The second of our top ten lists comes from Andrew Skeates, a longtime lover of action movies who appreciates everything from B-movies to blockbusters. This year, alongside his usual quota of martial arts marvels, he managed to uncover a couple of thrillers that are well worthy of a spot on anyone’s list.

10. Detective Story

Director: Hiroshi Adachi
Cast: Hiroshi Adachi, Eric Jacobus, Emily Pando, Ed Kahana Jr., Lucas Okuma

Not quite at the same level as ‘Contour’ in terms of comedy and fighting but pretty damn close nevertheless, ‘Detective Story’ is another entertaining blast of martial arts fun from The Stunt People featuring some of the best screen fighting around. The big fight towards the end of the film is a dazzling display of kung fu choreography in which an extended scuffle takes place inside, outside and around a house: a blistering confrontation which sees 2 on 2 and 4 on 4 and the fighters even swapping opponents on several occasions. A wicked set-piece that lifts this little micro-budget film from being just another run-of-the-mill action film.
Read the Far East Films review

9. Love Exposure

Director: Sion Sono
Cast: Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, Atsuro Watabe, Makiko Watanabe, Sakura Ando

Subverting the norm and taking the unpredictable route at every given chance, ‘Love Exposure’ not only explores the nature of love to its most extreme conclusions but pretty much dissects and in many cases destroys the weird, the wrong and the generally out right bizarre of Japanese culture. Epic: yep! Overlong: most definitely. Challenging: for sure. In love with itself just a little too much: oh yeah. But an experience like few other films: absolutely. Not entirely successful but a unique and often entertaining experiment in itself, ‘Love Exposure’ might not be wholly satisfying or successful in its aim to push madcap love into the face of the viewer buts is certainly a piece of Japanese cinema that will stay in your mind the long after the 4 hour running time is up.
Read the Far East Films review

8. The Legend Is Born – Ip Man

Director: Herman Yau
Cast: Dennis To, Crystal Huang Yi, Josie Xu Jiao, Hins Cheung, Fan Siu-Wong

While it will always be compared and no doubt less favoured to (and seen as a quick grab cash in) Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip’s recent ‘Ip Man’ and ‘Ip Man 2’, ‘The Legend is Born’ is a surprisingly worthy addition to the recent Ip Man movie craze, works as a sort of prequel to Yen’s films and is a cracking martial arts film. Helmed by one time category III bad boy, Herman Yau, ‘The Legend is Born’ is no cheap knock off. While it may not be historically accurate, the film has been made with care and skill to not only tell a good story but deliver frequent bouts of impressive martial arts action.
Read the Far East Films review

7. Undisputed III: Redemption

Director: Isaac Florentine
Cast: Scott Adkins, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, Mark Ivanir, Hristo Shopov, Marko Zaror

Director Isaac Florentine and star Scott Adkins team up for their fifth collaboration to deliver what is arguably both their best film to date and one of the top fight films to come out of America. The plot may be just an excuse to service a series of break neck fight scenes, though there is some excellent character interplay in between all the beat downs, the accents may wobble a bit and the film does try a bit hard with all the F-bombs it seems to want to drop but there is no doubt ‘Undisputed 3’ is an excellent fight flick. It’s also great to see the character of Boyka back and director and star team Florentine and Adkins working together once again to deliver something us martial arts fans can really enjoy.
Read the Far East Films review

6. 14 Blades

Director: Daniel Lee
Cast: Donnie Yen, Vicki Zhao Wei, Wu Chun, Sammo Hung, Kate Tsui

’14 Blades’ is simply: quality fantasy themed martial arts cinema. While Yen seems to be making a fair share of period styled films of late (be great to see him back in a modern day cop actioner like ‘Flashpoint’ again soon), ’14 Blades’ is one of his most enjoyable: it looks great, it moves at a fair lick and is filled with excellent action scenes. Donnie Yen continues his domination of big budget Hong Kong action cinema with the visually stunning and action packed period piece and ’14 Blades’ is a welcome throwback to wuxia films of the 80s and 90s and a thoroughly satisfying martial arts film.
Read the Far East Films review

5. Dororo

Director: Akihiko Shiota
Cast: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Ko Shibasaki, Kiichi Nakai, Mieko Harada, Eita

Creative action scenes, striking scenery, a good dose of comedy (including an excellent running gag in which Dororo keeps getting covered in blood from the slain demons) and an endearing sense of fun makes ‘Dororo’ one of the best examples of live action, Manga inspired Japanese cinema. Great characters, action and design make this an excellent fantasy adventure which harks back to the fun time fantasies such as ‘Willow’, ‘A Chinese Ghost Story’ and, yes, even ‘Krull’. Wicked fun.
Read the Far East Films review

4. Universal Soldier: Regeneration

Director: John Hyams
Cast: Andrei Arlovski, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Mike Pyle, Corey Johnson

It’s been some years since the original ‘Universal Soldier’ paired up action stars Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundrgen. A rollicking slice of sci-fi action it was one of their biggest hits and after one duff (though admittedly rather entertaining) sequel with Van Damme but sans Lundgren and two spin off films the former titans of the action world are back front and centre for an official third go around. Well, not front and centre as they are more co-stars in this entry but this matters not as its simply great to see them in the roles again, kicking the crap out of one another and on its own terms, ‘Universal Soldier: Regeneration’ is a corking action film. The music, photography and overall style make ‘Universal Soldier: Regeneration’ a dark and violent sci-fi actioner. It may be a little light plot wise but this matters not with the cool cold edged tone, two action stars back on the screen together and some of the best action scenes to be seen in a low budget threequel.
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3. Mother

Director: Bong Joon-Ho
Cast: Kim Hye-Ja, Won Bin, Jin Goo, Yoon Je-Moon, Jeon Mi-Sun

‘Mother’ is a beautiful and intricately crafted film that is given an emotional heart thanks to Kim Hye-Ja as the central character (who really should be given some kind of an award if she hasn’t already) and while it has lots more going on and has lots more to say than just simply thrill, is still also an often gripping thriller. The subtly of the film lies in the slow burn reveal of what actually happened, tension often expertly mounted as the dark side of reality is revealed and a mother finds herself making questionable decisions in order to free her son from jail. While a little too subtle on occasion, ‘Mother’ is still another remarkable film from the director of ‘The Host’.
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2. True Legend

Director: Yuen Woo-Ping
Cast: Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Andy On, Guo Xiaodong, Jay Chou

Some may not get past the use of CGI, the rapid pace and some characters and stylings that seem out of place on occasion but on the whole ‘True Legend’ is wickedly entertaining and a big, loud and proud fight film. The action and martial arts wizardry rarely lets up and Yuen Woo-Ping wraps everything up in such a grand style entertaining fashion that the film’s shortcomings are far outweighed by all its bonuses. Tremendous fight action and a bad guy who has armour literally sewn into his skin (bad ass!) makes ‘True Legend’ a welcome and worthy martial arts spectacle.
Read the Far East Films review

1. Protege

Director: Derek Yee
Cast: Daniel Wu, Andy Lau, Anita Yuen, Zhang Jingchu, Louis Koo

A gripping and often uncompromising look at the Hong Kong drug trade from the seller’s and user’s side, Derek Yee’s ‘Protege’ is one of the finest dramas to come out of Hong Kong in recent years. ‘Protege’ may lose its grip a little with the differing tones but it never stops the film from being a riveting drama/thriller that is mercifully unpretentious and uncomplicated in it’s approach to storytelling. While the subject matter is dark it’s never unrelenting, Yee wisely pacing the shocks and dark moments though the gripping sense of dread and eventual doom is always present. A tough, challenging and ultimately superb film.
Read the Far East Films review