A Better Tomorrow

Too hard for me to be objective

>>84562223
Of pistol operas, or of action films in general?

>>84562578
Gun-fu.

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>>84562591
Actually, The Killer is the GOAT gun-fu movie.

And I'm not sure you can call it genre when every movie has the same star and director.

>>84562578
It's called heroic bloodshed.

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>>84562627
John woo and others consider it heroic bloodshed,Gunfu or modern action movie I think.
Before these guns in movies were looked down on.

Le Samourai would go on this, John woo took influence from it and those sunglasses are Alain Delon.
They had a typical face off and anti hero vibe.

>>84562591
A better tomorrow, better tomorrow ii, the killer, bullet in the head, and hard boiled are obviously the central texts.

Johnnie to is the essential post handover auteur. I would recommend the mission, exiled, fulltime killer, breaking news, and vengeance. Drug war and three are superlative films as well but they're closer to anti pistol opera than anything.

Long arm of the law, as tears go by (kar wai wong's first film), my heart is that eternal rose, full contact, on the run, and time and tide are phenomenal films, although none of them reach the sheer scope and scale of orchestrated madness as woo. Temper your expectations accordingly.

There has also been something of a genre revival in korea in recent years with films like a bittersweet life, the man from nowhere, and the city of violence, although I am not terribly knowledgeable about this particular offshoot.

As for english language films, you have face/off, the matrix, crying freeman, and the john wicks. Replacement killers is an ok pastiche with some excellent aesthetics.

Suzuki seijun may also be essential viewing, particularly his branded to kill and tokyo drifter, although these are very low budget films without for example the bursting squibs we've come to love.

Cowboy bebop is a good animu series very heavily inspired by pistol opera cinema. The main character is an ex triad turned drifter bounty hunter.

>>84562848
It's worth noting the time period most fertile for exploration is the decade post a better tomorrow and pre handover. Generally, the great post handover action film is either a milkyway picture or a rare exception and pre a better tomorrow, cantonese action filmmaking tended more towards martial arts films.

>>84562848
Michael mann doesn't make action films, per se, but heat, collateral, miami vice, public enemies, and blackhat all feature incredible scenes of gun violence that would make even the greatest pistol opera filmmaker envious.

>>84562848
I'm a big Hong Kong/Korean action film junkie already, so I've seen most of those. I'll have to check out some of the western movies you mentioned.

>>84563093
Interesting! Perhaps you could give me some recommendations, then? Especially on the korean side of things?

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80s high school movies.

Way of the gun is not particularly heroic but it does feature some of the better choreographed gun violence this side of the pacific.

>>84563181
The Good, The Bad, The Weird, The Man from Nowhere, I Saw the Devil, The Chaser. Castaway on the Moon is my favorite Korean film but it's not action.

>>84563386
Have you seen age of shadows yet?

>>84563429
Nope. Is it good?

>>84563488
I was hoping you could tell me, lol. I do have the good the bad and the weird on my hard drive presently.

>>84563488
Not really. There some few good action scenes but movie itself pretty boring

>>84563521
Well I do enjoy most of Kim Jee-woon's films, but I'm not a big fan A Bittersweet Life which is odd because it's probably the most hyped Korean film after Oldboy, so he's kinda hit or miss with me. TGTBTW is probably my favorite film of his.

Couple more Korean recs: Joint Security Area and The Host.

>>84563676
Thanks for these, anon

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Slice-of-Life / Coming of Age

>>84562223
Hard boiled, Infernal Affairs, City on Fire

I always thought a movie with that title should be a political propaganda