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The Hand of Death
Hard Boiled
Heart of the Dragon
Hell's Wind Staff
Heroic Fight
The Heroic Trio
A Hero Never Dies
High Risk
Hitman
Holy Virgin vs the Evil Dead
Hong Kong 1941 |
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John Woo’s final Hong Kong film is an all action blow-out, so demented in realization and focused in theme that it works as a kind of Woo’s greatest hits. Chow Yun Fat? Check. Courage and brotherhood in battle? Check. Underdeveloped female characters? Check… but that’s picking an ideological hole in one of, if not the, greatest action film ever made. Chow and Tony Leung Chui-Wai are brilliant as two policemen, one a brutal whirlwind and the other a subtle undercover man, united in a gang war that culminates in a protracted gunfight in a busy hospital. Once seen, never forgotten. |
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Unusual but excellent entry in Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung’s CV, a drama in which they play, respectively, a policeman and his childlike brother. Despite a very simplistic view of mental illness, the film works because their relationship convinces thoroughly – they love and depend on each other even though Jackie’s character is trapped by habing to care for Sammo. It seems trite when a plot about stolen loot is tacked on to place Sammo in peril, but the crackerjack finale which sees Chan and his policeman buddies (including Meng Hoi and Yuen Wah) taking on crims in a big building site is a saving grace. Jackie has never been faster or meaner. |
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Meng Hoi and Yuen Man are the twin heroes in this period martial arts romp, but they are second fiddle throughout to the real star of the film – bad guy Hwang Jang Lee. Forget about plot, sense and characterization and just watch Hwang do his stuff: both the Eagle Claw technique and the titular pole style are so much fun it’s hard to believe that other films don’t have them in. |
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Otherwise known as the Yuen Clan’s incredible “Miracle Fighters” series pushed into the present day, but instead of the heroes being Taoist magicians/martial artists, they are a Hong Kong stunt team. Just like the Yuen Clan! Yay! Yuen Cheung Yan even wears the same goofy rabbit teeth! Beserk, hilarious, incredibly eighties film which has a neat line in satire and in, Lin Hsiao Long, a lovely but non-gender specific hero(ine). Fits the mood! |
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Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung all delight in Johnnie To and Ching Siu-Tung’s superhero romp, which hops between giddy wirework fights and nasty child-killing bad guys with abandon. It’s colourful, funny, sexy, exciting, and you get to see Anthony Wong chewing on his own chopped-off fingers instead of the scenery. And that doesn’t happen everyday. |
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Rival gangsters Lau Ching Wan and Leon Lai face off in another solid film from Johnnie To’s Milky Way stable, which ends up as an bleakly ironic and absurd commentary on Hong Kong action films. It has too many nice twists to give anything away here, but I will say this: even under a cowboy hat and silly moustache, Lau Ching Wan is one of HK cinemas greatest assets. |
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Jackie Chan must have really upset Wong Jing for him to make this film – a “Die Hard” clone starring Jacky Cheung as an action film star who is a drunken fake, and Jet Li as his bodyguard who does all the work. However, the material within which isn’t a total rip off is actually pretty good, with solid OTT action, fine comedy and a pretty great demise for the bad guy. Hardly the pinnacle of anyone’s career, but as an example of Wong Jing’s ultra-commercial sensibility it more than hits the mark. Take it in with a couple of beers… |
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Underrated contemporary action film starring Jet Li as a wannabe hitman who’s too nice to assassinate his targets, and gets involved in a competition to take out the ‘King of Killers’. Despite the presence of Eric Tsang, the comedy is kept at a minimum in favour of a series of brilliantly original action sequences including a fantastic battle in a lift shaft shot in near total
silence by Tung Wai. Simon Yam adds an impressive turn as a policeman investigating the ensuing deaths, and Keiji Sato makes for a scary, loony bad guy, gobbling down his deceased grandfather's ashes in an early scene. Yipes. |
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Holy Virgin vs the Evil Dead (1991) |
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Totally cheap but nonetheless reasonable action-exploitationer starring Donnie Yen as a bookish teacher forced into action when a demon attacks his students. Its best feature is, honestly, the movie’s title, despite really misrepresenting the amount of sex and scares within. And the fact that bad guy Ken Lo's name is Moon Monster. Yes, you did read that right... |
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Chow Yun Fat, Alex Man and Cecilia Yip star in this excellent and pretty unique drama about a love triangle in Japanese-occupied wartime Hong Kong. It communicates some ideas that many war films miss – what becomes of civilian life, moral degradation, what a person will do just to survive in extreme circumstances – and the cinematic nuances are impressive to say the least for such a modestly budgeted film. Leung Po Chi handles proceedings with dignity and sensitivity and never shirks from showing the audience the horror of war. |
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