THE KILLER (full article at The Guardian Australia)

The 1989 Hong Kong thriller established Woo as one of the greats, with its explosive gun fights, high-speed car chases and an incorruptible hero

All of your favourite action movies from the last 30 years would look very different without the impact of John Woo. They’d be far more dull for a start.

The film-maker’s style of explosive, highly choreographed gunfights in films such as The Killer and his 1992 film Hard Boiled coined the term “gun fu” and, combined with his ethically incorruptible protagonists, set the template for the heroic bloodshed subgenre, influencing everything from John Wick to The Matrix to Kill Bill.

In the 1989 film The Killer, Chow Yun-fat plays Ah Jong (or Jeffrey, if you prefer the English dub), a contract killer with a conscience who accidentally blinds a young singer, Jennie (Sally Yeh), while on assignment. Stricken with remorse, Ah Jong decides to retire after one last job, pledging to use the proceeds to help her.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/29/the-killer-john-woo-gun-fu-classic

IMDB: The Killer

COBRA (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Crime is a disease. Meet the cure.” With one of the funniest taglines in cinema history, how can you possibly resist revisiting Sylvester Stallone’s violent, ultra-earnest cult action movie Cobra, which turns 40 this year?

Marion “Cobra” Cobretti (Stallone) is a tough LA cop who plays by his own rules. Sporting aviator shades, a matchstick in the corner of his mouth and a gun emblazoned with a cobra, he takes on criminals with a steely dedication to violence and wisecracks, and an aversion to due process that would make Charles Bronson blush.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/04/sylvester-stallone-cop-movie-cobra

IMDB: Cobra

THE RAID (full article at The Guardian Australia)

In a little over a decade, The Raid has established itself as an action movie classic. The fierce Indonesian film raised eyebrows upon its release in 2011, thanks to its high levels of violence and the mind-boggling martial arts skill of its cast. Gaining fans far outside the reach of a cult movie, many of the stars of The Raid have gone on to appear in everything from Star Wars to Mortal Kombat to John Wick.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jun/26/a-stone-cold-masterpiece-the-raid-is-one-of-the-best-action-flicks-ever-made

IMDB: The Raid

ROAD HOUSE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

The best thing about the 2024 Road House remake is that the original movie has also returned to streaming services, and the best thing about the original is, well, everything. It has never been easier to reacquaint yourself with – in my opinion – one of the greatest movies of all time.

Patrick Swayze plays Dalton, a calm and spiritually collected bouncer hired to help turn around the fortunes of a dive bar: the Double Deuce, a joint full of violence, corruption and “the kinda place where they sweep up the eyeballs after closing”.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/may/29/so-80s-it-hurts-punch-ups-pro-wrestlers-and-patrick-swayze-mix-in-the-delightfully-absurd-road-house

IMDB: Road House

MONKEY MAN (full review at Screen Realm)

With Monkey Man, his feature directorial debut, Dev Patel takes a classic revenge tale to the streets of Mumbai and reinvents himself as an action hero in the process.

Patel’s unnamed lead, referred to in the credits as Kid, but also under the pseudonym of Bobby, has been honing his skills and earning money in underground prize fights run by a man named Tiger (Sharlto Copley). The fighters take on animal personas and The Kid scraps under a monkey mask in deference to his favourite story from childhood – that of the Hindu monkey deity, Hanuman.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/monkey-man-movie-review-dev-patel/

IMDB: Monkey Man

DARK ANGEL aka I COME IN PEACE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

There’s always a lot of conversation at this time of year surrounding what does and does not constitute a Christmas movie. For some folks, only James Stewart appreciating the joy of existence in It’s a Wonderful Life will do. Others want to watch the Peanuts gang in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Personally, I want to watch Dolph Lundgren fight an alien drug dealer and kick people in the face in Dark Angel.

This 1990 action film is an underrated piece of festive lunacy with an extremely fun if slightly overcomplicated plot, but there are a lot of stunts and explosions to smooth things over. If you doubt its festive credentials, the opening scene involves a guy crashing his car into a Christmas tree lot. You can’t get more Christmassy than that.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/27/dolph-lundgren-alien-heroin-and-evil-yuppies-dark-angel-is-fun-festive-lunacy

IMDB: Dark Angel aka I Come In Peace

FACE/OFF (full article at The Guardian Australia)

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas: legendary Hong Kong director John Woo has a new film coming out in December – Silent Night – and any movie from the GOAT of action flicks is a real gift. So why not revisit the movie that is arguably the most popular, and inarguably the most bonkers, of his career?

Face/Off sees John Travolta as FBI agent Sean Archer, who is tracking the notorious terrorist Castor Troy, played by Nicolas Cage. But when Troy tries to kill him and kills Archer’s son instead, Archer becomes consumed by revenge. Six years later, he catches up to Castor and in the ensuing chaos puts him in a coma. But Castor has planted a huge bomb in downtown LA and the only possible way for Archer to discover the location … is, of course, face transplant surgery.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/29/faceoff-1997-movie-john-woo-nicolas-cage-john-travolta-silent-night-2023

IMDB: Face/Off

SAFE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

As Meg 2 is currently swimming the cinematic high seas, it feels like the perfect time to anchor this terrible metaphor and remember what Jason Statham was up to before he fought CGI sharks for a living. A decade ago The Stath was making the type of uncomplicated and hugely enjoyable action movies that felt like a throwback to the heyday of Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Van Damme. And one of his best, most overlooked efforts is Safe.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/23/ever-wanted-to-see-jason-statham-beat-up-a-guy-with-a-plate-you-need-to-watch-safe

IMDB: Safe

PROJECT WOLF HUNTING (full review at Screen Realm)

Project Wolf Hunting is a genre switching action / horror blitz from South Korean director Kim Hong-sun. It’s bloody and visceral and over the top, but sadly, lacks focus and outstays it’s welcome by the end.

Forty seven criminals, arrested in the Philippines, are to be transported back to South Korea by boat. They are loaded aboard a cargo ship - The Frontier Titan – with twenty detectives and a two person medical team.

Of course, things don’t go as planned and the crooks are quickly sprung by gang members posing as the ship’s crew. As the cops and criminals wage a pitched battle across the boat, something is awoken in the bowels of the ship and Project Wolf Hunting shifts from bloody action movie to super bloody horror film.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/project-wolf-hunting-movie-review/

IMDB: Project Wolf Hunting

NINJA SHADOW OF A TEAR aka NINJA 2 (full article at The Guardian Australia)

If you’ve blitzed through Cobra Kai and it’s left you hankering for yet more fight-based, 80s throwback drama, consider checking out the work of prolific action movie star Scott Adkins in the truly excellent Ninja Shadow of a Tear (AKA Ninja 2).

Ninja Shadow of a Tear is the weirdly titled sequel to 2009’s rather more simplistic Ninja. But it works well as a self-contained entity, ditching any remaining story threads from the first film within the first 10 minutes so you can comfortably watch them in reverse order and kick your evening off with the better one.

Casey Bowman (Adkins) returns home one night to find his wife Namiko (Mika Hijii) has been brutally slain by an unknown assailant with a unique but deadly weapon. Casey accepts an offer from his friend Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) to stay at his dojo in Bangkok in an attempt to find peace. But Casey’s grief continues to manifest in self-destructive behaviour, losing his temper in a sparring session and drunkenly starting a massive bar fight.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jan/31/ninja-shadow-of-a-tear-scott-adkins-kicks-butt-in-enjoyably-knuckleheaded-revenge-rampage

IMDB: Ninja Shadow Of A Tear

LOST BULLET (BALLE PERDUE) (full review at Screen Realm)

Lost Bullet (Balle Perdue) is a French action thriller directed by Guillaume Pierre and premiering on Netflix. Sitting in a similar ballpark to Netflix’s underrated, vehicular crime thriller Wheelman (2017), Lost Bullet gives us more anti-heroes, double crosses and tumbling automobiles than you can shake a stick at.

Lino (Alban Lenoir) is a genius mechanic, given a jail term for his part in a bungled jewellery store heist. He is taken under the wing of Detective Charas (Ramzy Bedia) and given leave from prison, provided he works for Charas’ police unit, who tackle crime at high velocity on the streets and highways of France. Lino’s role is to patch up and soup up the pursuit vehicles for their life on the road.

Unfortunately, things go pear shaped when one of the cops in the unit commits murder and hangs it on Lino, forcing him to go on the run and to try and locate a crucial piece of evidence that could clear his name.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/lost-bullet-balle-perdue-movie-review-netflix-french

IMDB: Lost Bullet