Why are Asian action movies, on average, better than western ones?

Why are Asian action movies, on average, better than western ones?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PCtIaM_GQ
youtube.com/watch?v=smLAFCVNpwA
youtube.com/watch?v=aWAsaXdfVQQ
davidbordwell.net/blog/2008/12/28/a-glance-at-blows/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciples_of_the_36th_Chamber
youtube.com/watch?v=fuUR95-o_fw
youtube.com/watch?v=Aa-f5DeTJEQ
youtube.com/watch?v=PFoLfRA5ghw
youtube.com/watch?v=74ZjLV--9HA
youtube.com/watch?v=aixa6ROE_kM
youtube.com/watch?v=MC-RPFQ7ou4
youtu.be/Ur68dWVpPRI?t=73
youtube.com/watch?v=VuNgTz5acCo
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

That's a fine opinion to have but it isn't absolutely true.

/thread

Because you've only seen the ones good enough to get attention over here.

>he watches bad movies

Cuck.

This
Give us examples of Asian and western movies you consider of average quality, OP.

The Hong Kong film industry is Western.

They aren't, but the shitty ones don't get released here so you don't know about them.

Idiot.

Because you're a weeb.

You're probably right.
That's a good point.
>average quality Asian action movie: Sha Po Lang (Kill Zone)
>average quality American action movie: The Fast and The Furious
Has it always been, though?
>Hero
>The Raid: Redemption
>The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
>Five Deadly Venoms
Watch those and come back to me.
I've seen some shitty ones.
That's not actually the case, though.

13 Assassins is the best action movie of the last 5 years

They're not normally but Hero was a fucking beautiful movie

If you enjoyed Hero, I recommend you check out Red Cliffs.

Damn, that good? It's on my to-watch list.
I disagree that they aren't normally, but agree about Hero.
It's on my list. I'll probably get to it next weekend.

You need to watch more katana-kino if you're of the opinion that 13 Assassins isn't total fucking trash.

Because of stuff like this,

youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PCtIaM_GQ

>wires and floppy swords

Wire fu often (but not always) sucks, sure. But this is a great fight scene from a Chinese martial arts movie, based on MMA:

youtube.com/watch?v=smLAFCVNpwA

>Five Deadly Venoms

I was not expecting that to be like it was.

>It's on my list. I'll probably get to it next weekend.

I'll warn you that you really have to watch the full length version of this for it to be worthwhile. The cut down version has serious pacing issues.

>like it was
You mean fucking incredible?
Does Netflix have the full version or the cut down version?

no way thats me in the picture how did somebody capture that

>average quality Asian action movie: Sha Po Lang (Kill Zone)
Average quality asian action movie is something like Detective Dee, or Tai-Chi Hero, or Let the bullets fly - but way worse, concidering that three has high budget.

youtube.com/watch?v=aWAsaXdfVQQ

quite a coincidence OP! i'm currently listening to David Bordwell's presentation on kung fu cinema. if you really want to learn about asian action films read Planet Hong Kong, it'll give you exactly what you want.

>First there is a rapid thrust or parry, or a string of blows, or the whirl of a sword or spear. There follows a slight pause, often at the moment a blow is blocked, and the fighters are immobile, perhaps only for a fraction of a second. Then comes another burst of activity. The result onscreen is an overall flow that harbors a percussive rhythm. The short pauses articulate stages of action, giving them staccato efficiency. The static instants also make the movements seem more rapid by contrast. And each section of the pause/burst/pause pattern can be adjusted to different rates of movement

basically Asian filmmakers, particularly Hong Kong tend to pace out their fights with percussion like rhythm, these pauses allow the brain to catch up and figure out wtf is happening.

davidbordwell.net/blog/2008/12/28/a-glance-at-blows/

also recommend his blog

what's the webm from?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciples_of_the_36th_Chamber

36th Chamber of Shaolin isn't impressive as far as big expensive sets or special effects or anything budget-wise, but is one of my top five kung fu movies.
Thanks for the info, user. I'll check both of those things out.

Because Asians don't give a shit.
>Why is the camera here
>Gravity doesn't work like that
>Where did those doves come from
It doesn't matter, it looks cool as fuck

thanks m8

Eastern philosophy is more accepting of violence as a natural state.

Western philosophy is more informed by pacifism, deterence, non-violence as a result of more organized forms of war.
The Japs and the Chinks weren't involved in WW1 which is where the world popped its cherry on true mass violence.

No, because of stuff like this
youtube.com/watch?v=fuUR95-o_fw
And this
youtube.com/watch?v=Aa-f5DeTJEQ
And this
youtube.com/watch?v=PFoLfRA5ghw
And this
youtube.com/watch?v=74ZjLV--9HA

Not this guy but nigga i'll fight you. This film is pure actionkino is a must-watch.
Recommend me some good samurai movies that aren't the usual Kurosawa or Yamada's samurai trilogy.

this is a greattttt example of pause/burst/pause because the pause at the end is super dramatic.

choreography>explosions, effects, memes, and poor humor

>The Japs weren't involved in WW1
Lies.
>the Chinks weren't involved in WW1
True, but they had their own civil war from 1912 to 1949.

Asians are good at movies, food, business and science. Sometimes I wish I were Asian, but being male Asian is a real russian roulette genetically

>The Japs weren't involved in WW1
Not in any significant capacity.

...

What do you all consider the greatest martial arts kino?

My top 3:
>Master of the Flying Guillotine
>Five Deadly Venoms
>Chocolate

>dual TT
HNNNG

>Master of the Flying Guillotine

excellent taste

>Last Hurrah for Chivalry
>Heroes of the East
>Five Element Ninjas

>>average quality Asian action movie: Sha Po Lang (Kill Zone
SPL is top notch Asian action movie

WAS HARDCORE HENRY A FUCKING ASIAN MOVIE NO

i fucking love kung fu

Do they actually still make movies like this in China. That would be pretty embarrassing actually.

>What does "on average" mean?
Not that user, but are you asking if they make them like the webm, or if the greentext is accurate?

it's just faster now

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Hero is GOAT tbqh familia. I have no idea how widespread the western release was, but I really wish I had seen it (and House of Flying Daggers) in the cinema.

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That's a HK film

Holy shit.

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Hong Kong is legally part of China at this point, even though it is somewhat culturally distinct, and it's DEFINITELY part of Asia, so it fits into my assertions about Asian action films.

Also, I was under the impression that you were responding to the OP image, which is also from a Hong Kong film.

>present false, retarded opinion as fact
>frame it in the form of a question belittling a better option

you went to shitposting 101, son

They haven't fallen for the shaky cam meme yet.

Kneel before the Best Korea martial arts kino!

youtube.com/watch?v=aixa6ROE_kM

youtube.com/watch?v=MC-RPFQ7ou4

watch Five Elements Ninja right now, it is fucking amazing

Hero was visually beautiful but way to much ham fisted chinese nationalism to be a classic

because people are cheaper there and it does not take much skill to speed up the film or fake flying but plebs will love it

In terms of action films, HK definitely has its own distinct style compared to Chinese wire-fu.

show me a movie with better fights than Five Element Ninja and I will prove you wrong

I'm struggling to think of any kung fu movies with a more nuanced take on Chinese politics.
Are you talking about Asian films with sped up film and fake flying or American films with sped up film and fake flying?

Literally almost anything in Duel To The Death.

Asian movies are really hit and and miss but OP's picture is a really good one.

The only other one I really loved was on Romance of the Three Kingdoms [battle on that huge river]. Name escapes me but if you know the story the movie did it great justice.

youtu.be/Ur68dWVpPRI?t=73

is that the Kite Ninjas movie? i fucking loved that

Because it's in a foreign language so you don't realize the dialogue is bad/poorly delivered.

That's literally the only reason. People say action movies are bad because the writing is usually bad, even if it has incredible action setpieces and choreo. So, if you can't tell the 'bad' parts of action movies are bad, you automatically think they're great films.

youtube.com/watch?v=VuNgTz5acCo
Are you saying that if you can't perfectly tell the intonation, then you can't tell if the writing is bad?

yeah I agree

Duel to the Death doesn't have this amazing scene

It's just not something you're as likely to pick up on. It's the same reason why people say anime is better subbed than dubbed. Until you hear it in your own language, you don't realize how unnatural and stilted the dialogue is. When you read subtitles, you're automatically intoning it in the way you think it's intended in your head. So you accept it for what it is, and focus on the action, which is what you're supposed to do in the first place.

>It's the same reason why people say anime is better subbed than dubbed.
They say anime is better subbed than dubbed because for a long time dubs would phrase things awkwardly in order to make sure the sounds matched the mouths as well as possible, and there wasn't enough money in it to hire good voice actors. There are plenty of anime nowadays that are as good dubbed as subbed but don't tell Sup Forums I said that.

I think it's a combination of both. I'll grant you that dubbing has definitely gotten better, but i think you'd be hard pressed to come up with more than a handful of series that are honestly just as good dubbed. Bebop, FMA, and the Studio Ghibli movies are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head

God I wish this show was better. We really deserve a good kung fu show.

Tell that to the the Japs when they showed up to Paris and were completely ignored during the peace accords. Had a long lasting impact on their Western relations.

HK action movies are, on average, better than the average western (American) ones.
Chinese, as in Mainland ones, aren't. They're a mixed bag just like American ones.
Taiwanese action movies are also a mixed bag.
The Raid and Ong Bak may be fantastic, but I haven't seen enough of Indonesian and Thai action movies to tell what the average ones are like. Same goes for Korean ones.

It's more the other way round, mate. Eastern action movies are based on martial arts whereby the fights are more like dancing. It's action in American movies that tend to emphasis more on how brutal and bestial it is, with the fighters being down and panting and doing less refined movement. Asian martial arts film focus more on the moves themselves. It's why wuxia films have people learning technique with names and visually striking styles: it's more about the presentation so the fight looks good to watch.

- Fist of Legend. I'd even say that it was better than the original Fist of Fury
- Drunken Master
- Fearless

Hero and Five Deadly Venoms are great too.

I love it, the setting is awesome

>It's more the other way round, mate. Eastern action movies are based on martial arts whereby the fights are more like dancing. It's action in American movies that tend to emphasis more on how brutal and bestial it is, with the fighters being down and panting and doing less refined movement. Asian martial arts film focus more on the moves themselves. It's why wuxia films have people learning technique with names and visually striking styles: it's more about the presentation so the fight looks good to watch.
At the same time, Asian action films are less likely to cut away, and more likely to show someone get busted open.

they aren't

You're wrong.

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I found that it's the other way round. The official english subs actually lost/ simplified a lot of the dialogue. This is particularly true with a lot of the older wuxia movies.
>character says something rather poetic or whimsical
>English sub just have a very straightforward/ very literal meaning of the line.

Doesn't that have more to do with censorship and regulations?

As an aside, how good are the Europeans with action movies, anyway? I'm pretty ignorant on that front since most western action I know of are mainly Hollywood stuff.

>Doesn't that have more to do with censorship and regulations?
Nah, it's just harder to shoot a good action sequence than it is to show people moving fast and cut the camera a lot to hide their weaknesses as fight scene actors.

I loved any part with Quinn, but then they gotta ruin it with some anime shit with that moogli lookin kid. I am looking for something a little more grounded like Kung Fu with David Caradine but with more modern choreography.

These days it's true, because western action cinema is mostly dead and the only thing that remains is capeshit and the Fast and Furious flicks.
But even then Asian action cinema is worse than it used to be. Decent action movies are less every year.

Idk maybe video games killed the interest for the genre.