didn’t notice the flaw they pointed was likely intentional, given the overall silly tone and other correct instances of English), aren’t even action fans, and are doing it a massive disservice.

Bonus: Jackson Liu, who was the evil Japanese terrorist in Wong Jing’s The Last Blood, makes an appearance here. The circle is complete. Stay for the behind the scenes during the credits to see how much of it was practical.

People say this film is attributed to Kurosawa’s film, Sugata Sanshiro from the 50s, but my dad, who is around the same age as To and also from in Hong Kong, is convinced To made this film because the TV show of the same name was a massive cultural phenomenon in his hometown during the 70s. Apparently everyone and their dog in that time and place watched it, and the theme song, which Throwdown borrows, was an ear worm that could be heard from people’s TV sets week after week. This might explain that weird side character who kept popping up to reference the original characters and sing the theme song. He is the audience from that era, personified, reminding them not just of the original show but the lived experience of being a fan. 

I could analyze all the pieces that make this film great, dive into the Sugata Sanshiro expanded universe, but I don’t think I could ever enjoy it as deeply as my dad does. It’s one of those things we’re you just had to be there, and I’m sure Throwdown tastes the sweetest for those who were. 

Nonetheless, since this was my very first Johnnie To movie, and one that always reminds me of my old man, I can’t look at this film objectively. It’ll always have a special place in my heart.

Watched this in theaters when it came out. Both my wife and I were excited to see it, but we couldn’t agree on how. After some classic couple bickering (read:me begging on my knees), I won out, with promise of concession later . So, IMAX it was. The only way a movie like this was meant to be seen. Cameron, master of the B-movie schlockbuster, Canadian caterer of the ultimate action attraction, at his finest. Ah, perfect. This is the way. Then came time for my wife’s concession. We were going to see it a second time, her way. 4DX. Seats rocking harder than a Six Flags roller coaster, wind coming from god knows what nasty theater airducts to whip your face, and best of all, blinding lights flashing on and off from all around the room anytime someone fires a gun to wash out the screen momentarily and remind you you’re sitting in a theater. She loved it of course.

At the end of the day, it’s not an art film, A24 experience, or Oscar bait cinema. It’s a very expensive seat seller engineered for not-so-cheap thrills (but thrills nonetheless) designed explicitly for the masses. It’s what Cameron does. I guess there’s no real high horse for me to get on here.

What I love about Cannon films is how oft defined they are by their nonfunctional narratives given grotesque form by the most dramatic echoes of Hollywood myth, stripped of all higher meaning, frantically collaged into narcissistic montages of what a child imagines grown up movies to be, made complete by overkill budgets grossly disproportionate to the kind of stories they imagine themselves to tell. Occupying a rarified space, these films have always exuded an idiot’s confidence and cinephilic expression that belie their cynical existence as symbols of excess commercialism from a less calculating time. 

None manifested these characteristics more fully than Highlander, comprised of empty glory and grandiose visions across far spanning time space that serve no great master. The dedication to artifice is astounding. My god those transitions. 

TLDR; nobody made ‘em like Canon.

Forever my favorite girls with guns movie. The Corey Yuen action is as bone crunching as Joyce Godenzi is beautiful, but I think it’s the added Cheeto dust of sisterhood, motherhood, and matriarchy packed between this Long Arm of the Law pie filling over a grindhouse revenge graham cracker crust that takes this up a notch or two over others that have similar or better action. 

Still waiting for an HD version.

The pothead American Le Samourai.

Even after seeing John Wick 4, the climax in this and the original remain the coolest action scenes in recent memory, just from how blisteringly fast, sharply edited, and inventively varied they move our hero Okada through different kinds of enemies and locations with that added element of verticality. I swear I have not seen such snappy action scenes like this since…maybe ever. It’s not an obvious copy of anything and there’s absolutely nothing else out there right now that moves like this. I watched both movies a while ago and the action is still vivid in my mind. Everything else in between is melodramady fluff you’d find in just about any other modern Japanese commercial film, which is to say fun but forgettable. Okada is a knowingly stoic screen presence even when not fighting, enough to charm his way through standard material. 

Just from the action alone, I could watch no less than 3 more of these. Now if only there was more of the same quality action in each one…

Not the upgrade from Hydra I was waiting for.

Director Sonomura really takes after V-cinema and Yakuza cinema (especially from the 90 and early 00s) to craft Bad City. Unfortunately for us he chooses to honor the genre tropes in a dry, clinical manner ill fitting of his stylish fight scenes. Given how needlessly complex the plot is for this kind of thread, it’s a knock out combo: as in you’re going to be out like a light before the action even kicks in. His choice to go with such a lengthy wide spanning plot beyond his sophistication as a filmmaker reveals his urgent desire for legitimacy, to be taken seriously beyond an action stunt guy, into a real storyteller. For him to truly succeed, he needs to step back and realize what kind of story best matches his effortlessly world class action, in that it doesn’t have to be an emotionally complex and winding thriller. He could have focused on the street level with the promising trio of buddy cops, or keep the story focused on Ozawa’s disgraced cop. Instead he tries to do too much. The kind of implied large scale political machinations taking place just aren’t ed by the meager budget: the world feels too small for anyone to be anything more than small time crooks, despite their supposed standing as the boss of a mafia or status as a politician. 

As tired as I am of defending films that suck for a large portion of the runtime only to have balls to the wall action in the third act or at the end, Bad City does have the gnarliest fist scraps. Sonomura and Tak Sakaguchi are a match made in heaven, the the former ensures the latter steals any fight scene he’s in. Ozawa the legend looks convincing at all times, so it’s a waste the story is not entirely centered on him despite the whole marketing angle of this as a cap off to his career. The climactic fight he has with Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi is screenfighting bliss. There’s also some not so good scraps, like the large scale brawl in the abandoned mall that falls too far on the side of messy realism to have much impact, and tells me Sonomura is still in process of refining his choreography style. 

I’ll still be watching Sonomura no matter what he does, so I pray he scales back and plays to his strengths better the next go around.

Thankfully I’m writing this long after the hype has died what I’m about to say is a real old man yelling at clouds type party pooper. 

It deeply disturbs me that a sheltered, American raised girl who grew up in the luxury of the west fucking American coast is entitled to wreak havoc across every conceivable dimension in order to teach her hard life immigrant mother who cares for three generations a lesson in “open mindedness” because she struggled (struggled! Not even outright reject!) to reconcile her daughter’s privileged gender z bullshit with her own ingrained traditional familial eastern values. We all just want to be accepted for who we are, I get it, but the movie has zero interest in why Evelyn is the the way she is (does it ever ask?) and 100% interest in how her kid deserves to be treated exactly the way she wants because it’s “not a big deal considering all the crazy shit can happen across infinite universes.” Yeah, except this one, the one where your mom has all the struggles you have no interest in, because everything will be right (for her) the moment she “accepts you as you are”. 

I’m not going to pretend this is an awful movie: No, this is brilliantly made, creatively constructed, and a breath of much needed air in our creatively leaden, overripe IP laden movie landscape. It’s obvious why it resonated with so many youngins. It’s the Matrix retold with a perspective that hits on the issues online generations care about right now. Externally, I hope it’ll ignite a new sort of ion in young people whether to see movies as a creative outlet or still a valuable art form amongst their newer forms of online expression. For me, being a child of an immigrant family who grew up in the west fucking coast, and seeing the lifelong hardship of my parents, the sacrifices they’d made, all the injustices they’ve been through, I just can’t get behind this movie’s utterly bullshit angle. 

They say this is a victory for Asian representation, and the resulting exposure of its cast during awards season sure is, the movie itself is anything but. This is just another fairy tale from the perspective of the half of the director duo who is Asian but not very in touch or sympathetic to his Asian parents, reinforcing all the eternal stereotypes about Asian people (emasculated male, tiger mom, knowing kung fu) without really caring to break them, incorporating them and sidestepping them into spectacle instead to preach to a neoliberal white choir.

This isn’t a movie that should exist. In more than a few ways it doesn’t. Barely anyone has seen it, and it was never distributed state side. It has 3 different names across the limited home video distribution it got, some which were censored. It’s made by a Japanese director who has deeply internalized chop socky and his predominantly American cast of actors, the whole bunch of them best known for their work on a children’s Saturday morning show. It’s violent as hell, and violence is all it has to offer. Impressive, hyperkinetic bare knuckle violence, more than most non genre nuts probably care for considering the lack of star power. No wonder it’s completely unknown. 

You can feel the roots of power rangers in the acting and story set up, no surprise given the cast and crew’s ties. Don’t let that fool you though. It’s like one of those fictional “lost episodes” stories of a show that doesn’t exist from a 2000s internet horror story. Or like someone’s lengthy stunt reel partially taped over an after school special on VHS. The villains—who are really just putty soldiers complete with a familiar screech—are more vicious than in the kiddy show but retain that bumbling idiot nature to them. Director Sakamoto is intent on upgrading the violence from the gig that dominated his career, without really giving more adult heft to the story side of things. But damn is it a hell of a show: one senses decades of pent up vision of all the excesses denied in his day job, unrepentantly unleashed onscreen for 90 mins straight. By dudes fully capable of pulling it off. Dental floss budget does little to restrain a well oiled machine of a stunt crew ready to show the world what they’re truly capable, a world that has sadly only wanted to hear JYB voice angsty anime boys. 

This is the kind of lost gem I’m lucky to find anywhere. Thank you whoever recommended this to me before I took my long hiatus, though I cannot recall now.

I’m tired of watching a foreign filmmaker who did amazing things in his home country get watered down or lost in translation in a Hollywood production made with more money than they know what to do with. 

This is not that story. This is a man who was 2/3rds the way into a adapting a Russian horror fantasy novel into the least coherent action trilogy of all time when he was called upon by Hollywood to adapt a comic book about smarmy supervillains without the supervillains. Did I say Hollywood? Sorry I meant Bollywood. But he got on the wrong plane, obviously.  

I love crazy, campy, and unique visions. But they have to be labors of love. This movie has no heart. It feels so manufactured in the most cynical way possible. 

Forget bullet bending, the gun that pivots at a 90 degree angle with a video feed is the dumbest looking weapon I never knew I hated.

Has everything it needs to succeed as a nifty neo grindhouse grab bag except gratifying action. Those cool little world building graphic design interludes came as a surprise. The lighthearted humor that isn’t too try hard is a relief. Christian Pitra, charming enough to be more than generic action hot girl, disappears forever after this movie. Gary Busey makes an appearance, only to be outshone by the original female Terminator herself (!). The whole thing has that intoxicating stink of those Italian rip offs, and I mean that in the fondest way. 

It’s a breath of fresh air after many low budget actioners the back half of a decade later, most containing decently choreographed action that is frequently the only bone drowning in a desert dry bowl of zero personality and tired traumatic anger. Then again this is just as much a product of its time, part of that mini revival of fake throwbacks following Grindhouse, only we’re now far away enough again for it to be amusing.

I’m at a loss here. AM2 fixes every complaint I have with AM1 on paper: campier, more tonally consistent, fancier fights, and the addition of many more accidents despite our lead being on supposed holiday. 

Yet for some reason it didn’t quite clicked like I hoped. I think Accident Man simply isn’t for me. His job is to orchestrate accidents and while this movie sure tried it’s damndest to incorporate some, the filmmakers and Adkins himself only truly care about cool kung fu fights. The accidents and the fight scenes never cross paths in any satisfying way, and that irritates me to no end. At least I learned something about myself: As much as I love cool kung fu fights, I hate to see a promising concept go to waste in exchange for something I can more easily get elsewhere.

It’s not like I hated it, in fact I didn’t even expect another movie! And the fights, they’re as good as it gets these days in the dominant mode of action shooting style we’re stuck with. It’s the same reason I can’t get into a lot of the 70s Shaw films, there’s a lot of fights that do well to demonstrate physical ability but they go on forever and progress neither character nor story, have somewhat indistinguishable rhythms from each other, and it all kinda blends together at one point. 

The best addition to this installment has gotta be Sarah Chang, both the actress and her character. Not only is the idea of Wong Fei Hung having an angry ass kicking female descendant already funny, the fact Accident Man hires her to surprise attack him randomly is too good of a concept. Chang has some sweet moves and a hilarious outsized personality. Andy Long completely steals the scene when he fights Scott Adkins, being younger and so much more agile he makes Adkins look sluggish. Ninja 2 Adkins could’ve taken him on better, though I’m glad Adkins in his older years isn’t a spotlight hog.

Nice of them to make a spin off of Statham’s character from SPY, making this two degrees removed from the real thing.

Autopilot paycheck job for Ritchie that’s for sure. Must be nice to be in that kind of position though; as a creative to have the luxury of “one for me, one for them” is my dream. Even in that mode, It’s as undemanding to watch as it probably was to make. Every joke slides right off a scoff. Extra half star for Plaza, another extra half for uniting Elwes and his 90s clone Harnett, two of the most forgotten baby face never-were’s, in the same movie.

Perfect washing-the-dishes-but-don’t wanna-watch-total-trash background fodder.

Isn’t this merely what Dreamworks use to do blindfolded, back in the aughts, and Disney would scoff at, but people are surprised by it because they’ve fallen so far into regurgitated kiddy mush these days? Oh that and the Spidey inspired comic book lighting/anime frame timing sheen over it. At the end of the day, it’s still a furry animal adventure with all the tropes that come with that (the annoying comic relief is the worst ever) and a painfully naked Mcguffin driven story. 

I don’t wanna be overly harsh on this, Big Bad Death and Jack Horner are both fantastic villains, the kind that shames anything Disney’s got these days (not like those peeps can create universally loved characters anymore). The action riffs hard from anime, especially that Attack on Titan inspired giant monster fight at the start. And that can only be a good thing.

The heart of the film does center on a subject matter that is unusual matter for a western animated film: how to deal with dying. In that sense, along with the hero’s origin, it seems more for us old kids who grew up on early Dreamworks than actual kids. So maybe I enjoyed it more than I care to it. It’s a fine picture, kinda a take-the-studio-template-as-far-as you can-go Casablanca of Dreamworks movies even, I’m just a little miffed that the bar for western animation is so low that when they do anything more than suck their thumbs we give them four big fat gold star stickers for it.

Extra half star for continuing the isekai fan fiction of Mask of Zorro which is my favorite Banderas movie ever.

This review may contain spoilers.

Where the wickens do I even begin?!? 

You fuggin’ did it, CHAD Stahelski. You lived up to your name and made the Chadest action movie possibly ever. Even I, a life long devoutee of pure Hong Kong cinema and their sacred filmmaking ways that Hollywood has never managed to imitate without help, bow down to the new action God/shrine/monolith you’ve erected. This is not sarcasm. I cannot remain a curmudgeon and contrarian fanboy naysayer in the face of this kitchen sink achievement. No American blockbuster film has dedicated itself to so much cqc combat in a style almost entirely its own, and do it all so impressively. 

Despite nearly everyone ripping this franchise off nonstop since it’s inception, the series somehow hit its highest peak in a 4th installment, with the freshest menagerie of eye melting ideas seen in the genre since the Raid 2, and that is just a testament to the boundless creativity of the team behind this epic. At first I was afraid the Wick team might have been dethroned by others who have had much time to study and perfect the very specific art of Wickian gunfu and camerawork (there are some real slick examples out there). But as I watched the set pieces unfold, I realized John Wick was no longer confined by those things. the battlefield had expanded greatly. Take the first set piece with the glass room. The director, the action stunt team, had such a treasure trove of ideas both physical and visual, that the camera didn’t need to do anything overtly flashy the way imitators had started to go: all that it needed was capture the transcendent choreography smoothly, cleanly. Mind you, this isn’t how I felt about the climax of John Wick 3 (or that whole movie really), which was superficially similar. There, the camerawork betrayed Keanu’s slow and sometimes amateur execution of certain martial arts moves, making him look like Steven Seagal against more talented jobbers like the Raid guys. Concept wise there also wasn’t anything there that I hadn’t seen done better in an Asian action movie. I hated it. They must have noticed, because here they’ve rectified every single mistake and then some. Keanu, the stunt goons, the camera, the direction, the choreo and the new ideas being executed are in perfect unity in JW4. Keanu looks so good even when Donnie Yen comes in to fight him he manages to hold his own convincingly in how it’s cleverly staged . Chad and Keanu had finally figured out all the ins and outs of each other as actor and director, avoiding anything that over extends their abilities, while pushing Keanu to new heights he can handle (and I swear he simply moves better in this). I could go on forever about these details, but I have a different forever to get through below. 

In my eyes, what’s critical is for the first time in the series, the structural flow of action is totally satisfactory. Whereas the other 3 Wicks blew out their candles with the best stuff early on and fluctuated in quality afterwards without rhythm until they burned out by the endings with inferior action, 4 knows how to retain my attention throughout by progressively increasing the physical danger to match the emotional pull of a man in the bracketed final throes of his journey. 

Going from the beginning set piece that reintroduces, perfects, then imaginatively innovates what we’ve come to know about Wick, to a sprawling middle set piece involving impossibly orchestrated carnage stretching both John Wick as an action concept and the possibilities of action filmmaking in general, onto an ending set piece that refocuses on the raw emotional and physical exhaustion of Wick in an intimate personal way like never before through a final climb that’s equal parts literal and metaphorical conclusion, all bridged by ing world and side character arc action interludes in this clear cut, self contained, classical three act structure functioning entirely on its own independently of the cumbersome actual narrative, is why John Wick 4 feels like such a complete accomplishment in its genre despite its glaring story problems, and what the series had been mis to this point. By the time we get to the duel, it almost doesn’t matter what happens. Wick had already survived the total action onslaught, so as an action hero he’d already been freed of his obligation. Anything more was perfunctory, ceremony. Wick only gives up the ghost because he’s accomplished his goal, not because that blunderbuss was more powerful than the damage he sustained falling out of a 5 story building or being hit by several cars. 

Based on the action alone and how it is built and paced between itself, JW4 is a five star movie. It does things I’ve have never seen before as a hardcore action head who’s seen the best of the best and obscure as hell gems. Every character is unique enough to have their own movie. The Marquis de Gramont, serves as an excellent antagonist whose insatiable ego and appetite for career advancement rivals Wick’s insatiable instinct to kill. Donnie Yen, after all these years, finally caught his big Hollywood break not as a side character but top billing number 2. The thing that holds the movie back is that beginning hour, which gets ponderous at times without building tension more effectively for when the action explodes, or entertain us with smarter dialogue. Flimsy story has never held back the action greats, but flimsy storytelling does JW4. But when it’s action stands amongst the GOAT and tells its own little story, does that really matter?

Hunt is a movie that aspires to be more than your Korean thriller of the week. It gets twistier than a big bag of Twizzlers and the more you know about the Korean Peninsula situation past and present the easier time you’ll have. Action is plentiful and fierce, interwoven between complex political plotting of multiple parties, sustained deception, and shifting alliances. It’s too heady for most action heads, and too meat headed for thinking men who favor grounded thrillers. Therefore, this isn’t really a film with a built in audience, or maybe any audience. 

Two guys in different S. Korean government departments hunt a N. Korean mole; turns out they’re both involved in capacities that only become clear not just to the viewer but each other deep into the story, with dire consequences for their respective countries. There’s a maze of misdirection here but as long as you keep focused on what our leading men really care about you shouldn’t really get too lost. 

Personally I found the whole Cold War espionage threads far too convenient and outrageous to be believable, made only more outrageous by massively entertaining, knock-your-socks-off set pieces that have no place in a serious Cold War thriller. It’s more than a bit akin to the pair of non-literal cold war movies from Hong Kong named Cold War. Working out which party was behind what and who was really aligned with who as the movie threw me in for loop after loop to the point it got silly was a major source of entertainment in itself, then being rewarded with devastating firefights when someone fucks up the chain of command made it all the sweeter. This is a film that wants you to take it seriously but cannot stop itself from having tank loads of fun. Dueling (former?) heartthrobs Lee Jung Jae and Jung Woo Sung(aka Korean Tom Cruise) are such perfect foils for each other, I could watch them argue for days. Director Lee smartly avoids making himself look better or smarter than his screen rival, as tempting as that surely was. 

Imagine Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, crossed with the new Mission Impossibles. Imagine Michael Man’s Heat, crossed with John Woo’s Face/Off. It doesn’t sound like it should work, but it sure as hell entertained me!

Looking back, the series really jumped the Ned Flanders after the first one. There’s almost nothing in common with the sequels in of balanced emotional pull, efficient spartan thrills of a man that’s only a little more than humanly better than his opponents, and a cool mysterious world that gets dumber and less believable the more we know about it. That final boss fight against Michael Nyqvist though, terrible sloppy let’s-wrap-this-shoot stuff that almost ruined the movie. 

We’re three years into the 20s. It’s time for that paradigm shift that wipes away the dominant action style of the previous decade. Question is will it involve Keanu AGAIN. Jesus isn’t 3 decades of shaping the action cinema landscape enough for this guy…

Going to watch the new one tonight. Who knows, maybe I’ll vote him in for another decade.

Doesn’t push far enough as satire until it’s too late. It’s too on the low key side of the A24 aesthetic, when it needed to be on the Everything Everywhere side (then again doesn’t every movie). I want crazier dish concepts. I want scummier rich bastards. I want more insane scenery chewing Ralph Fiennes. I want a Paul Verhoeven version of this. 

ATJ is just right though (isn’t she always).

As of right now this is kind of a lesser Triangle of Sadness. Still gets a for a relatively unique story idea.

Girls with Guns (aka hardcore action movies lead starring women involving martial arts, muscles, and/or an assortment of weaponry) was a predominantly low budget, DTV/Hong Kong affair. Today they are still some of that, but also some of the biggest movies Hollywood puts out. Here are some from the last 8 or so years.

Excludes superhero movies unless they're human strength based or weapon/gun based rather than power based. If they're not top two billing with equal or most screen time against a male costar also doesn't count. Suggestions welcome.

• Husband Killers
• 68 Kill
• Jolt
• Special Delivery
• Spare Parts
• Ballerina
• Furie
• Kate
• Gunpowder Milkshake
• Bad Girls

...plus 102 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

According to most sci fi classics taking place in specific years we already live in the future, so my documentary picks are valid

• HyperNormalisation
• Inside Job
• Pulse
• Sexmission
• Restore Point
• Dead End Drive-In
• Six-String Samurai
• THX 1138
• New Rose Hotel
• Casshern

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Exorcist
• The Omen
• The Brood
• The Other
• The Child
• It's Alive
• Devil Times Five
• The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
• Alice, Sweet Alice
• Who Can Kill a Child?

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

…and other non-Shaw films from the same era because I’m too lazy to make another list. Pre-new wave old school Kung fu from late 60s to early 80s only, mostly based on a list from Reddit Trufaldin.

• Hex
• Black Magic
• Five Element Ninjas
• House of Traps
• Seeding of a Ghost
• The Mighty Peking Man
• Killer Constable
• Masked Avengers
• The Oily Maniac
• The Flying Guillotine

...plus 85 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

My very first Actionx52 Challenge, courtesy of THX 04. Nearly all of these are my blindspots.

RANKINGS BEST TO WORST (added as I watch):
01.
...
52.

THE TASKS:
1. Foreign directors have made their mark in Hollywood too. Watch an action film directed by Paul Verhoeven or John Woo.
2. America first - The Netherlands Second. Watch an action film filmed or produced in The Netherlands.
3. Dodging bullets is cool woah. Watch an action film with Bullet-time.
4. Some people don’t take sides, they are alone. Watch a One Man Army action film.
5. Goldsmith is my favourite composer. Watch an action film composed by Jerry Goldsmith.
6. The King of DTV Entertainment. Watch a film directed by Isaac Florentine.
7. When you’re big in Japan. Watch a film filmed or produced in Japan.
8. Taking time. Watch an action film with long takes.
9. I love stunt work. Watch an action film with Tom Cruise or Jackie Chan.
10. I love the music from Predator 1 & 2. Watch an action film composed by Alan Silvestri.
11. Yippee-ki-yay, Motherfucker. Watch an action film directed by John McTiernan.
12. The Italian Job. Watch an action film filmed or produced in Italy.
13. I’m slowly getting through the list. Watch a film with Slow Motion.
14. Women make great action stars too. Watch an action film with Michelle Yeoh or Cynthia Rothrock.
15. He made one of my favourite soundtracks with Hammerhead (featured in Broken Arrow). Watch an action film composed by Hans Zimmer.
16. Driven to direct. Watch an action film directed by Renny Harlin.
17. Viva La . Watch an action film filmed or produced in .
18. I love gore. Watch an action film with Blood Squibs.
19. The biggest action stars of the 80s. Watch an action film with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone.
20. Queen to Bishop. Watch an action film composed by James Horner.
21. The Disaster. Watch an action film directed by Roland Emmerich.
22. The Chinese Connection. Watch an action film filmed or produced in China.
23. Question Reality. Watch an action film with a lot of CGI / Green Screen or Animated Action.
24. For the Atomic and the Wicked. Watch an action film with Keanu Reeves or Charlize Theron.
25. He’s a popular modern action film composer. Watch an action film composed by Brian Tyler.
26. For the Things that are on Fire. Watch an action film directed by Ringo Lam.
27. From Berlin with Love. Watch an action film filmed or produced in .
28. A View to A Kill. Watch an action film filmed in First Person View.
29. The one’s Stone Cold and the other’s The Perfect Weapon. Watch an action film with Brian Bosworth or Jeff Speakman.
30. He’s a underrated composer. Watch an action film composed by Harry Gregson-Williams.
31. You’re Equalized. Watch an action film directed by Antoine Fuqua.
32. Manners Maketh Man. Watch an action film filmed or produced in the U.K.
33. I love vacation. Watch an action film with exotic locations.
34. Two Legends. Watch an action film with Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson.
35. The Man Behind The Harmonica. Watch an action film composed by Ennio Morricone.
36. I love Ronin. Watch an action film directed by John Frankenheimer.
37. Down Under or The New World. Watch an action film filmed or produced in Australia / New Zealand.
38. Oh, the horror. Watch an action film with Horror Elements.
39. Two actors who didn’t start out as action stars. Watch an action film with Clive Owen or Bruce Willis.
40. Square-One Reset. Watch an action film composed by Thomas Newman.
41. One of the best action directors ever. Watch an action film directed by Peter Hyams.
42. I’m seeing Red. Watch an action film filmed or produced in Spain.
43. They’re wired up. Watch an action film with wire-(stunt)work.
44. Two of the biggest action stars of the 90s. Watch an action film with Jean-Claude van Damme or Steven Seagal.
45. One of the best composers. Watch an action film composed by John Williams.
46. One of the men behind John Wick. Watch an action film directed by David Leitch.
47. Het Goede Doel. Watch an action film filmed or produced in Belgium.
48. Some Wrestlers turn into actors too. Watch an action film with a Pro-Wrestler.
49. The one and only Jones’. Watch an action film with Harrison Ford or Sean Connery.
50. Magical and mysterious. Watch an action film composed by Danny Elfman.
51. This is my not so subtle attempt to force Uncommon Valor on people. Or watch any other action film featuring M.I.A.'s being saved.
52. I Pick, You Watch (mine was chosen via Twitter).

1. Heroes Shed No Tears
2. Amsterdamned
3. The Last Blood
4. Rage
5. Logan's Run
6. U.S. Seals II: The Ultimate Force
7. Sonatine
8. City Hunter
9. New Police Story
10. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Some on here (minijamesw) created a valuable list of Hong Kong New Wave films that seemed fairly comprehensive but for some reason that page is no longer active/accessible. I have however found the page archived and here is the more easily accessible clone of that list.

• The Extras
• Cops and Robbers
• The Butterfly Murders
• The Secret
• The System
• God Father
• The Sword
• We're Going to Eat You
• The Beasts
• The Happenings

...plus 76 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.