CONNECTED - director: Benny Chan, starring: Louis Koo, Barbie Hsu, Nick Cheung

For decades there has been a back-and-forth exchange of creative influences between Hollywood and Hong Kong. John Woo was heavily influenced by Sam Peckinpah, and in turn Woo’s The Killer and Hardboiled helped rewrite the book on how action was presented in Hollywood films. For a long time, this relationship of Hong Kong influencing Hollywood and vice versa was limited primarily to loving homages and unabashed rip-offs, but seldom did it manifest in legitimate remakes. Perhaps the best known example of a remake is Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, which had been made earlier in Hong Kong as Infernal Affairs. The Departed and Infernal Affairs served as a great example of how Hollywood could take an exceptional film from Hong Kong, and do it justice. Now, Hong Kong has taken a not-so-exceptional film, the 2004 action thrill Cellular, and turned it into the much better Connected. (more…)

La RONDE director: Max Ophuls; starring: Simone Signoret, Simone Simon, Danielle Darrieux, Anton Wallbrook

I approached “La Ronde” with some trepidation because although I consider myself a film know-it-all, I do not in any fashion think of myself a connoisseur. The truth is I’m this shy of being a bumpkin, and worse, I’m a bumpkin set in my ways. So the words subtitles, cinema, auteur, neo-realism  leaves  me shaking in my fish-waders. (more…)

THE ENFORCER - director: Corey Yuen; starring Jet Li, Tse Miu, Anita Mui

The latest release from Dragon Dynasty features a pivotal film in the impressive career of martial arts superstar Jet Li. Already a huge star in Asia when The Enforcer was originally released in 1995 as My Father the Hero, Li was best known for his period films like the classic Once Upon a Time in China and Fong Sai-Yuk series. His first contemporary action film was 1994’s popular The Bodyguard from Beijing, which established Li as a versatile star who could carry himself in both historical kung fu epics, as well as modern-day action thrillers. Following the success of The Bodyguard from Beijing, Jet Li reteamed with director Corey Yuen for The Enforcer, resulting in an incredible showcase of martial arts action. (more…)

SUPERCOP – director: Stanley Tong, starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh

Jackie Chan’s first attempts to make a name for himself with American audiences in the early 1980s were less than spectacular. He starred in The Big Brawl, both of the Cannonball Run movies, and The Protector, none of which conveyed the charisma and talent that had established him as a star in Asia with such films as Drunken Master and Snake in Eagle Shadow. About the only thing those early American films did for Chan was introduce him to a dedicated fan base who sought out his Hong Kong films, and were then able to gloat knowingly about him when he finally made a huge splash in America with Rumble in the Bronx. The success of Rumble in the Bronx made Chan a viable draw with audiences in the United States, and in an effort to make a buck, many of his films were re-packaged for release in America. Between 1995 and 2000, some of Chan’s best Hong Kong films were released in the United States, often under different names, and frequently edited from their original version, as was the case with Police Story 3, a 1992 film released in America as Supercop in 1996. (more…)

KENNY – director: Clayton Jacobson; starring: Shane Jacobson

It is difficult to describe the Australian comedy Kenny without giving away a crucial bit of information, which is that even though the film looks and feels like a documentary, it is not. But as far as mockumentaries go, Kenny ranks among the very best, and if it weren’t for the credits at the end, revealing that Kenny Smyth was played by Shane Jacobson, it would be easy to believe that this was an intimate portrait of a working class hero drowning in crap—literally. (more…)

SEOUL RAIDERS - director: Jingle Ma; starring: Tony Leung, Richie Jen, Shu Qi

Jackie Chan didn’t really become a bankable star in the United States until the 1995 release of Rumble in the Bronx. Before that, Chan had more of a cult following of fans in the U.S. who appreciated his style of comedic adventure mixed with martial arts. But with the popularity of his films that were released domestically throughout the second half of the 90s, Chan’s action comedies finally found an audience in America. The key thing to keep in mind, however, is that Chan has a loyal following because of the fact that what he does, he does better than anyone else. Even when he makes a film that is mediocre compared to his better movies, it still works because it is a Jackie Chan flick. Understanding that is key to understanding why Seoul Raiders doesn’t completely work. It is a mediocre Jackie Chan film, only without Jackie Chan. (more…)

BANGKOK DANGEROUS – directors: Oxide and Danny Pang; starring:Pavarit Mongkolpisit, Persiminee Ratanasopha, Patharawarin Timkul, Pisek Intrakanchit

Twin filmmakers Danny and Oxide Pang are best known for the original version of The Eye, a creepy thriller that spawned several sequels and a bad American remake. But it was their earlier film, the award-winning Bangkok Dangerous—which has since been remade by them and stars Nicolas Cage—that first brought the Hong Kong-born brothers international attention. Produced in Thailand, Bangkok Dangerous was an ambitious mix of visually stylish cinema and exploitation flicks that helped usher in the new wave of Thai film. (more…)

BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF – director: Christohpe Gans; starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassell, Monica Bellucci, Emilie Dequenne

French critic-turned-filmmaker Christophe Gans’ 2001 film Brotherhood of the Wolf was a cinematic wet dream for fanboys—a moving picture pastiche of genre films with a childlike love for all things cool. In much the same way Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon captured both directors love for the genre films they grew up watching, Brotherhood of the Wolf is Gans’ loving tribute to the spaghetti westerns, kung fu flicks and horror movies that inspired him in his youth. (more…)

THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOWLESS SWORD - director:Kim Young-jun; starring: Yoon Soy, Lee Seo Jin, Shin Hyeon-jun, Lee Ki-yong

I first fell in love with martial arts movies—or if you prefer, kung fu flicks—when I was just a kid. I was lucky enough to see them at the sleazy movie theater in South Norwalk, Connecticut, near where I grew up; as well as lucky enough to see them on television back when movies like Master Killer (a.k.a. 36th Chamber of Shaolin) would screen on Saturday afternoons. Over the years I have seen some truly brilliant martial arts movies, and some that were total crap, which is why I feel comfortable in saying that despite what other people may say, the Korean-produced, shot-in-China epic The Legend of the Shadowless Sword is actually pretty good. (more…)

INVISIBLE TARGET - director: Benny Chan; starring: Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Jaycee Chan, Wu Jing

Director John Woo’s 1992 masterpiece Hard Boiled was a significant film for many reasons. First and foremost was that even within the context of Hong Kong action films—films easily recognizable for their hyperbolic, over-the-top action—Hard Boiled seemed to stand head and shoulders above the rest. Woo’s epic tale raised the bar for Hong Kong action cinema, while at the same time serving as a mind-blowing introduction to those unfamiliar with these films. And while many films and many filmmakers have tried to top Hard Boiled, even Woo himself has not been able to emerge from the spectacular shadow cast by him and his movie. The sad truth is that every action film that comes out of Hong Kong that deals with bad guys versus cops will always be compared to Hard Boiled, and even ambitious ones like director Benny Chan’s Invisible Target, with its impressive action pieces, will suffer from comparison. (more…)