The Action Scene is a column that explores the construction of action set pieces in order to deepen appreciation for and spark discussion about action cinema.The following column examines my fifteen favorite action scenes of 2023. In their variety, virtuosity, and visceral power, they embody the vibrancy of contemporary action cinema. Like last year’s roundup, the focus is on action scenes—relatively sustained, heightened, self-contained expressions of action filmmaking craft—so some otherwise strong action films didn’t make the cut, and not all of the films featured here are necessarily compelling beyond their set pieces. All included films made their official, non-festival, US theatrical and/or streaming debut in 2023. For the sake of variety, I’ve limited myself to one scene per film.And now, on to the action. As with previous years, these scenes have been grouped by theme to foreground patterns and enhance ease of perusal.
- 1/9/2024
- MUBI
Miao Xie as Cheng in Eye For An Eye: Blind Swordsman (Mu Zhong Wu Ren). Courtesy of WellGoUSA
Chinese martial arts films have a long tradition of including quite an array of masterful fighters with significant disabilities. Many of them feature a hero who is blind, deaf, missing an arm, etc. yet still able to defeat whatever evil being or force must be eliminated for the common good. That usually yields a bunch of intricately choreographed battles – one-on-ones with the worst, often preceded by dispatching hordes of underlings and anonymous minions.
Eye For An Eye: Blind Swordsman (Mu Zhong Wu Ren) follows the pattern in a relatively low-key production set in the distant (pre-firearms) past. Cheng (Miao Xie) has the unlikely job of itinerant bounty hunter for the government. He’s very good at it, of course, despite his lack of sight. The film opens in a gambling den. We...
Chinese martial arts films have a long tradition of including quite an array of masterful fighters with significant disabilities. Many of them feature a hero who is blind, deaf, missing an arm, etc. yet still able to defeat whatever evil being or force must be eliminated for the common good. That usually yields a bunch of intricately choreographed battles – one-on-ones with the worst, often preceded by dispatching hordes of underlings and anonymous minions.
Eye For An Eye: Blind Swordsman (Mu Zhong Wu Ren) follows the pattern in a relatively low-key production set in the distant (pre-firearms) past. Cheng (Miao Xie) has the unlikely job of itinerant bounty hunter for the government. He’s very good at it, of course, despite his lack of sight. The film opens in a gambling den. We...
- 11/29/2023
- by Mark Glass
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
A horde of ravenous, bloodthirsty tigers will be attacking Chinese theaters in the upcoming Mutant Tigers (aka Crazy Tiger City), and the trailer has just been unleashed this week.
Watch the wild official trailer below, loaded with tiger carnage… and zombies?!
Mutant Tigers was directed by Liu Wenpu, and written by Yang Bingjia.
“In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs were in power. The master of Fangshu was the first factory master of the flattery supervisor, and proposed to use the “living tiger heart” to make alchemy to “strengthen the yang and regenerate”. Therefore, Dongchang established a “Sili Hunting Ground” in the southwestern border town where tigers are infested to hunt tigers for refining. But I didn’t expect that this move made the strange virus enter the tiger’s body, made the tiger go mad, and formed a plague that spread rapidly.
“At this time,...
Watch the wild official trailer below, loaded with tiger carnage… and zombies?!
Mutant Tigers was directed by Liu Wenpu, and written by Yang Bingjia.
“In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs were in power. The master of Fangshu was the first factory master of the flattery supervisor, and proposed to use the “living tiger heart” to make alchemy to “strengthen the yang and regenerate”. Therefore, Dongchang established a “Sili Hunting Ground” in the southwestern border town where tigers are infested to hunt tigers for refining. But I didn’t expect that this move made the strange virus enter the tiger’s body, made the tiger go mad, and formed a plague that spread rapidly.
“At this time,...
- 9/14/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
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