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So is the age of Hong Kong action stars almost over?
- Thread starter Duress
- Start date
andythinkpad
Member
This has to do with the passing of Hong Kong prime cinema. No counting Hollywood, a small/mid sized country's movie industry golden era usually last 1 to 2 decades.
Yeah, they sold themself to China.
Korea has been the king of asian movies for a long time anyway.
always crazy bacon
Banned
Yup, more money to be made from the mainland. Wolf Warrior 2 made insane money this year.
Norwegian Rudo
Member
Donnie Yen is debatable also. Born in China and split his youth between HK and Boston.
British Monsoon
Member
Martial arts films in general just aren't what they used to be. We'll never see anything on the level of Jackie vs Benny the Jet again, I'm certain.
andythinkpad
Member
I still count him and people like Wong Faye HK stars because they made their debut there.
giancarlo123x
Banned
😔 this scene is so beautiful.Martial arts films in general just aren't what they used to be. We'll never see anything on the level of Jackie vs Benny the Jet again, I'm certain.
DarkLordMalik
Member
What have they made aside from The Raid?
Martial arts films in general just aren't what they used to be. We'll never see anything on the level of Jackie vs Benny the Jet again, I'm certain.
Man, I watched Wheels on Meals for the first time two weeks ago, and during that whole sequence I seriously said "oh shit" out loud. I've never done that in a Kung fu movie before. That whole fight is just believably brutal. It looks like no one is pulling their punches ever.
When I saw the Jet was in Dragons Forever I got real excited, but that one isn't nearly as good.
But everyone told me Thailand was the new hotness!
The Raid 2! Duh!
Chuckie
Member
The Raid 2 and before that Merantau.
But it does seem a bit too early to say Indonesia will take the world by storm with their martial art movies.
Headshot, featuring Iko as the lead and some other Raid 2 alumni. It certainly has great action but the story is a shambles. A romance is meant to anchor the movie but it's neither compelling nor convincing even for action movie standards.
Besides if we're gonna throw out other countries as suggestions, surely it's South Korea.
A shit-ton of soap operas with obnoxious camera framing.
I would say yes. Donnie Yen is probably the last one and no one would really hit the heights of the likes of Jackie Chan at this peak. You would never have young guys growing up with that kind of borderline child abuse training anymore.
I wouldn't say HK cinema is dead. A few young directors emerged last year so there is a potential for another new wave there. I really liked Mad World, but then again the good movies are not big budget or action movies, so it might be more like Taiwanese cinema in terms of output. Now and again, you would get a good Johnnie To movie or something aiming to be like Infernal Affairs, but I don't thin the local audience is really looking for 80s type of action anymore either. Korean Cinema also feels like it's past its peak and was never that action oriented either.
I wouldn't say HK cinema is dead. A few young directors emerged last year so there is a potential for another new wave there. I really liked Mad World, but then again the good movies are not big budget or action movies, so it might be more like Taiwanese cinema in terms of output. Now and again, you would get a good Johnnie To movie or something aiming to be like Infernal Affairs, but I don't thin the local audience is really looking for 80s type of action anymore either. Korean Cinema also feels like it's past its peak and was never that action oriented either.
SiegfriedFM
Member
Martial arts films in general just aren't what they used to be. We'll never see anything on the level of Jackie vs Benny the Jet again, I'm certain.
That candle, can't unsee.
Martial arts films in general just aren't what they used to be. We'll never see anything on the level of Jackie vs Benny the Jet again, I'm certain.
Beautiful.
Imagine how many cuts a scene like this would have in modern Hollywood.
British Monsoon
Member
There's some great choreography in that one, and some brutal bumps from the stunt crew;
But their first fight from Wheels on Meals was so much more intense, and a lot of those hits were barely pulled.
Exactly this. Probably a dozen cuts in 10 seconds, with the camera up close so you can't see the full scene, and shaky cam on the hits to disguise how rough the choreography and general performance would be these days.
Action movies have been evolved into something more "intelligent", like The Bourne or MI movies. The 80's-90's action movies are dead, the audience isn't there anymore, they don't want it, they don't need it etc.
British Monsoon
Member
If you haven't seen it before, check out this great short from Every Frame A Painting about why Jackie Chan was so damned good at directing action and comedy;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PCtIaM_GQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PCtIaM_GQ
giancarlo123x
Banned
Triggerhappytel
Member
Is there much else we should check out aside from The Raid?
Awesomeness...
Kinda infuriating because some behind-the-scene footages showed some of the Hollywood action scenes were quite competent without three dozen cuts they got butchered by. I'm looking at you Nolan.
The Fast and the Furious says Hi!
Litterally Hurts my eyes to watch when you compare it the the previous jackie chan gifs.
Hong Kong is dead, and it's cinema has died a decade ago. Hence there are no more new stars. Almost every movie with a HK-star is now a China production which means heavy censorship rules that stifle creaivity and is spoken in Mandarin instead of Cantonese, the native language of the HK cast and the movies in its heyday. RIP.
giancarlo123x
Banned
This gif is the reason I never watched an episode. I can tolerate the fights with no light but this is next level.
Christ
Martial arts films in general just aren't what they used to be. We'll never see anything on the level of Jackie vs Benny the Jet again, I'm certain.
Honestly Jackie has a better fight in Gorgeous. He's much older in that movie. It's not a great movie but if you're into Jackie it's pretty fun. The main fight at the end is worth it.
matrix-cat
Member
Merantau and Headshot. And The Raid 2, obviously. Honestly, I don't know of any Indonesian martial arts movies that don't have Iko Uwais in them, but his are really great
Also, yeah, I think the era of Hong Kong action died when insurance premiums went up. People can't even throw spinning kicks in modern Chinese action movies without getting strapped into wire harnesses; you just can't do any of the things Jackie and his stunt team did any more.
Barrel Cannon
Member
It's over. I wouldn't chalk up to a lack of talent but rather chasing a market that the action talent doesn't cater too.
Silvergun-Blue
Member
If I remember right, Jackie and Benny really didn't get on well and one of the issues Jackie had was that Benny didn't pull his punches.
Also Taiwan, but they don't make that much action.
You spell Iko Uwais wrongly
Chuckie
Member
Its not just Iko though, Yayan Ruhian is also part of the Indonesian 'school'.
LegendofDragoonLives
Member
Martial arts films in general just aren't what they used to be. We'll never see anything on the level of Jackie vs Benny the Jet again, I'm certain.
soo fucking good
all hail Korea/Indonisia, otherwise we would be fucked by mediocrity. The Raid movies are masterpiece action movies.
I think Bey Logan in a DVD commentary said "Jackie said let's do this for real I'll fuck you up, Benny then said you can try" or something along those lines.
Yeah, you can also add Joe Taslim there though he recently did more non-martial art stuff
