True Left

Hong Kong in the 1980s had no money, no insurance and no computers, and it made the best action films ever put on screen anyway. Every time American action got good, it was because somebody was copying that city. Every time it broke, it was because they had stopped.

Maybe I'm an ****, but when I have conversations with people and the topic is about action films and they start naming what they think are the top 10 greatest action films of all time and name only Hollywood films, I'm asking, is this the top 10 Hollywood action films? Or top 10 action films? Because if we're talking top 10 action films from anywhere, a Hollywood film doesn't crack the top 10. It's all Hong Kong.

People in the west have no idea how bad Hollywood cinema actually is until recently unless they understand analyses like this to point them to why Hong Kong cinema produces far superior action movies.

Looking back, the Heroic Bloodshed genre is easily one of the most revolutionary in cinema, action movie or otherwise.

Great stuff! I was a video store HK movie nerd in the 90's. I have fond memories of trying to find Bride with White Hair and Heroic Trio in my small town. But I did and they live close to my heart. What a great community the Hong Kong action scene was back then!

There is a lot of good Taiwanese actors and actress that did Hong Kong movies. Hong Kong did the films that China neglected such as Ancient China and martial arts.

As fans of the genre that grew up carrying the values these films lived and breathed, such as egalitarianism, meritocracy, talent rising to the top and stories with a grounded moral compass, we grew up absorbing them and became better man than any school assembly lecture could instil into us.

Just saw the new street fighter trailer. Had to come watch this to make sense why it felt so disappointing. Hollywood has learned nothing for the last 40-50 years