If you look at the films of Hong Kong before and after 1997, there is a striking difference. The action films leading up the nineties were fast-paced, tough, gritty with an edgy quality that paralleled Hollywood’s assembly line modeled studio era. The years surrounding the handover of Hong Kong to mainland China around 1997 proved to be an uncertain time for Hong Kong’s bustling film industry.

The Handover and the Film Industry

Back in Hong Kong during the 1990’s people were fearing the impending handover as it posed a threat to the peoples national identity. Hong Kong functioned under the “One Country Two Systems” act that allowed them to continue capitalist financial infrastructure outside of mainland socialist mainland China.

The handover of 1997 lead to a major financial crisis (also known to some as the Asian financial crisis), and the film industry took a major hit as many of its foreign investors throughout Asia withdrew their investments. From the 1980’s to the 1990’s, 80 to 90 percent of Hong Kong’s film industry was funded by Taiwanese investors; this withdrawal of funds nearly killed Hong Kong’s film market.

The rapid decline in movie production following the year after the 1997 handover was impossible to ignore as the number of annual productions dropped from 185 movies a year in 1997, to a meager 85 in 1998. Another competing factor at the time were the high-profile American blockbusters that dominated the box-office. Large scale productions absorbed the public’s attention as the three highest grossing movies in Hong Kong in 1997 were James Cameron’s Titanic, Steven Spielberg’s The Lost World, and ironically John Woo’s Face/Off. But due to the financial crisis at the time, studios couldn’t compete with Hollywood’s capacity for large budgets and special effects. If it seemed like the whole world was caught up in Hollywood’s blockbusters, it’s because they were.

Coming to America

Filmmakers like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Yuen Woo-ping were enjoying a steady flow of work in the US, but the overall sum was less than its product, as many of these films felt like watered-down impersonations of the great Hong Kong films these directors were known for making.

By the early nineties, John Woo had directed his American debut Hard-Target with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and by 1996 scored some acclaim with this less than desirable but entertaining Broken Arrow. That same year yielded another below average action movie Double Team by renowned filmmaker Tsui Hark. To do a side by side comparison of Double Team with Once Upon a Time in China you wouldn’t be able to detect the slightest hint of Hark’s signature style of action. Tsui Hark would follow Double Team with the equally lackluster 1998 film (once again with Jean-Claude Van Damme) Knock-Off, these two forgettable titles constitute the entirety of Tsui Hark’s directing career in America.

John Woo, however, retained his balletic style of action choreography leading to popular acclaim in the States as a leading action director. After Broken Arrow was a box office hit, his following 1997 film Face/Off became a box office smash. The two films have enough pizzazz to count as memorable titles in the director’s filmography, but they still lack the kinetic, stylized violence that seemed to solely exist Hong Kong.

Rumble in the States – Chanmania

Of all the emigres from Hong Kong, Jackie Chan was the biggest name from the east since Bruce Lee. Chan’s breakout film was Rumble in the Bronx. Ironically filmed in Vancouver, Rumble in the Bronx was a commercial success. Jackie Chan had an already established stunt team and movie crew he had intimately worked with for years, enabling him to do what he does best: deliver astounding fight scenes, death-defying stunts and his trademark family friendly humor.

For American audiences Rumble in the Bronx was a breath of fresh air. Rumble in the Bronx has all the hallmarks that make a great Jackie Chan movie, but the pattern for Chan was similar to that of his fellow Hong Kong expatriate filmmakers: the thrills were plentiful but Rumble in the Bronx is less energetic than Jackie Chan’s preceding projects. Regardless, the film was successful and America fell in love with Jackie Chan.

Contemporary Kung Fu

Jackie Chan had spent years struggling with weak period films for the first fifteen years of his career. Although he broke the mold with his Police Story films in Hong Kong, Rumble in the Bronx proved that kung fu was marketable in America and the pattern was the same with other actors.

Leading up to the late nineties kung fu films underwent a modern makeover while rising stars such as Donnie Yen and Jet Li were kicking their way out of period films (that were so common in Hong Kong’s history) into movies with contemporary settings. Some are stronger than others but films like High Risk, Black Mask (released in Hong Kong 1996, dubbed and released in the US 1999), and The Bodyguard from Bejing were important starring vehicles for Jet Li’s deserved success. Donnie Yen’s career was on the same course with other titles such as In the Line of Duty 4, Tiger Cage I and II, and Ballistic Kiss.

By 2002, Hong Kong saw another rebirth of the action franchise with the influential hit film Infernal Affairs. The then rising star cinematographer turned director Andrew Lau (not to be confused with the actor Andy Lau, who happens to also star in the film) took a fresh, tech-savvy approach not only to the gangster genre but the cop film as well and used it as a springboard for a devilishly clever morality tale. Infernal Affairs not only spawned two sequels and was remade by Martin Scorsese as The Departed as well as a two-part Japanese TV movie, Police Impersonation and Undercover. Tightly made and directed with confidence, Infernal Affairs became an instant classic. Although more serious actions films were making a comeback in Hong Kong, the action comedy sub genre had a new front runner.

New Clown of Hong Kong Action – Stephen Chow

Jackie Chan is the “go to” name when it comes to the kung fu comedy (despite Lau Kar-leung, and even Bruce Lee beating him to the punch) but the genre welcomed another admirable misfit by the name of Stephen Chow. Chow had been directing and starring in his own unique brand of comedic action comedies for years but he found international acclaim with his two films Shaolin Soccer and Kung-Fu Hustle, incorporated Chinese culture, action, and of course slapstick humor. Both films were critical and commercial achievements in China and the US, and Chow continues to direct and star in his movies.

Although Stephen Chow, and Johnnie To enlivened the declining Hong Kong box office, the old masters returned to their native land and it looked like they needed to crawl back into the movie industry before they could walk tall the way they used to. Tsui Hark returned to Hong Kong with a disappointing retreading of his groundbreaking Zu:Warriors of the Magic Mountain (1983), with Zu Warriors, and Andrew Lau returned with the equally unsatisfying The Storm Riders. It was evident that the once eminent directors of Hong Kong were emulating the Hollywood model with large-scale special effects movies. Unfortunately, the budget for convincing special effects weren’t there, and these films come off as lazily concocted remakes of the filmmakers’ earlier more successful movies.

Rebirth of Hong Kong Action Cinema

It seemed like dark days in Hong Kong, and once glorious days of flying swordsmen and explosive gunfights would be gone forever. However, there was light at the end of the tunnel, it just took a few years for technology to catch up the lush imaginations of Hong Kong’s movie industry.

After the Asian financial crisis had settled down, digital photography and CGI had grown past what looked like made for TV production values. The conceptual imagination was there, but financing and ineffective technology were the main hindrances. It wasn’t the first time the people of Hong Kong had to overcome adversity; after the Japanese occupation and a major civil war, a financial crisis following the handover was small fry by comparison.

What the Hong Kong film industry needed was time and technology to advance, and thankfully that has been the case as we can see their output over the past few years shows signs of consistent growth. The technical revolution and its effect on the film industry (as a whole) has been especially kind to furthering the growth of Hong Kong action cinema. Despite his commercial success John Woo’s return to Hong Kong was cause for celebration, and his two-film epic Red Cliff in 2008 was a return to form for the great director whose work made Hong Kong action movies a worldwide sensation.

Old Dogs Learn New Tricks – Renaissance of Hong Kong Action Films

Second wave filmmaker Peter Chan scored a hit with a great starring vehicle for Jet Li with his 2007 film The Warlords, and his 2009 production starring Donnie Yen Wu xia. Donnie Yen went from movie star to household name with the massive 2006 film Ip Man (a man whose notoriety derives from being the mentor Bruce Lee) directed by Wilson Yip. The success of Ip Man led to a sequel (with rumors of third one in production) and multiple spin-offs based on the life of the famed martial artist.

The collaboration between director Yip and Yen would yield a solid string of action films including SPL: Killzone and Flash Point, both films have a certain style and tone that recalls the action films of the pre-handover era. The latter film actually takes place prior to the 1997 handover, an implied irony seeing as the film echoes the style of movies made from that era.

After a period of floundering in mediocrity, Tsui Hark collaborated with Ringo Lam and Johnnie To for the occasionally clunky but solid heist film Triangle. What could have been a mess (matching three major directors for a ninety-minute film) the results are a surprising treat, proving again that Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark could produce superlative modern crime films. Hark, and Lam fell out of form for a while, but Johnnie To never seemed to miss a beat throughout his career.

While some directors were bouncing back and forth from Hollywood to Hong Kong, Johnnie To soldiered through the uncertain times that followed the years around the handover. To seemed to fill the gap left by John Woo while he was absent from Hong Kong. To directed some of his best work during the early 2000’s, with films like The Mission, Running out of Time, and Fulltime Killer among many more.

Taking cues from American auteur Michael Mann, Johnnie To approached action with a diamond cutters eye, turning the frenzied gun play (formally coined by John Woo) into carefully orchestrated scenes with a mathematical eye for choreography. Johnnie To has over fifty credits to his name as a director, and he may veer (with successful results) from the action genre, but he is easily one of the most exciting directors working in Hong Kong.

A New Golden Age of Hong Kong Action Film

Starting in the late 2000’s onward you can witness the quality in the action films from Hong Kong blossom into what could be a new golden age of action films. Studios have rekindled period action films, kung fu is present in both the past and present day settings, and gun brandishing characters can be found on the streets of Johnnie To’s critically acclaimed 2012 film Drug War, or fighting bandits on the snowbanks of Tsui Hark’s latest action opus The Taking of Tiger Mountain.

Regardless of the time or setting, the action films from Hong Kong are nearing what could be another era or greatness. Given the recent track record it would be fair to say that we can expect more great films, Hong Kong doesn’t exclusively make action films, but they seem to do it so damn well it’s impossible to ignore, and too fun to forget.

It might be an artistic overstatement for me to place genre films from Hong Kong alongside such important filmic movements such as Italian Neo-Realism, or the French New Wave, but if you consider the political, societal, and social elements, they’re what make Hong Kong such a unique and distinctive place. Of course this is reflected in the region’s films; they may not have the artistic contribution to cinema as the European film movements, but Hong Kong’s enormous output of films is extraordinary.

As for some final recommendations of recent movies of interest: 14 Blades by Daniel Lee, starring Donnie Yen, Wu xia directed by Peter Chan, also starring Donnie Yen, Saving Genral Yang by Ronny Yu, A Mob Story, and Chaos both directed by Herman Yau, Assembly, a war film chronicling the Chinese Civil War at the end of the 1940’s, and Aftershock, another historical narrative dramatizing the great Tangshan earthquake directed by Feng Xiao-Gang. A Battle of Wits, Three Kingdoms, An Empress and Her Warriors, Shaolin, The 7 Assassins, Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, among many others are all entertaining action/adventure films that prove that Hong Kong is back in business.

This was the last installment of this History of Hong Kong Action Cinema Series. I hope you’ve learned something and enjoyed reading it, and if you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask in the comments section below!

(top image: Drug War (2012) – source: Variance Films)