Knockabout is Yuen Biao's outstanding debut film in a starring role, directed by Peking Opera "Dai Gor" (big brother) Sammo Hung. This 1979 action romp is deliciously quirky with some of the best martial arts action of the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. Talk about showcase - Yuen Biao has to be one of the greatest tumblers of all time and he prove…

Take an express train to New Delhi with 'Kill' (2023), a super stylish and rather gruesome Indian Hindi-language actioner. What's the worst that can happen? Murder and robbery, that's what! On a confined train, you want to be careful who you cross. In this case it's Amrit Rathod (Lakshya), an army commando who through a series of events, is now on …

Get a ‘Visa To Hell’ in the second of our Spooktober podcast specials! Starring, directed, action directed, presented and planned (whatever that means) by legendary film villain Dick Wei, this Halloween mashup will have you asking, what kind of film has both ninjas and Dracula on screen? A Taoist monk (Lin Kuang-Yung) sends policeman Jiu Mo (Lam We…

Donnie Yen in a R rated, Category III sleazefest? Now available in an added nudity theatrical cut on BluRay! Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead is the English title of this 1991 movie that has it all: wacky cop comedy, unexplained kung fu powers for all and a mystical schlock plot set in a Cambodian holiday. Donnie finds himself a suspect of some gor…

In memory and tribute to the late, great Corey Yuen, we honour his legacy by delving into his 1990 action-melodrama, She Shoots Straight. This action packed Joyce Godenzi vehicle takes us into the lives of a blue-blood-esque police family where (Big) Tony Leung marries Joyce’s Mina and brings her into his family of female cops. Everything is cranke…

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is the unicorn of Hong Kong action films, bringing the brash and raw adrenaline of the golden age, with a modern aesthetic, a cohesive if not convenient plot and genuine emotions. Sammo Hung’s presence not only legitimises this film as a proper HK actioner, but his grounded charisma elevates what is already a roc…

Always a polarizing figure, love him or hate him you can’t deny Donnie Yen is one of the most prolific martial artists working today. His 2010 love letter to himself Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is wish fulfilment in its purist form.

If you want Peak Hong Kong Action Cinema, it’s hard to go past Master Yuen Woo Ping’s 1989 Donnie vehicle, IN THE LINE OF DUTY IV! Sassy police action with young talent, hot bod’s and a new attitude. Donnie Yen is so hard boiled in this he’s practically egg jerky: he plays by nobody’s rules, not even his own. Cynthia Khan wears tight stone wash den…

Raid on the Lethal Zone is Hermann Yau’s 2023 Chinese border force drama, outlining the trials and tribulations of a special drug enforcement group 8077 trying to stop a narcotics shipment while battling nature’s fury on the southeast Asian Chinese border. The colours are drab, the mood is sombre and the calamities befalling our heroes are unrelent…

The Kaiju film taking the world (and Oscars) by storm, Godzilla Minus One has arrived on the Asian Action Cast. We navigate the bloated deep sea fish to look at Takashi Yamazaki’s 2023 award winning monster epic – and like most of the main characters, we are woefully unqualified for the task.

The Bastard Swordsman Returns! This 1984 Shaw Brothers effects extravaganza brings you eye popping martial arts with the colour and flare that only an SB production can bring. Norman Chiu and Tony Liu headline this epic showdown against the magnificent Alex Man’s charismatically evil Dugu Wu Di, only to find there is a sinister evil lurking in Chen…

You want 90’s Hong Kong action cinema choreographed by Jackie Chan? You got it! 1990’s Outlaw Brothers has some of the best action choreography and stunt work you’ll find in a golden age blockbuster, just no Jackie Chan! Haha, Sike! But you do get a skinnier, moustachier Frankie Chan, Actor, Composer, Martial Artis, Womaniser, Car Thief with a hear…

The 2004 adaptation of the classic Go Nagai manga 'Devilman' has been widely called 'The worst movie to come out of Japan' by many, but is it really that bad? Twin boy band actors, random slow motion, motorcycles on the beach and Bob Sapp!? What's not to love? Let the AAC guide you through the highs (?) and many, many lows of Devilman!…

Sonny Chiba broods his way through the 1972 yakuza gunslinging romp, Yakuza Wolf! Legendary for his piercing eyes, bushy eyebrows and intense characters, this gem is pre-Streetfighter fame and gives you a peek into the formula before it was perfected. Exploitation at its most gratuitous, as Toei productions go this one is filled with nudity, violen…

Ryo Saeba returns to the big screen in Netflix’s 2024 adaptation of the City Hunter manga, following astring of animes, movies (Jackie Chan!) and Korean TV shows.

So good we had to return immediately to John Woo’s sweaty gangster tragi-ballad, A Better Tomorrow II, to revel in the blood soaked ballet that inspired so many films (ahem, reservoir dogs). Cobbled together a year after Woo’s original 1986 smash hit, A Better Tomorrow II brings back Chow Yun Fat (but of course!), Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung, but als…

What happens when you take a Hong Kong comedy director, old, washed up martial arts star and young desperate actor with nothing to lose? A Better Tomorrow, that’s what. John Woo’s 1986 gangster thriller with Chow Yun Fat and Ti Lung reinvented the genre and guaranteed a better tomorrow of heroic bloodshed and tragic bromances for decades to come. N…

The AAC takes a journey back to 1972 for the fourth instalment in the Lone Wolf and Cub Series. Our vengeance seeking duo of father Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and mullet/sideburns/top knot/rats tail son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) are tasked with killing female assassin (Oyuki played by Michie Azuma). But along the way there's many, many rando…

M.D.S Geist is your 1986 granddaddy of modern adult anime. We watch the 1996 directors cut of Koichi Ohatas debut, building the template of ultra violent animation and grim anti-hero’s.

You could be forgiven for not seeing Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh’s cinema debut in Sammo Hung’s 1984 film, Owl vs Bombo. A pretty face and far cry from her future baddassery, she could not save Sammo's cringy self indulgent movie. Pairing with George Lam's Owl, Hung's Bumbo busts more dance moves than skulls, insistent on pedalling the most awkward …

Are you a Jackie Chan fan? Or maybe a fan of John Cena? Have I got your attention? Well, 2023’s Hidden Strike is more than just lip service. It will reel you in with the clickbait and will hold your attention for its booming 1hr 45min runtime. Who would have thought I would say that last sentence without irony! No one on the Asian Action Cast, that…

Are you looking for impressive hair, smouldering looks, screaming and school turf wars? Do you like your movies to be no talk and all action? Love the sounds of the Exile Tribe and all their offshoot acts? High & Low The Worst X is the film for you. What better way to dip our toes into the High & Low series by starting with the 7th movie and based …

Remember a time when Sonny Chiba’s THE STREETFIGHTER roamed the streets of Japan? Kazuhiko Yamaguchi’s 1974 pulp spin-off Sister Street Fighter proves it takes a woman’s touch to truly twist the neck off thugs. Etsuko Shihomi’s Li Koryu plays the titular Sister Street Fighter and like any vengeance fuelled martial hero, goes from stunning to psycho…

The Asian Action Cast wraps up another year of the best (and worst) of Asian and Hong Kong action cinema. Numbers and stats: got 'em. Talking over each other because it's online: in spades. Our yearly tournament having some really unfair matchup brackets? You know it's true! All movies reviewed go into a tournament, and only one movie can be crowne…

Wong Jing’s 2022 remake of his 1993 Wuxia epic, Kung Fu Cult Master (Pt 1) is proof that practice makes progress. 30 years of experience gives you special effects, less toilet humor, a wizened Donnie Yen and an actual, honest to god filmed and released sequel (Kung Fu Cult Master (Pt 2) released in the same year.…

Deep down we’re all the Ballerina. Lee Chung-Hyun’s 2023 film Ballerina is a character study of quiet pain and loss, punctuated with visceral, over the top action and a villain you love to hate. Starring Jeon Jong-Seo (Rachel Jun) as a cold and detached security specialist in what is sure to put her on the map, Ballerina has a painfully methodical …

Wong Jing’s 1994 Lone Wolf parody, New Legend of Shaolin, or Red Dragon as its known in the west, teams up Jet Li with his martial arts prodigy on screen son Mo Tse to kick some old school poison boogie man ass.

The Magic Crystal is Wong Jing’s 1986 first collaboration with Hong Kong Heartthrob Andy Lau, in his most fetching, handsome Puma activewear. This is a globetrotting adventure quest movie equal parts Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Armour of God, E.T., the list goes on - the amazing thing is, its actually pretty good and unequivocally Wong Jing in styl…

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is Netflix’s latest 2023 foray into live-action-ime, adapting Haro Aso’s Manga and anime of the same name. We at the Asian Action Cast could not help but compare it to the (better) anime but still found sparks of joy to warm our zombie hearts. The perpetually optimistic and effervescent Akira Tendo (played by an equ…

The Crippled Avengers (also known as Return of the Five Deadly Venoms and Mortal Combat!) smashes its iron limbs into your brain this week on the Asian Action Cast, ironically spreading the crippling they received. This 1978 Shaw Brothers. martial arts schlock action fest is exactly what the Kung Fu movie genre needed to get it back on its legs.…

Bastard Swordsman! This Shaw Bro’s 1983 Wuxia extravaganza packs it all in, epic sword fights, trademark jaw dropping sets, costumes and unforgettable cast of characters. But this is not a drill, this is a movie imbued with love, care and the iron will to deliver a fatal fist of wonder straight into your cerebral cortex. Rarely well-paced for a Wux…

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 cape…

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 …

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 samura…

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 les…

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…

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 showdo…

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 fami…

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 …

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…

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…

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 finis…

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 fo…

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…

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. …

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…

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 …

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 violen…

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 r…