Golden Age of Hong Kong Action Cinema

Beginnings

Nowadays Hong Kong’s iconic action movies have a special place in many film fan’s hearts, but it wasn’t always this way. In the beginning, Shanghai was the equivalent of Hollywood in China in the early 20th century. However, the government’s enforcement of speaking only mandarin and also banning martial arts movies caused many companies to shift to production in Hong Kong instead, where Cantonese and martial arts films were freely made.

Rising Popularity

Well into the the mid 20th century, companies based in Shanghai like the Shaw Brothers were still formidable competitors, however their strategy of following trends and making shallow plots while not pushing boundaries at all marked their downfall. In the meantime, many Hong Kong producers started making higher quality movies with better choreography and good production. This is the era of Bruce Lee and his most famous movies. Without finding much acting success in Hollywood, Bruce went to Hong Kong instead, and well… we all know what happens then.

The Golden Age

Starting from around 1980 marked the golden age of Hong Kong cinema in general, not just action movies. This period of time had a significant impact on Western action movies, inspiring famous directors like Quentin Tarantino. The 80s and 90s saw the peak popularity of the heroic and violent themed genres, including iconic movies like The Killer and Hard Boiled. This time period serves as the best Hong Kong cinema ever was.

Decline of the Hong Kong Film Industry

The decline of Hong Kong cinema came due to several reasons. The handover of Hong Kong back to China obviously played a huge role while the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 slowed down film production. The SARs virus also broke out during this time period and Chinese censorship of media increased. If that wasn’t enough, several prominent actors and movie figures passed away and others like Jackie Chan went to Hollywood instead.

*Kung Fu Hustle*, 2004 Photo: pluggedin.com

What’s Next?

In the last two decades, it hasn’t all been bad news. Some of my favorite Hong Kong movies like Kung Fu Hustle were made in the 21st century and there are many aspiring film directors and producers who could continue to push the boundaries of filmmaking. With so many talented individuals in the industry, I have high hopes for what comes next.