Original Desmond

I used to follow Hong Kong action cinema really closely. I haven't for at least 8 years. I've seen the odd recent Donnie Yen film and of course most Jackie Chan movies

I'm after some really good martial arts orientated hong kong action movies. I would say i prefer modern settings over classical settings but am willing to check anything out

I love all action with tons of fight scenes. Some of the recent DOnnie Yen movies i have seen have disappointed me with the lack of fight scenes overall.

The movies don't need to have big stars, just good action

any suggestions ?

E. Honda

Curse of the Golden Flower
House of Flying Daggers
The Forbidden Kingdom
Hero
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ong Bak: Thai Warrior
Shaolin Soccer
Kung Fu Hustle

mrhan

You should see Taken w/ Liam Neeson. It's not an HK action flick but will satisfy your action craving with a lot of realistic hand to hand combat.

JCWBobC

Fearless-Jet Li
Kiss of the Dragon-jet Li
Unleashed-Jet Li
Protector-Tony Jaa

Original Desmond

thanks guys, ive seen all the movies mentioned

I'm more after those hidden gems of HK cinema not widely released worldwide

toddly6666

what about:

SPL (aka Kill Zone)?

Probably the best recent martial arts and good movie as well was:

chris_sc77

Dragon Heat

DJariya

Flashpoint- Donnie Yen
SPL aka Killzone- Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung
The Bodyguard 1 and 2- Thai martial arts action comedy
Invisible Target- This IMO is a must see. Lots and Lots of action
Gen X Cops
Gen Y Cops- Maggie Q's feature debut
Naked Weapon- Lots of wire work, but good action. 2 really hot lead actors (Maggie Q and Anya Wu)
So Close- Shiu Qi, Karen Mok and Zhao Wei. Good chick action flick.
Enter the Eagles- Michael Wong and Shannon Lee, Bruce's daughter. Mostly in english.

DJariya

The Touch- Michelle Yeoh and Ben Chaplin. Shot entirely in english, but only released in HK. Some good action with an Indiana Jones vibe.

Bullets of Love- Underrated movie that stars Leon Lai. I believe this is shot in Paris and HK. Japanese actress Asaka Seto is great in this flick.

stingermck

Azumi 1 & 2
The Princess Blade
Tokyo Raiders

Dr Mabuse

'Legend of the Black Scorpion' aka 'The Banquet' was a terrific movie with some great action in it.

dugan

The best part was when Zhao Wei said "you don't hate me" to Karen Mok, and it was subtitled as "you are attracted to me."

DJariya

Yeah, there were some weird Lesbian overtones between Karen Mok and Zhao Wei. Other than that, the action was great.

JHosk

Lots of good suggestions in here. I'd also add:

Fulltime Killer - some nice gun play action from Johnie To
Exiled - see above
Bittersweet Life - actually a Korean flick but definitely worth a look
Fatal Contact - some really nice Wu Jing fight scenes
Warlords - Jet li war flick
Red Cliff - John Woo's return to HK

TimeandTide

These four. (The first Azumi is incredibly fun.)

And add Twilight Samurai (more drama than action but the best Samurai movie ever made, IMO), Arahan, and Musa (Korean epic starring Zhang Ziyi).

Solid Snake

[QUOTE=DJariya;9169606]SPL aka Killzone- Donnie Yen VS. Sammo Hung
QUOTE]

that's better...makes a huge difference when that is announced instead...

Dr Mabuse

I see there are quite a few who can't tell the difference between Japanese and Hong Kong movies, apparently.

stingermck

Home now, looking at my collection:

Drive w/ Marc Dacoscos, amazing movie
Twins Effect (aka Vampire Effect)
Twins Mission
City of Violence, not a lot of action but brutal when it hits

And dare I say...Storm Riders?

Original Desmond

you can throw in Japanese martial arts movies too, i don't mind !

thanks for the suggestions, got some titles to go searching for now

mrhan

I agree but the only version worth getting is the uncut UK DVD.

Ky-Fi

Fantastic Japanese movie from last year, Black Belt:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T2uDBttbuGg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T2uDBttbuGg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

...and if you want to see the old-school Shaw Brothers guys, there was Liu Chia Liang's return with Drunken Monkey from 2003. Not as good as the old ones, but not bad:


<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cjJs5aEc8B8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cjJs5aEc8B8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Autotelik

I saw Flashpoint (Donnie Yen) recently. Thought it was pretty good. It won Best Action Choreography in last year's HK Film Awards.

d2cheer

I will third recommending Drive make sure it is the director cut of the film. It is worth it, it was the reason I bought my original Malata region free DVD player. After seeing that I needed to see what else was available in the world to watch.

TimeandTide

I'm pretty sure the OP isn't going to dismiss the Japan/Korea/Thai action film suggestions just because they're not from HK.

toddly6666

And if you are interested in films with martial arts-style action from other countries (all anamorphic with English subtitles), there are:

THE CHALLENGE - Germany (it's on NTSC Region 1):


CRYING FREEMAN - France (France PAL - original audio is English)


FIGHTER - Denmark (only on PAL)


ANNIYAN - India (Region 1 NTSC)


JADE WARRIOR - Finland (PAL)


KILTRO - Chile (NTSC Region 1)


JODHAA AKBAR - India (NTSC Region 1, but non-anamorphic)


VIDOCQ - France (NTSC Region 1)