Asian Action Cast

The City of Violence is a 2006 Ryoo Seung-wan directed friendship thriller starring dapper detective Jung Doo-hong’s Tae-Soo. There certainly is violence aplenty in the city, largely perpetrated by our main cast. Friendships form, falter and fall as snake liquor goes wasted. The violence escalates throughout surprising you how far it’s willing to go, and any action film with sub-boss fights is A-o...

In the martial arts world, even your spare change can become a lethal weapon! Enter 'Twelve Deadly Coins', a 1969 Shaw Brothers production starring the excellent Lo Lieh and Ching Li. When your senior disciple isn't as good as you think, who will protect your treasure convoy against bandits? Fighter Qiao Mao (Lo Lieh) can do it all, but he's also acting a little suspiciously. The l...

What’s more deadly than 13 Assassins? Cooler than 7 Samurai? Gorier than 5 Deadly Venoms? Why its Director Kazuya Shiraishi’s 11 Rebels! This 2024 Samurai Epic is 60 years in the making with ascript written back in 1964!

Donnie Yen’s 2025 Dram-action THE PROSECUTOR will have you questioning what you know about legal procedurals with its labyrinthine plot and non stop exposition. If you can stomach Donnie’s soap boxing righteousness for 75% of the film, there’s a really solid 25% of hard hitting martial arts action, including a truly creative and kinetic first person gun/kung fu sequence. Donnie shows no signs of s...

In honour of the recently passed great man, Mr Richard Norton, we celebrate his intersection and elevation of Hong Kong action cinema in Jackie Chan’s 1997 Sammo Hung Directed Mr Nice Guy. Richard Norton is irrepressible, chewing scenery and having a blast as he turns the screws on Jackie’s super chef. It is a film of hijinks amidst the backdrop of Melbournes inner city - home to Mr Norton and ano...

Ever forget who you but somehow have access to special forces training, martial arts and parkour moves and hardcore riz with the ladies? No you’re not Jason Bourne, you’re Jackie Chan in his 1998 Amnesia Thriller, Who Am I?

Beat Takeshi (Kitano) subverts your expectations with one of the best and/or worst (!) most polarising films in recent memory in his 2025 film Broken Rage. Director, Star, Writer and Editor: he hits the major chords with a retired yakuza hitman melody, then riffs into unknown territory with an absurdist parody of the same story. And then came the beats is an apt description of the film which is en...

We've all cheered, laughed and been amazed at the phenomenal stunts in Hong Kong action movies over the years: but what about the people behind the stunts? What happens when things go pear shaped? 2024's Stuntman shows that sometimes "the good old days'"aren't always that fondly remembered for some and the old adage of "they don't make them like they used to&quot...

What looks, smells and feels like a Hong Kong Action movie but is not a Hong Kong Action movie? 2017’s Luc Van Tien! Star vehicle for the incredibly agile and talented Vietnamese/German martial artist and Jackie Chan Stunt Team alumni Andreas Nguyen. If you didn’t know before he was a Jackie Fan and collaborator, you’d know by the end of the film, which liberally homages tropes, gags and set ups,...

High octane fight scenes, bone crunching action and exhilarating stunts. Jackie takes his blend of action comedy to New York (actually Vancouver but who cares). Non stop thrills and spills with a sexy Francoise Yip, mulleted Anita Mui, Dashing Bill Tung and blink and you miss Emil Chau, it’s the goldilocks of action mayhem. We are all garbage! It's Rumble In The Bronx!

The Asian Action Cast calls last drinks on 2024! All the movies we watched will go into a no holds barred slugfest to see which one comes out on top. Will it be another victory for Hong Kong? Will we remember who starred in what movie? Do we actually praise Donnie Yen for being a *good* actor??? Tune in and find out. Thanks everyone for listening and as always, stick around for the remix.

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 proves it here. An acrobatic prodigy, Yuen Biao (aged 2...

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 a journey of revenge. Bandit Fani Bhushan (Raghav...

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 Wei) on a journey to hell, to avenge the death of hi...

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 gory murders, which have actually been committed by t...

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 cranked up to 11 with the action being some of the most...

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 rock-solid showing by Louis Koo, Raymond Lam, Phillip...

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 denim like she was born in them, and worthy alternati...

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 unrelenting, much like the rain, floods and mudslides. We...

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 Kuan-Tai’s underhanded Japanese Ega Clan chief. S...

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 heart of gold. His outlaw bro from another ho, Max Mok...

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, violence and questionable morales. There are no heroes h...