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The Hong Kong film industry is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and Taiwanese cinema.
Hong Kong is considered the third largest motion picture industry in the world, after Bollywood and Hollywood, and the second largest exporter of films and talents. Two of the most prominent Hong Kong actors who managed to carve a name in international movies are Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow. And of course Hongkong filmmaking brought us the legend of Bruce Lee.
Despite an industry crisis in the mid-’90s and Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, Hong Kong cinema was able to retain much of its distinctive identity and continues to play a prominent part on the world cinema stage.
The Cannonball Run
Like The Gumball Rally (1976) before it, former stuntman Hal Needham’s The Cannonball Run was inspired by the same real-life cross-country road race. If The Gumball Rally was the critical favorite, The Cannonball Run was the box-office favorite (spawning the almost-as-successful sequel, Cannonball Run II, a few years later).
Rush Hour (New Line Platinum Series)
The plot line may sound familiar: Two mismatched cops are assigned as reluctant partners to solve a crime. Culturally they are complete opposites, and they quickly realize they can’t stand each other. One (Jackie Chan) believes in doing things by the book. He is a man with integrity and nerves of steel. The other (Chris Tucker) is an amiable rebel who can’t stand authority figures. He’s a man who has to do everything on his own, much to the displeasure of his superior officer, who in turn thinks this cop is a loose cannon but tolerates him because he gets the job done. Directed by Brett Ratner, Rush Hour doesn’t break any new ground in terms of story, stunts, or direction.
Rush Hour 2 (Infinifilm Edition)
Rush Hour 2 retains the appeal of its popular predecessor, so it’s easily recommended to fans of its returning stars, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. The action–and there’s plenty of it–starts in Hong Kong, where Detective Lee (Chan) and his L.A. counterpart Detective Carter (Tucker) are attempting a vacation, only to get assigned to sleuth a counterfeiting scheme involving a triad kingpin (John Lone), his lethal henchwoman (Zhang Ziyi, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and an American billionaire (Alan King).
Kung Fu Hustle
Stephen Chow (director and star of Shaolin Soccer) is at it again with his newest action-packed and comedic martial-arts adventure, Kung Fu Hustle. From wildly imaginative kung fu showdowns to dance sequences featuring tuxedoed mobsters, you’ve never seen action this outrageous and characters this zany! With jaw-dropping fight sequences by Yuen Wo Ping (famed action choreographer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix), Kung Fu Hustle will blow you away!
God of Cookery
God of Cooking is hilarious and entertaining and not at all hard to follow. It is a big spoof on the whole Iron Chef popularity. It was funny even though the jokes were based in Chinese culture. Most of the jokes are sight gags anyway. It is a movies for a good laugh, nothing heavy.
Gorgeous
In between the Hollywood productions Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon, Hong Kong’s most popular export, Jackie Chan, returned home to indulge his romantic side in this modern fairy tale. He plays a modern Prince Charming, a big business mogul and notoriously eligible big-city bachelor to dreamy teenager Shu Qi, a girl from a Taiwan fishing village. When a heartbreaking message in a bottle washes ashore, she traces it back to Hong Kong, where she meets Jackie in the midst of a mid-ocean brawl on a luxury yacht.
Hong Kong Cinema
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