Asian Action Cast: Recent Episodes
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Grasshopper Power – Activate! The Shin Kamen Rider returns in Hideaki Anno’s 2023 love letter to the original Kamen/Masked Rider, starring pouty Sosuke Ikematsu as titular rider, Takeshi Hongo. Take a journey through visceral action and ambiguous self loathing as the Grasshopperavenger tears apart his enemies as much as he tears apart his soul.
What happens when Triads and Organised Crime run rampant on the mean streets of 90’s Hong Kong? You call the ORGANISED CRIME AND TRIAD BUREAU! No nonsense hard-boiled, grizzled cliché tough-as-nails Cop-Man Danny Lee leads a semi-shirtless Fan Siu-Wong on a crusade to catch…an even harder, wily, ice-cold Anthony Wong!
Kirk Wong’s cat-and-mouse caper is hardly cerebral with contrived stand-offs, convenient escapes and manufactured machismo in almost every frame. But damn me if Anthony Wong can’t inject unhinged charisma into any role he inhabits. Sympathy for the devil? If its Anthony Wong hell yeah.
Danny Lee has the thankless task of being an under developed psychotic cop, unclear why he’s driving to break the laws he’s sworn to uphold to catch a guy he has no clear history or connection with. But as always, Danny Lee cannot NOT look good as a cop.
Pure cop thriller junk food, and Heat before Heat! Asian Action Cast votes - Check it out.
The Asian Action Cast Punishes Evil with Colin Chou’s 2022 crime thriller from director Jiang Xiaotong. A violent cat and mouse with Chou’s unhinged thief leading Zhao Da’s Detective Song Hai on an increasingly frustrating and violent goose chase.
The tension builds but the action is sparse and spaced out, don’t expect Colin Chou’s trademark crisp martial arts choreography here. Where fists fly it is a drawn out dog fight between ragged breaths, with tired arms and swollen ankles. The star of the show is the incredibly well shot visuals, stylish and sometimes even breathtaking, fantastic cinema to occupy your eyeballs when the plot wanes, which it does. Strap some icepacks to those knees and join us for a revap of this curiosity of a movie.
Sonny “The StreetFighter” Chiba? Hiroyuki “Duke” Sanada? Ninja’s, swords, magic, samurais and exploitations? AN EYEPATCH?!?!! Yes folks, take our money indeed. We revelled in this gem from the 1981 SHOUT! Sonny Chiba Collection from Director Kinji Fukasaku starring an impossibly young Duke Sanada and his mentor Sonny Chiba, grizzled one eyed samurai Jubei.
No question this film was ‘homaged’ almost wholesale in modern samurai and ninja cinema and anime with more than one scene being recreated in films like Ninja Scroll – with good reason. This movie is balls out crazy and incredibly memorable, amazing set design steals the show and legendary performances by Sonny Chiba and Kenji Sawada’s villain Shiro absolutely seal the deal. Unsheathe your swords and help us vanquish rapey zombie monks in Samurai Reincarnation!
Mang Hoi’s 1989 Action Adventure Thriller BLONDE FURY (plenty blonde, not so much fury) kicks a lot of ass, and with style! Cynthia Rothrock’s she-devil (sporting hilariously unflattering nicknames throughout the movie) demonstrates why she is the foreign queen of the Hong Kong Action Box Office.
Rounding out her F.R.I.E.N.D’s are Chin Siu Ho’s less capable sex pest, Elizabeth Lee’s sweet but window dressing Judy and the director Mang Hoi’s bumbling comic relief journalist. Together they take on Ronny Yu’s bombastic and immensely fun villain Ronny Dak.
It’s not perfect, everyone’s an undercover cop, hairstyles improbably change between scenes, the plot is almost incoherent BUT the fashion is cute and on point, Jeffrey Falcon’s ‘Thug’ and his double dragon buddy Vincent Lyn put on a fantastic sub boss fight and Billy Chau has a sexual innuendo laden banter with Cynthia! On second thought, it IS perfect! Watch it, then listen to our podcast and relive it again!
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The criminally unknown film, Dreadnaught, is one of Master Yuen Woo Ping’s most underrated films. An ensemble cast with a young Yuen Biao taking the everyman role, everyone from Bryan Leung’s Foon to Yuen Shun-Yi’s truly unhinged villain White Tiger just chew up every scene they’re in.
The legendary Kwan Tak-Hing’s Wong Fei Hung delights in all the right ways and very wisely and sparingly used for great effect, around which the simmering slasher type thriller on the loose story revolves.
The film is liberally sprinkled with incredible fight scenes from fun to life threatening and characters who are genuinely funny, loveable and loathsome. If you’ve seen it you already know, if you’re a fan of golden age martial arts cinema and you haven’t then do yourself a favour and treat yourself to this film, epic romp!
The Young Master (1981) is the genesis of Jackie Chan in what in hindsight is the prototypical seed of kinetic action cinema he’s known for today.
Dragon (Jackie naturally) leads an all-star cast including Yuen Biao (The Biao!), Shih Kien (Mr Han!) and Pai Wei and one of the best bad ass villain introductions in Master Hwang In-Shik, western showdown style.
Jackie’s gold standard action choreography here is light years ahead of the competition at the time, punctuated with his trademark comedy and dramatic touches. Quintessential Hong Kong action cinema at its finest we can’t even pretend the outcome is anything but a thumbs up, check it out!
What has 36 legs, is covered in paint and will beat you half to death in your quest to become a monk? 18 Bronzemen! In this episode we journey back to 1976 to watch the story of 3 (potential) monks in a 70 minute training montage. The tragic story of Shao Long (masterfully played by Tien Peng) being sent to a Shaolin monastery safehouse as his family is brutally murdered is completely upstaged by no nonsense, no shirt Brother Wan (angry Carter Wong). Joined by Chiang Nan, we watch the 3 students try and try again to pass the test. Betrayal, love, jumping over trees, plot points not really expanded on - was the dubbed version better than the subtitled one? Did we all actually watch the same movie? Online and out of control: - the Asian Action Cast present 18 BRONZEMEN!
In honour of the great Richard Ng, we dive in to one of his most popular roles as Sandy in Sammo Hung’s sketchy 1985 comedy, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars. Richard’s trademark expressive face and physical comedy are sprinkled throughout this uneven action comedy.
With more stars than the milky way, it somehow still delivers on all fronts for kinetic action putting behemoths Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Dick Wei, Andy Lau, Richard Norton, Yasuaki Kurata, Chung Fat, Sibelle Hu and many others in wonderfully choreographed and intricate fight scenes against their respective stunt teams, who also probably saw many stars with the head shots they took.
Featuring what has to be the most star-studded cameo laden closing scene in Hong Kong movie history (George Lam?! David Chiang?!) this 80’s time capsule film is worth tracking down for the nostalgia hit alone. Grab a pizza and a beverage and dig in!
If Donnie Yen is the good cop in Raging Fire, bad cop Nicholas Tse is so cool you’ll want to start a fan club. Director Benny Chan’s last film is a blaze of good and evil tropes, gun fights and lingering shots of Donnie Yen waterworks. Holier than thou cop Bong (Yen) set off a chain of events that led to ex-cop Ngo (Tse) to swear revenge on him and the police force. Making a great case for perms, Ngo sneers and slashes through his enemies. Meanwhile Bong has police business to attend to, including a great fight with Angry Ranger himself, Ben Lam. Will law and order prevail (Bong is boring) or fun and chaos win (Ngo for prez)? This is a showdown that can only end in pain.
Michelle Yeoh's character from the original Supercop kicked so hard, that when the studio recovered they ordered this 1993 spinoff. Supercop 2 is stuffed to the brim with plotlines, but we 'aint complaining! Inspector Yang (Yeoh) has boy problems but has a new crime to solve in Hong Kong. Trash boyfriend Chang Fung (Yu Rongguang) just so happens to be making his new life there, and HK cop Emil Chau is knocking on the door of this love triangle. Cringe at the casting but get ready for the never ending bullets, Fan Siu Wong impossible flips and a dude only credited as Big Yank. Oh, and you know Jackie Chan and Eric Tsang are going to battle it out for the biggest chest!
Jackie Chan goes all Armour of God on us twenty-six years later in Chinese Zodiac, also known as CZ12. Jackie's now with some younger pals to make him feel cooler on his European vacation. Not just content on stealing and returning relics, the film also attempts to lecture us on ethics. At least there's one genuinely funny sequence once we've finished cringing at the green screen action. Ken Lo makes an appearance as a hilarious Thai pirate and Oliver Platt chews the screen whenever he appears. Leave the laws of physics at the door and forget about using your brain, Jackie's going to save everyone!
Rise! Roar!! Revolt!!! The AAC takes a look a S.S. Rajamouli's epic fantasy blockbuster, loosely based on historical Indian revolutionaries. Terminator cop Raju (Ram Charan) and humble Gond tribal leader Bheem (N.T Rama Rao) meet through a chance encounter, well actually saving a child from an exploding train wreck. Through this encounter they forge a friendship to die for. However both men have a hidden agenda that will drive a wedge between them. Oscar award winning, motorcycle throwing, Tiger wrestling, Naatu Naatu fun.
The Asian Action Cast presents: Brandon Lee's greatest (and only) Hong Kong martial arts movie of all time, Legacy of Rage! This 1986 tragic-heroic-violence-romanti-buddy-prison flick showcases the strength of Brandon's emo acting range that would go on to make him the best Crow. Bolo Yeung is criminally underused in this film and director Ronny Yu shows his horror chops in turning a bumbling good looking Anthony Wong into a lethal sex pest chucky doll.
The Asian Action Cast dives into Artis Chow’s 1978 Taiwanese Martial Arts odyssey REVENGEFUL SWORDSWOMAN. It is as literal as it is accurate a title, there is indeed a woman Ling Chia, played by spunky Hsiang Yang, who indeed has a sword and is very much revengeful. Whether it’s avenging her fathers death, or misuse of her name, she is revengeful. Incredibly schlocky effects with some decent martial arts, if you can put up with some dark scenery check this out!
Oscar nominated Michelle Yeoh has proved she can do it all. And in 1986's Royal Warriors, she does her own stunts, fights and even turns down Michael Wong's advances! Hiroyuki Sanada is a great partner in crime fighting, and his stunts are unbelievable. There are more bullets flying in this film and glass breaking than you thought could be possible. A goldfish also gives the performance of a lifetime acting with Wong. Surprisingly shot well (2nd Unit Director Johnnie To, is that you?), and with martial arts direction by Mang Hoi, this is one of the best of the 80s policewoman Hong Kong flicks.
The Asian Action Cast casually strolls into Wira - Adrian Teh's 2019 Malaysian action-drama which shows how crime, corruption and safe sex can tear families and communities apart. The only cure for such evil is carefully manicured facial hair, incredible chiselled abs and unbending sense of righteousness. Starring Malaysian action eye-candy Hairul Azreen and featuring the Raid's Mad Dog himself, Yayan Ruhian, the martial arts action does not dissapoint. It doesn't quite hit hard enough to break the bone in action or drama but it moves along and does reach a decent climax of violence and explosions.
One of the biggest fun, most bombastic martial arts action extravaganza's in recent memory explodes its way into our brains. Asian Action Cast takes on Timo Tjahjanto's 2022 Netflix foreign language juggernaut 'The Big Four', and after our last episode on Timo's 'The Night Comes For Us', we were not dissapointed. Just as brutal, visceral and violent, but now with a massive dollop of marshmallow, brownie and assorts chunks of comedy and fun to make this a delicious rocky road deluxe. This movie is proof why Indonesian martial arts genre cinema is the successor and usurpur of the Hong Kong action movie crown. Amazing fun, 4.5 out of 5 smoking bloody feet stumps.
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The Asian Action Cast wraps up another year of the best (and worst) of Asian and Hong Kong action cinema. All movies reviewed go into a tournament, and only one movie can be crowned number one. Which movie will reign supreme? Which island does our favourite character come from? Thanks listeners, for your support this year. As always, stay for the remix!
Welcome to the 100 Swords Mansion, where Qin Wu-Xin (Jason Pai Piao) stores his huge wardrobe and the swords of the 99 swordsmen slain. The 100th sword currently belongs to the Black Magic clan, but not if Yan Bei (Derek Yee) can stop him! Get ready for lots of evil laughs, sped up fights and great characters too, including Colonel Sanders (Lung Tien Hsiang), the man who knew too much (Yuen Bun) and coffin man (Wong Lik) in this epic 1984 Shaw Brothers film.
Your number one source for Asian Action films and jokes about the perils of Hong Kong stuntmen!
Sammo Hung and Karl Maka star as pair of incompetent cops in this 1990 comedy where nobody escapes a beating. Gangsters, women, cops and robbers all get a slapping from the long arm of the law. Your ears will also cop a beating from Karl Maka's original karaoke tune! Props to Lau Kar Wing as a gangster boss, setting up for a great final fight. It's patchy and inconsistent, but it's the 90s, baby!