Hard Boiled: The Greatest Action Movie Ever?

500 people...LOL....call me naive but I already want to see it....

No one has mentioned Fong Sai Yuk one of my favourite movies ever.
(but then, I haven't seen FOL or half of these other ones)

 

> just out of my experiences, i've found that movie to be better than most

i understand. i'm not someone who will say that older movies should be respected or looked at differently simply because they're older, either. the movie industry put out as many shitty movies then as they do now. but the ones that are good, imo, are just in a completely different league than so many other good movies. you should check out kurosawa's other flicks if you liked seven samurai. i'd recommend 'throne of blood' and 'dersu uzala'.

 

Has nobody seen "Duel to the Death"?

Go find it if you haven't. Maybe the best ninja flick ever.

I personally like all the Jackie movies that he did with Yeun Biao and Samo. "Project A", "Dragons Forever", "Wheels on Meels"...are some of my favorites.

"Once Upon a Time in China 1&2", "Twin Warriors" and "Fist of Legend" are the only Let Li movies I can stand.

You can't beat "Seven Samurai". That's for sure.

 

Yeh, Project A had some really good mass fight scenes, Jackie fighting like 50 guys with a table. The 2 on 1 fight at the end with the pirate was cool too. You could tell Jack did the fight scenes. He used the same moves in Gen-X cops. another good movie. Jackie was only in the end as a fisher but he coriographed(spelling) the movie. Gen-X cops is a good rental or buy.

 

'the wild bunch'. most influential american action movie evAr.

starship troopers for tongue in cheek fun.

 

oh oh oh! forgot one - 'zulu' (anyone who has cable and gets AMC has probably seen this, they've showed it about 19709179486987 times over the past year or two). non-stop siege/battle movie almost from beginning to end. based on a true story and incredibly faithful in following the actual events.

 

zulu is sounding like my kinda movie/versus/images/icons/smile.gif I'll be on the lookout for it.

-Chanchai

 

Luc Besson:
Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element are 2 of my faves.
And with regards to "sniper" films, check out Le Femme Nikita.
You'll recognize Jean Reno as the lead character in Leon,
and he's the cleaner at the end of Le Femme.

Any movie with the Akira Kurasawa/Toshiro Mifune combination is worth a watch.
Check out Yojimbo and Sanjuro. I just love the music in Yojimbo for some reason...
and you finally hear the same theme at the end of Sanjuro as Sanjuro walks off into the sunset =)

I've been checking out the blind samurai Zatoichi flicks on Sundance Channel on Sunday mornings... most have been pretty good... some are sleepers.

Yojimbo is the same story as Clint Eastwood's Fist Full of Dollars. The other 2 movies in the trilogy are also worth watching: For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Lee Van Cleef's opening scene in a Few Dollars More is just so cool. Bad ass.

The only French Foreign Legion film I can think of right now is the one with Abbot and Costello... =)

 

Starship Troopers:
Heh, we caught that at the theatre during one of the Toronto tournaments... I remember Dodee laughing at all of Creed's comments at the pseudo-porno dialogue /versus/images/icons/wink.gif The first chapter of the book is awesome--very intense action.

Oh, another flick that we caught as a group while I was in Toronto is Trainspotting. Another one of my favorites.

 

Zulu is not a movie... its a mini-series.
I don't think I've seen the whole thing, but when I'm channel surfing, I'll stop and watch it... at least until the next commercial.

 

acK! you're think of the 'Shaka Zulu' miniseries from the 80's. the movie i'm referring to was made in 1964 - www.rorkesdriftvc.com/ has info on the actual event and a comparison of the movie and actual events.

 

Yikes! My bad... /versus/images/icons/blush.gif
The mini-series that I mentioned has been on a couple of times in the last month though...

 

Ah yes... I am a fan of both Besson and Kurasawa. Also a fan of Mifune (probably the biggest reason I play Mitsurugi in Soul Calibur hehehe).

Leon and Fifth Element are definitely on my list of films I REALLY enjoy.

From what I've seen so far, the Kurasawa/Mifune combination seems to represent the best out of Mifune's films, but I haven't seen a ton of Mifune's films, just a bit more than a handful (Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Samurai/Musashi Trilogy, maybe another one or two that I can't remember right now). For a little while, you can say I was Mifune-obsessed hehe.

One of my more recent obsessions in terms of directors has been Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Kitano). I would definitely recommend Hana Bi (Fireworks) and Sonatine. I have also seen Brother, Kids Return, and Kikujiro (a comedy, not an action film). All of which I've liked, personally. Overall, it's the style and noted minimalist approach Kitano has on films which I like, but also the "shock factor" that I feel whenever he puts violence in his films. Though you can see a lot of the violence coming, they still hit you like an unexpected punch to the face. There's often an odd "humor" quality in the violence as well. Maybe it's because of this approach that some US critics (and US promoters) focus too much on the violence of his yakuza films when I personally think there are many other things they could focus on in the films. In addition, you get the bonus of musical scores by Joe Hisaishi/versus/images/icons/wink.gif

-Chanchai

 

I've been checking out the blind samurai Zatoichi flicks on Sundance Channel on Sunday mornings

I thought the Blind Samurai was on the Independent Film Channel Saturday mornings at about 8:00 (rerun showing at about 2:00 PM). Oh well...

Anyway, it's decent. It's amazing how a blind masseur/"gangster" can take out 20-30 people at a time.

 

Yupa:

Just picked up the "Man with no Name" trilogy on DVD. Easily three of (if not the top 3) my favorite westerns. On a side note, ever seen "Last Man Standing"? Remake of "Yojimbo" as well, but a rather poor one. We get to see Bruce Willis' ass and a rather laughable scene where he keeps a guy airborne with his dual .45s. I did like Walken's character though, even if it was nothing we haven't seen from him before.

Gotta say that, despite all the "Killer" (haha, pun) Hong Kong action flicks, (Hard Boiled is my fave so far) I still watch Aliens and Predator more than any other films. Some might consider them less action than Sci-fi, and they are I guess, but they still have a lot of action, along with the two greatest alien designs ever put to film. Film that I've seen, anyway.

 

Have to agree with IMF on the notion that Dragons Forever is bad ass. And with Yupa about The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Clint Eastwood is the champ of american badass. That movie rocked as did Heartbreak Ridge (opinions may vary).

As for old ninja flicks, I have always enjoyed Sho Kosugi (spelling) in all his million ninja flicks (Revenge of the Ninja /versus/images/icons/smile.gif ).

For western actors, my badass oscar goes to clint eastwood, barely beating Ralph Machio in Karate Kid(haha), for best all-around badass! /versus/images/icons/smile.gif
For eastern actors, my badass oscar goes to Bruce Lee (mind you, this is the badass category. Ya know... like tough guy). /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

 

Ghost, you're probably right... I've gotten IFC and Sundance confused before, as well as Saturday and Sunday... but I'm sure they're on Sunday mornings... we'll see in about 8 hrs from now... /versus/images/icons/wink.gif

Heh, I'm always amazed at how Zatoichi can go to all the carnival games and clean out the vendors of all their prizes...

I also saw the movie where you got your name from... kind of comic book like, but I enjoyed it.

 

Yeah, I've seen Bruce Willis' Last Man Standing. It's OK, but not that great.

This is like that Kevin Bacon game... Willis was in 12 Monkeys, which was directed by Terry Gilliam, who also directed Brazil. Another one of my faves... but we're getting away from "action movies" here...

How about Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels. Very good action flick and I laughed a ton. I like Vinnie Jones, but his new soccer movie will probably be crap.

 

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels was a great movie. Fresh and funny and far better than Guy Richie's followup, Snatch (a movie as compelling as a car commercial).

Of course, if anyone is going to mention Bruce Willis, you have to mention the original Die Hard. Another one of the handful of good American action films in the last 20 years.

Really, haven't videogames rendered this genre of film obsolete? Why watch another dimwitted "McBain" when you can play Contra or Gunstar Heroes?

 

Given the affinity for Chinese flicks here, I'm gonna recommend two of what I think are the best (fantasy) martial arts movies made, known in English as Swordsman and Swordsman II. The first one was directed by Tsui Hark and the second has Jet Li, and involve people chasing a Sacred Volume of martial arts secrets. I just watched them again recently and they're still as good as I remember them to be.