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 22 at the time) displays inhuman stamina and incredible flexibility, as well as tight, crisp...

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 Juyal) is determined to get everything he can and they are set for a collision course. The final...

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 his family by heartless criminal Black Panther (Dick Wei). What follows is a cultural mish mash of...

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 the fiendish and gloriously wigged out Moon Devil (Ken Lo). Along the way he gains some...

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 bone breaking, back crunching stunt work you’ve seen. Joyce proves herself an adept fighter with...

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, 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 Khoo, Raymond Lam, Phillip Ng and many others even when things get fantastic in the best of ways.Don’t expect a perfect film...

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 alternative to the Rothrock/Yeoh duo she homages in her name.Also starring everyone’s favourite heel (and...

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 felt this film had somewhere between 30% - 75% action (your mileage may vary if you don’t count...

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.Spectacular Wuxia sorcery fights the forces of mystical ninja magic, it really is a battle between...

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 with full moon eyes also brings the swoon.This movie was a bodacious amount of fun with Yukari...

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! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/asianactioncast/message

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 here, only damaged people with scars and agendas. Yakuza Wolf is a fun urban western directed by...

Ryo Saeba returns to the big screen in Netflix’s 2024 adaptation of the City Hunter manga, following a string of animes, movies (Jackie Chan!) and Korean TV shows. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/asianactioncast/message

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 also presents an uncharacteristically grounded performance from the late great Dean Shek, and pre-Stephen Chow villainous Ng Man Tat.It’s been...

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.No other movie is so iconic, so fresh and so stylish. Chow’s Mark is the definition of scene stealer, the late great Leslie Cheung plucks up as the...

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 random Yagyu soldiers to slice. Father and son are walking the demon path to hell, can anyone stop them? Does that pram have suspension? How painful...

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 clunker, Owl vs Bombo. A pretty face and far cry from her future baddassery, she could not save Sammos cringy self indulgent movie. Pairing with George Lams Owl, Hungs Bumbo busts more dance moves than skulls, insistent on pedalling the most awkward romance ever. Credit for not having Ms Malaysia herself as the target of his affections, the cringe:action ratio is leaning the wrong way. What...

Jackie Chan! 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’s for sure.

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 on a collaboration with 2 mangas we haven't read? Genius!

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 psychotic in less than 3 seconds. One of Sonny Chiba’s proteges she takes to the silver screen mugging, jumping and killing with lethal efficiency in this...

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 crowned number one. Which movie will reign supreme?  Thanks listeners, for your support this year. As always, stay for the remix!