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What are the greatest action movies of all time? It’s a controversial question, isn’t it? Any time any publication or site puts out a new list of what they consider the best action movies of all time, it can’t help but generate a ton of controversy. Nevertheless, we here at JoBlo have decided to throw our hats into the ring with a list we really hope generates some nostalgia among our viewers but also encourages them to seek out the movies on this list that they may not have seen. But first, some may wonder where superhero movies are on this list. Given how broad that genre is, we decided to stick to old-school action, so we have left them off the list, as they deserve their own ranking. There are also a few absences from the list, notably some Jackie Chan Hong Kong films (like Police Story...

Jean-Claude Van Damme. The Muscles from Brussels. If you grew up in the early nineties, this handsome Belgian was everywhere. With his unique accent, good looks, and a butt he was all but too happy to show off at least once a film, he was the rare action star that was just as popular with the ladies as the dudes. Changing tastes in the mid-nineties meant that his career as a viable lead in theatrical films started to dry up, which wasn’t helped by some off-screen issues he had with drugs (a Hollywood tale as old as time). But, while his contemporary, Steven Seagal, became something of a parody of himself, Jcvd got clean and doubled down on his craft, emerging as a surprisingly potent actor in some Dtv movies that are way better than anyone gives them credit for.

While his days as an A-list lead might be behind him,...

It’s time for a new episode of our series Revisited, and with this one we’re looking back at a classic sci-fi action movie: Timecop from 1994 (watch it Here), starring the legendary Jean-Claude Van Damme. You can hear all about it by checking out the video embedded above.

Directed by Peter Hyams, Timecop was based on a story that Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden created for the anthology comic book Dark Horse Comics, which shared its name with its publisher. Richardson and Verheiden also wrote the film’s screenplay. Here’s the synopsis: When mankind perfects time travel, the government establishes the Time Enforcement Commission to thwart criminal attempts to alter the timeline. Police officer Walker is recruited by Tec Commander Matuzak, but soon finds his investigation of Senator Aaron McComb being thwarted by elements within the government. When Walker’s wife, Melissa, is attacked, he must travel across...

If there’s one universal truth we all come to realize, it’s that success isn’t simply handed to you on a silver platter. It’s earned, often the hard way, as Jean-Claude Van Damme will attest. Before he became synonymous with gravity-defying roundhouse kicks and martial arts glory, his life was far from glamorous.

Yes, the very man who would later rake in millions, kicking his way to stardom, was once struggling to survive on the unforgiving streets of Los Angeles. But Van Damme made a last-ditch effort that would eventually change his fate. Yes, and that’s how he earned his golden ticket: Bloodsport.

Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport | Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios The relentless pursuit of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s big break: From streets to stardom

Jean-Claude Van Damme arrived in Hollywood in the 1980s, determined to make it big. But five years later, the best he...

A martial arts classic that helped shape the genre and inspired Mortal Kombat is now available for a new generation of action fans to discover.

One of the most iconic martial arts films of the 1980s,Bloodsport, is now streaming on Prime Video. This cult classic introduced audiences to the underground world of the Kumite, a secretive martial arts tournament, and showcased Kill 'Em All's Jean-Claude Van Damme's athleticism and charisma in one of his earliest film roles. The film's high-energy fight sequences and memorable training montages have cemented its status as a must-watch for martial arts fans around the world.

RelatedAlex Garland's 92% Fresh Sci-Fi Masterpiece Is Now on Paramount+

The writer behind 28 Days Later wrote and directed this sci-fi classic

The Legacy of Bloodsport

Released in 1988, Bloodsport became a defining film for martial arts cinema. The movie follows Frank Dux, a skilled fighter who enters a...

Through iconic movies like Die Hard, Conan the Barbarian, and Rambo, stars like Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone practically defined the action genre for generations. Playing on the machismo of these stars, a non-stop slew of movies built up the ideal Hollywood action hero, men often known for their muscular forms and entertaining films. However, some of the best hero actors have played excellent villains too.

Action stars are often some of the most at-risk stars when it comes to typecasting, making it natural for many of them to try and spread to other roles and genres. For many, playing a bad guy has brought out the best in their skills as an actor, with some of their biggest fans praising those roles as their greatest work. While these stars are still best known for their franchise heroes, their villainous roles should be appreciated too.

Jean-Claude Van Damme Gave The...

Jean-Claude Van Damme has had a long and storied career, but the follow-up projects to his biggest hit, Timecop, went ahead without him. Hailing from Belgium, the famous "Muscles from Brussels" made the move to Hollywood in the mid-1980s. Once there, Jean-Claude Van Damme came to global prominence with hits such as Bloodsport and Kickboxer.

The 1990s only saw Van Damme's star rise even higher. Alongside Universal Soldier and Hard Target, Van Damme made fan-favorite cameos in such films as Last Action Hero and the ever-popular series Friends. Though there were some missteps, such as the campy 1994 adaptation of Street Fighter, Van Damme nonetheless left an indelible mark on the decade. That was never more true than when he signed on to star in Timecop. Despite receiving middling reviews, Timecop grossed over $100 million at the box office and remains Van Damme's biggest hit to date. Still, he didn't return for the Timecop sequel.

Jean-Claude Van Damme may not necessarily be considered a phenomenal actor, but it's hard to find another star who shows the same level of commitment when performing exciting fight scenes. Although Van Damme doesn’t necessarily have the range that contemporaries like Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger had, his actual experience in martial arts made him the ideal choice to star in many classic B-movies. Cult classics like Hard Target and Lionheart are praised as being among his best, but there isn’t another film within Van Damme’s filmography that is as important as Bloodsport. The simple story and blunt brutality of the 1988 martial arts film from director Newt Arnold launched a subgenre of fighting movies, and succeeded in turning Van Damme into an international star.

The preview for the eighth Tom Cruise-starring "Mission: Impossible" movie was released on November 11, 2024, and it looks to be the final film Cruise will be involved with. Titled "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," the preview is full of portent and global threats that, perhaps naturally, only Ethan Hunt can quell. The story, it seems, will continue directly from "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One" (the "Part One" has since been dropped) as it follows Hunt's rivalry with a dangerous artificial intelligence broadcasting from a lost submarine somewhere in the Arctic Ocean.

Since 1996, the "Mission: Impossible" movies have been gigantic cinematic events, with each one drawing huge crowds, and allowing Tom Cruise to increasingly assert his influence over their creative elements. Cruise doesn't write or direct, but a lot of the direction, editing, casting, and music rests in his hands. Brian De Palma's 1996 original is downright...

Ketchup Entertainment has released a second and final official trailer for the upcoming action-thriller Weekend in Taipei, set to hit theaters in November. Directed by Taiwanese-American filmmaker George Huang and co-written with Luc Besson (Lucy), the film reunites Luke Evans and Sung Kang, who previously co-starred in the Fast & Furious franchise. The title arrives just in time for the holiday season, making it an exciting box office draw for fans of the genre.

Weekend in Taipei (originally titled Weekend Escape Project) follows former DEA agent John Lawlor (Evans) who unexpectedly reconnects with his ex-undercover partner (Gwei Lun-mei) while pursuing her druglord husband Kwang (Kang). Things get even more complicated after John learns a dangerous secret from his ex-flame. The official synopsis reads as follows:

On a deep undercover assignment in Taipei, DEA agent John Lawlor was doing everything right until he fell in love with his informant, beautiful Josephine Joey Kwang,...

John Woo is one of cinema's great directors and despite making numerous amazing films, he has been absent from American cinema for twenty years. In December 2023, John Woo's Silent Night played across screens nationwide in the United States. Silent Night marked Woo's first American production since Paycheck, twenty years ago, and is a dialogue-free action thriller about a father, who, unable to speak, enacts revenge on his son's killers.

During the 1980s, Woo emerged as one of the most prominent filmmakers of the Hong Kong New Wave film movement. Although his filmography consists of movies categorized by different subgenres of action cinema, Woo's most significant contribution to film history occurred through the heroic bloodshed genre. Woo's highly stylized gun-fu action, explosive mise-en-scnes, and expert use of slow-motion made him quickly ascend the ranks of cinema's greatest action directors.

This article was updated on October 19, 2024, by Christopher Raley: John Woo has...

Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jacqueline Fernandez, Andrei Lenart, Peter Stormare, Maria Conchita Alonso, Talia Asseraf | Written by Jim Agnew | Directed by Valeri Milev

Kill ‘Em All 2 picks up seven years after the events of the original, which makes sense since there’s seven years between the films, with Phillip reconnected with his daughter Vanessa and the two of them hiding out in southern Italy.

They obviously didn’t do a good job of it, as within the film’s first few minutes they’re attacked by goons working for Vlad Petrovic who is out to avenge the death of his brother Dimitri who was killed in the first film. This puts them on the run, trying to stay alive long enough to deal with Vlad and his crew, and the only way to do that is to kill ’em all.

I haven’t seen the original, and to be honest...

Exclusive: Legendary director John Woo has signed with Independent Artist Group. Famous for his pioneering work in the Hong Kong action genre stamped with balletic scenes of stylized violence that inspired a generation of Hollywood films, Woo just directed the remake of his signature film The Killer. The new one stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Sam Worthington and was released by Universal Internationally and ran on Peacock domestically.

Last year Woo directed the Lionsgate action thriller Silent Night, which starred Joel Kinneman as a man bent on revenge, but unable to speak.

Woo has always split time directing in both North America and China over an illustrious career that began with the Hong Kong action classics A Better Tomorrow, Bullet In The Head, Hard Boiled, and The Killer. He was courted by Hollywood, where his films have included Broken Arrow, starring John Travolta and Christian Slater, Face/Off, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage,...

Belgian martial artist-turned-actor Jean-Claude Van Damme has many incredible characters under his black belt, but one of my favorites comes from a silly source: The Expendables 2. At 10 years old, Van Damme enrolled in karate school, though I highly doubt he knew the level of success the decision would garner. After earning the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978, he moved to Hollywood to become an actor. Ultimately, Van Damme landed his big break as ninjutsu practitioner Frank Dux in the 1988 martial arts flick Bloodsport one of my favorite Van Damme cult classics.

Van Damme's career-launching role in Bloodsport made him a hugely popular action star during the late '80s and well into the '90s. In my opinion, some of his biggest and best career highlights include Kickboxer (1989), Lionheart (1990), Double Impact (1991), and Universal Soldier (1992), though flicks like Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), and Street Fighter (1994) also come to mind. Eventually, Van Damme's...

Warning: Spoilers for The Killer (2024) below!

I wasn't expecting John Woo's long-delayed remake of The Killer to match the original, but I'm so glad it's still an action delight. I saw the original film late at night on the UK's Channel 4 back before I had any awareness of John Woo movies or Hong Kong cinema. The movie's immense style, the exhilarating action and the incredible turn by leading man Chow Yun-fat combine to make The Killer Woo's best movie, period. I soon sought out the rest of his work, including Hard Boiled and the first two Better Tomorrow movies.

I'll admit that John Woo's American movie output was a mixed bag. There were the highs of Face/Off and Hard Target, but Paycheck felt like the title summed up the cast and crew's participation in it. Woo is one of my all-time top directors, and while his work can be overly melodramatic,...

Director John Woo is a name synonymous with action-packed cinema and stylized violence. Once a Hollywood favorite, known for his unique brand of gunfights, slow-motion scenes, and explosive action sequences, Woo helmed some bonafide blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible 2 and Face/Off.

Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in Face/Off. | Paramount Pictures

However, despite his early success, Woo underwent a bit of a Hollywood exit after a Ben Affleck flick that made around $117 million at the box office. This, against a budget of $60 million, was seen as a failure, which led to a lack of offers for the director himself.

Woo himself believes that the failure of a couple of his later projects, including Paycheck, led to his status as an action movie pioneer being overlooked.

John Woo was highly-rated in the Hollywood for his action films

John Woo. | John Woo, Instagram

Woo’s journey from Hong Kong to Hollywood led...

John Woo was once known as the master of action cinema. His knack for beautifully crafted and stylized violence made him an international sensation with hits like The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled before making the leap to Hollywood with Hard Target. His impact on the genre is undeniable, but following the critically panned, Ben Affleck-starring Paycheck the filmmaker went back to his Hong Kong roots and left the world of Hollywood behind him for two decades.

He returned to American audiences last year with the dialogue-free, Christmas-themed Silent Night — a film that I personally loved but that faced a rocky reception from most — and again in 2024 with The Killer, a remake of his ’89 classic. It’s always an interesting choice when a filmmaker remakes one of their own movies. Yasujiro Ozu remade his film A Story of Floating Weeds, and the second attempt is arguably the superior film; however,...

A remake of John Woo’s groundbreaking action movie “The Killer” has been in the works since shortly after it premiered in 1989, but it took until 2024 for it to finally materialize — from Woo himself.

Over the years a number of filmmakers took a stab at adapting the beloved Hong Kong action movie, about a hitman (played by frequent Woo collaborator Chow Yun-Fat) who accidentally blinds a young girl, including “Alien” principals Walter Hill and David Giler, “Top Gun” writers Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr., and Korean-American filmmaker John H. Lee. There would be announcements made every so often, but very little forward momentum.

While development creeped along, Woo made his way to Hollywood, directing a series of highly regarded, star-filled action movies like “Hard Target,” “Broken Arrow” and “Mission: Impossible II,” which grossed more than half a billion dollars worldwide back in 2000. The style he developed in Hong Kong...

John Woo's "The Killer" from 1989 is, without exaggeration, one of the greatest action films ever made. The Hong Kong filmmaker revolutionized action cinema across the globe with his bullet ballet style of gun-fu, expert use of slow motion, subversions of Western cinema tropes, and high-stakes heroism covered in blood. When he made his way to Hollywood, he melted eyes and brains with "Hard Target" and his masterpiece, "Face/Off," but audiences have distilled Woo's vision down to tropes instead of giving themselves over to the story. He became the guy known for big shoot-outs, doves, wuxia-style leaps, objects giving off sparks for no discernible reason, and at least one character with a tragic backstory that would make the Lifetime Movie Network blush.

Stripping those elements away, Woo has also been devoted to telling stories about complex characters — namely men — and the way a shared sense of honor/duty/revenge can...

If you ask any action fan hailing from any country, that has some kind of internet connection or cable television, about the most influential director in the genre, they’ll definitely talk endlessly about John Woo. Before checking out his Hong Kong productions, I was watching his Hollywood films on loop. I was mesmerized by Woo’s use of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s mullet in Hard Target. I was forced to watch Broken Arrow multiple times by one of my friends, and even though it didn’t hit me during the first few viewings, eventually, the utter insanity on display blew me away. Obviously, I wasn’t ready for the bonkers premise of Face/Off and the even more bonkers performances from Nic Cage and John Travolta. I didn’t like Mission: Impossible 2 initially because it was so different from Brian De Palma’s work, but now I think it’s a masterpiece.

When looking at the greatest action stars of all-time, Jean-Claude Van Damme may be the best embodiment of what a B-movie star can be. Sure, Van Damme lacks the charisma of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the dramatic range of Sylvester Stallone, or the versatility of Bruce Willis admittedly, most of Van Dammes most iconic projects to date are best classified as guilty pleasures, and not necessarily action classics. That being said, Van Damme is incredible at providing blunt entertainment, as his physicality and stone-cold serious demeanor rarely fails to be highly watchable. Cult classics like Universal Soldier and Hard Target may be stronger overall works, but Van Damme has never been cooler than he was in the opening sequence of Lionheart.

Underway now through July 16, Severin Films‘ annual summer sale is the most ambitious in the company’s history. The Dario Argento’s Opera five-disc box set — which you can preview in an exclusive clip below — is the headliner, but there are nine more releases in addition to exclusive merchandise and big savings on past inventory.

Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Severin Summer Sale…

Opera

In my eyes — held open with needles, of course — Opera is Argento’s last true masterpiece. While the Italian maestro attained fleeting moments of greatness later in his oeuvre, Opera is the last of his efforts that can hold its own alongside his earlier, career-defining work like Suspiria, Deep Red, Tenebrae, and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

Co-written by Argento and frequent collaborator Franco Ferrini, the giallo stars Cristina Marsillach as Betty, a young opera singer whose big break...

Amazon Prime Video is the place to go for movies this month, with a plethora of original films as well as new library additions for just about every movie fan. The Emma Roberts-led original Space Cadet hits the streaming service aptly on the Fourth of July, for anyone looking for a fish-out-of-water style comedy. My Spy the Eternal City, the newest film in the Dave Bautista-led family action series also drops on July 18.

Action film fans are also in for a treat with recent films The Beekeeper and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning coming to Prime Video in July.

As far as TV shows go, the most notable addition this month is the adult animated series Sausage Party: Foodtopia, a continuation of the 2016 film Sausage Party.

Here’s everything coming to Prime Video and Freevee in July – Amazon originals are designated with an asterisk.

New on Amazon Prime Video...

If Arnold Schwarzenegger was the ideal superhero brought to life, and Sylvester Stallone was a natural fighter who constantly got back up, then Jean-Claude Van Damme was a high-wire daredevil with a ballet dancer's form. Making a name for himself with his sleek physique, incredible splitting legs, and roundhouse kicks for days, Van Damme was a welcome change of pace for the audience's perception of what an action star could be. Van Damme was relatively limited and, at times, downright gimmicky in his star persona, and his career died down by consistently doing films that (besides being just bad films) didn't work with his limitations and didn't try to put him in the best position for him. If you look at the highlights of his career, including the likes of Timecop and Double Impact, it's clear that no filmmaker understood the Jcvd special as John Woo did, and their one...

This July, beat the heat with the latest additions at Prime Video and Freevee!

It’s a light month for original series, films, and specials as we head into the summer lull, but there is still plenty to watch throughout the month: over 140 classic films between the two Amazon streamers will be added this month, from horrors such as the genre-changing “The Silence Of The Lambs” and last year’s newest “Evil Dead” franchise installment “Evil Dead Rise,” the first five films of the “Rocky” franchise, and comedies like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Animal House,” “13 Going On 30,” and much, much more.

But after the majority of the film load drops on July 1, don’t forget to head back to the services’ additions throughout the month, including Season 2 of the critically acclaimed “Troppo,” the new “Legally Blonde“-like comedy “Space Cadet,” and a new documentary from award-winning documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter,...

Jean-Claude Van Damme's passion project Frenchy has been in development hell for 14 years. Frenchy, a blend of action flick and arthouse film, is a personal project for Van Damme that awaits release. After years of edits and delays, Frenchy appears no closer to release.

Jean-Claude Van Damme wrote and directed his passion project Frenchy, but nearly after 14 years in development hell will it ever get released? Van Damme (Aka "The Muscles from Brussels") rose up from low-budget martial arts films like Kickboxer to become a genuine movie star during the 1990s. Van Damme's action movies like Hard Target, Timecop and Sudden Death were all hits, but as the decade wore on, he appeared in a string of critical and commercial duds. His various personal issues became tabloid fodder too, and by the 2000s most of his work was heading straight to DVD.

Even then, he starred in some solid action movies,...

Tubi, Fox’s free streaming service, has announced its list of June titles. The June 2024 slate features new Tubi Originals as well as numerous action, art house, Black cinema, comedy, documentary, drama, horror, kids and family, romance, sci-fi and fantasy, thriller, and Western titles.

As a leading ad-supported video-on-demand service, the company engages diverse audiences through a personalized experience and the world’s largest content library: over 200,000 movies and TV episodes, a growing collection of Tubi Originals, and nearly 250 Fast channels.

You can watch the Tubi June 2024 lineup for free on Android and iOS mobile devices, Amazon Echo Show, Google Nest Hub Max, Comcast Xfinity X1, and Cox Contour.

You can also watch the service on connected television devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Vizio TVs, Sony TVs, Samsung TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and on the Tubi site.

Tubi Originals

Action

Continental...

The Boxoffice Network is harnessing short-form video to drive movie ticket sales, online rentals, and VOD purchases across international markets. With an approach that brings in 35 billion yearly views across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat, the Los Angeles-based distributor is defying widely held assumptions about media consumption and bringing value to its studio partners.

Though its headquarters are in California, The Boxoffice Network is part of Webedia Group, the Paris-based digital media company that owns theatrical vendor The Boxoffice Company. To bring more traffic to its services — including VOD sales, rentals, and ticketing hubs on platforms like Google, IMDb, Bing, and TikTok — The Boxoffice Company established its eponymous Network, which includes more than 100 original channels in languages like English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

On YouTube and Facebook, film-focused content is nothing new; outlets like Movieclips have accrued billions of views by distributing memorable scenes and trailers for upcoming releases.

Jean-Claude Van Damme's electrifying action scenes showcase his martial arts mastery and signature flexibility. From Street Fighter to Timecop, Van Damme's iconic fights display creativity and acrobatics in various movie sub-genres. Memorable battles like the Laundry Room Fight and Boat Fight demonstrate Van Damme's skill in using the environment to his advantage.

One of the most iconic action heroes of the late 80s and 90s, Jean-Claude Van Damme has been in no shortage of sublime action scenes. The Belgian-borne Hollywood icon first became famous for his role in Bloodsport, quickly making a name for himself with his signature flexibility and flashy fighting style. Over the years, Jean-Claude Van Damme's iconic martial arts moves have been honed in actions scenes across a wide variety of action movie sub-genres.

Having appeared in 50 feature films, it can be tough to narrow down which explosive fight scenes are the best across Jean-Claude Van Damme's filmography.

The following contains major spoilers for Silent Night, now playing in theaters.

It goes without saying John Woo is one of the most intriguing action directors in Hollywood. After becoming famous for action movies in Asia, Woo carved out a name for himself with a myriad of movies in the Western hemisphere. As his career progressed, he would collaborate with the likes of Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, John Travolta, Jean-Claude Van Damme and, of course, Nicolas Cage, in the 1990s. Woo's movies quickly became considered staples of the genre during that period.

Whether it be Hard Target, Broken Arrow, or Mission: Impossible 2, Woo had an emblematic and very clearly-defined style. To this day, he is considered an icon by many new directors, and a major influence on films such as the John Wick franchise. Woo is back in 2023 with his first American foray since 2003's Payback, detailing the story...

Tom Cruise did not take over editing Mission: Impossible 2, but he did try to exert influence over the cutting process. Cruise wanted to put a camera in the cutting room to see the work being done, but the team did not allow him to do so. Director John Woo insisted on cutting the film without any interference and Cruise ultimately understood and respected his decision.

Mission: Impossible 2 director John Woo clarifies rumors that Tom Cruise took over editing the 2000 action hit. Cruise had a smash with 1996’s Brian De Palma-directed adaptation of the classic 1960s super-spy TV show. For the 2000 sequel, the star and producer enlisted famed Face/Off director Woo to take the helm, and lend the film some of his signature style. The resulting movie grossed $546 million worldwide, guaranteeing the Mission: Impossible franchise would continue to live on (as it does to this day).

Woo...

Let's be blunt: The current state of action cinema worldwide would not be what it is today without the work of director John Woo. While Woo is hardly the only influential filmmaker when it comes to action movies, he's undeniably one of the biggest figures in shaping the genre. Like any great auteur, Woo's style was developed film by film, working his way through his kung-fu features at Golden Harvest in Hong Kong and adding in more experimental techniques (gleaned from the likes of prior filmmakers such as Sam Peckinpah) until he ended up at his signature magnum opus, 1986's "A Better Tomorrow" and its style, which was dubbed "heroic bloodshed."

Over the next several years in Hong Kong and then through to his transition into Hollywood, Woo expanded his "heroic bloodshed" style, peppering in other influences along the way from some of his other favorite filmmakers like Jean-Pierre Melville and Alfred Hitchcock.

I still remember the exact moment when I became aware of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s presence in the entertainment industry. Although he had played the villain in No Retreat, No Surrender and made his leading man debut with Bloodsport, I didn’t know about him until the VHS release of Kickboxer. That’s when a local video store put up a large poster of the film – which the store’s owner gestured to while telling my mom and I about this new guy named Van Damme, who was meant to be the next action star along the lines of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. We rented the movie… and I’ve been a fan of Van Damme ever since. So I think it’s very cool that Diamond Select Toys will be releasing a Jean-Claude Van Damme action figure next year.

An image of the action figure can be seen at the bottom of this article,...

He's back.

John Woo, one of the true maestros of action cinema, has returned to U.S. shores after 20 years to make another Hollywood movie. He left to make movies in Asia after the 2003 dud "Paycheck," but two decades later, he's at the helm of the Christmas-set thriller "Silent Night," starring "For All Mankind" actor Joel Kinnaman. "Those who have been missing Woo's masterful touch on action will likely find plenty to embrace here," /Film's review states, and even if the film never reaches the highs of his previous work, it's exciting to have him back in this mode again at 77 years old.

After all, we're talking about one of the most influential directors of the 20th century, here.

Starting with 1986's "A Better Tomorrow," which catapulted Chow Yun-fat to international superstardom, Woo established himself as one of the most exciting voices in action cinema by blending his unique style...

If action has a name, it must be John Woo. The Hong Kong director has been making grandiose, pulse-pounding, operatic action epics since he began making films in his native country during the early 1970s. Coming off triumphs like "The Killer," the "A Better Tomorrow" duology, and "Hard Boiled," Woo arrived in America with the Jean Claude Van Damme banger "Hard Target" and reshaped the Hollywood action film for a solid ten years. Although he chose to step away from the Hollywood grind after 2003's "Paycheck," he's never stopped making movies, and in fact has expanded and further developed his trademark style with each successive feature.

Two decades after "Paycheck," Woo is finally making his return to Hollywood and the English-language action film by making *checks notes* a drama-heavy action movie where barely any dialogue of any language is spoken. That's right, John Woo isn't done experimenting with cinema. "Silent...

John Woo’s Silent Night is skipping cinemas in the UK and will instead premiere on Sky Cinema on Christmas Eve.

Though John Woo is one of the most revered action directors in history due to his astonishing ‘heroic bloodshed’ sequences in films like A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled and The Killer, his Hollywood filmography is an eclectic mix. There are huge hits like Mission: Impossible II and Face/Off, and underrated films like Hard Target and Broken Arrow. Then there’s Paycheck, which was reviled by audiences and critics, even if some people don’t mind if that much.

Silent Night, meanwhile, looks set to be a return to form, as a wordless protagonist goes on a mission of vengeance. We’ve been following the progress of the film for a while, and we’re excited to see it. It’s just we’re not going to be able to see it,...

Stars: Joshua Brennan, Charlotte Best, Ric Herbert, Coco Jack Gillies, Jess Bush, Barry Quin, Adam Saunders | Written and Directed by Nik Kacevski

Just as Skinford: Death Sentence was shot simply as Skinford in 2017, Skinford 2: The Curse began life in Australia under the less sensational title Skinford: Chapter Two in 2018. Enter Black Mandala, who picked them up, dusted them off and gave them a new title for release outside their home country.

For those who haven’t seen the first film, Skinford 2: The Curse opens with a recap via footage from it, as well as various newspaper clippings under the credits. That gives way to Jimmy “Skinny” Skinford trying to get a place where he and Zophia can lie low after the events of the first film.

That’s because not only is his father Guy still alive and desperate to steal Zophia’s immortality, so is Kovac who...

Action maestro John Woo is back with a vengeance this holiday season. He has an ambitious, Christmas-themed, mayhem-filled action movie, Silent Night, starring Joel Kinnaman, where there is no dialogue. Woo has been making the rounds in promoting the film, and The New Yorker recently caught up with the Hard Boiled director. While there are many Woo purists who feel there is a disconnect between his Hong Kong classics like A Better Tomorrow and The Killer and his films in the West, the Mission: Impossible 2 director reflects on his emigration to Hollywood and how he adapted to it.

Woo was given the perfect transition with a Jean-Claude Van Damme action vehicle — the 1993 film Hard Target. As Jackie Chan once expressed, it was a jarring change in how Hollywood productions differed from Hong Kong productions, and John Woo definitely shared the shocking experience. Working on Hard Target, Woo stated, “I...

Director John Woo doesn't watch superhero movies and prefers old-fashioned cinema like Martin Scorsese films. Woo's new film, Silent Night, is his return to American cinema after directing films for Asian audiences for the past 20 years. Silent Night features almost no dialogue and relies on visual storytelling and action sequences to captivate audiences.

The latest film from director John Woo, Silent Night, promises to be a revenge thriller filled with lots of action, and while the director is known for such movies as Mission: Impossible 2, Face/Off, and Hard Target, which also feature big-budget sequences, the Hong Kong filmmaker has revealed that he doesn't watch superhero movies. And he isn't holding back on how he feels about them. In an interview with The New Yorker to promote his return to American theaters, when asked if he watches superhero movies, Woo answered:

"I’ve never liked watching movies with big special effects,...

John Woo, the legendary director of The Killer, Hard Boiled and Face/Off has rightly professed his love for David Mackenzie’s 2016 thriller, Hell Or High Water. What impeccable taste.

As is customary these days, a respected outlet has published a fascinating, in-depth interview with a respected filmmaker, and the rest of the internet has zeroed in on the bit where they glancingly talk about Marvel films.

Such is the case with the legendary John Woo, who changed action movies forever with such Hong Kong thrillers as The Killer and Hard Boiled, before moving to Hollywood with the likes of Hard Target, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2.

The New Yorker caught up with Mr Woo just as he unleashes his latest film, the great-sounding Christmas thriller Silent Night, in which Joel Kinnaman plays a grieving father on a festive revenge mission. Incredibly, it’s Woo’s first in 20 years. To mark the occasion,...

Action movie icon John Woo is not watching superhero movies, he recently told The New York Times in an interview ahead of the release of “Silent Night.” Woo, the Hong Kong director acclaimed for films such as “The Killer” (1989), “Hard Boiled” (1992) and “Face/Off” (1997), said he much prefers “real cinema” like Martin Scorsese movies.

“I’ve never liked watching movies with big special effects, or anything based on comic books,” Woo told the publication. “I prefer Martin Scorsese’s movies, that kind of cinema. I can’t wait to watch ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ I like old-fashioned movies, you know? Real cinema. There aren’t many movies like that lately.”

Scorsese has shared his own criticisms of superhero movies over the years and garnered significant media attention in October 2019 when he told Empire magazine that Marvel movies were damaging the exhibition space. He argued that the comic book genre had...

The horror genre and its directors may have endured the most clashes with the Motion Picture Association and the world's other regulatory boards, but Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Ruggero Deodato, and a dozen other horror filmmakers are not the only ones. Numerous directors across action, drama, and even comedy have adjusted their content for release, and often at the perilous threshold between R and Nc-17.

This distinction is particularly important because some theater chains refuse to show Nc-17-certified films and several media outlets even refuse to run ads (via NPR). It's an odd streak of puritanism not found in other markets, such as the United Kingdom, where the equivalent "18" rating carries no such stigma.

R ratings can be very lucrative, but only one example — the disturbing, incendiary "Joker" — has ever made over $1 billion, which places it toward the bottom of the top 50 highest-grossing films — a space dominated by...

Lance Henriksen praises directors Kathryn Bigelow and Stan Winston, calling Bigelow "as brave as you can get" and Winston a "great director." Henriksen mentions his long-standing collaboration with James Cameron on multiple movies. Peter Facinelli compliments Henriksen's talent and describes his character in On Fire as someone who goes off on tangents but is actually sharp-minded off-screen.

While chatting with ComicBook.com, On Fire's Lance Henriksen discussed some of the directors that he's worked with over his long-standing career in the entertainment industry and offered plenty of praise for a number of filmmakers.

Henriksen is best known for his work in sci-fi, action, and horror films like Hard Target, Aliens, Alien vs. Predator, Pumpkinhead, and The Quick and the Dead. The actor also starred in the television series, Millennium.

In his new indie film, On Fire, Henriksen played George Laughlin. The mystery thriller also stars Peter Facinelli, Fiona Dourif, Asher Angel,...

John Woo's new film, Silent Night, is his first American project in 20 years. The movie promises to be violent and blood-filled, featuring intense shootouts and a brutal criminal underworld. Silent Night shows influences from John Woo's earlier works and the success of the John Wick franchise, which itself was inspired by Woo's films, making it a must-watch for fans of stylish action movies.

John Woo is one of the most celebrated action directors of the 20th century, and his exciting new movie, Silent Night, has been anticipated for over 20 years. The Hong Kong filmmaker was hugely influential in the 1980s and 1990s, and countless Hollywood directors were inspired by his style. Woo pioneered a number of action tropes, such as his use of detailed slow-motion shootouts, "bullet ballet," and gun-fu, which has since been popularized by John Wick, even though Woo had been practicing the style decades earlier. A Better Tomorrow,...

If you're wondering why the last 20 years has felt like something was missing, it's because John Woo hasn't given us a Hollywood action flick since 2003's "Paycheck." The legendary Chinese filmmaker is responsible for some of the greatest films of all time and remains the patron saint of Gun Fu. Woo has been continuing to make films in China, with his most recent, 2017's "Manhunt" a return to form in the same vein as "The Killer." But if you've been missing heroic Hollywood bloodshed like "Face/Off" or "Hard Target," now is the time to rejoice as Woo is back with "Silent Night," a dialogue-free Christmas action film starring Joel Kinnaman of "The Killing," "Suicide Squad," and "For All Mankind" fame. This is the perfect time for Woo's return, as films like "Nobody" and the "John Wick" franchise owe their existence to his filmography. In fact, "John Wick" producers Basil Iwanyk...

John Woo is back.

The filmmaker behind such seminal action classics as “The Killer,” “Hard Boiled” and “Face/Off” is back with “Silent Night,” which stars Joel Kinnaman as a man who vows revenge after he is badly wounded and his son is killed on Christmas Eve. Watch the trailer above but be warned: it’s not for the faint of heart.

In the film, Kinnaman plays a man who goes after the murderers who destroyed his family. One of the most memorable shots in the trailer is when he writes “Kill Them All” on his calendar. The title “Silent Night” refers not only to the classic Christmas carol, but also to the fact that Kinnaman’s character lost his ability to speak in the attack. Now he’s silent… but deadly. Scott Mescudi and Catalina Sandino Moreno also star.

“Silent Night,” marks Woo’s first American movie in 20 years. His last U.

Silent Night is a nearly dialogue-free revenge story directed by John Woo, known for action films like Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2. Joel Kinnaman stars as a vigilante seeking revenge for his son's death in this intense and suspenseful thriller. The trailer teases the action-packed and stylistic flourishes that Woo is known for, with quotes praising his mastery of action and suggesting that Silent Night will be a thrilling experience.

The Silent Night trailer reveals a nearly dialogue-free-revenge story. From director John Woo, known for films like Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, Silent Night stars Joel Kinnaman as a vigilante seeking revenge for the death of his son. The film features nearly no dialogue and a supporting cast that includes Scott Mescudi, also known by his stage name Kid Cudi, who plays a cop.

Today, Entertainment Weekly exclusively shared the first trailer and poster for Silent Night. Click to watch the trailer,...

Approximately thirty years after the release of legendary filmmaker John Woo’s Hollywood feature directorial debut, the 1993 Jean-Claude Van Damme-starring action thriller film Hard Target, and twenty years after the release of Woo’s last American film, the poorly-received science-fiction action film Paycheck, Woo has directed another American film, titled Silent Night, which is especially notable since the film, as the title suggests, contains no spoken dialogue.

Silent Night stars Joel Kinnaman as Godlock, a grieving father who is determined to kill everyone responsible for the death of Godlock’s son, who was killed in the crossfire of gang violence on Christmas Eve.

The wordless aspect of Silent Night emanates from the fact that Godlock, while in pursuit of his son’s murderers, is nearly killed in a shooting that also left Godlock without the ability to speak.

While Woo has always been an accomplished visual storyteller who specializes...

Street Fighter actor Jay Tavare reflects on working with Jean-Claude Van Damme on the movie's set, recalling that he was very "out of control". During the late 1980s and early '90s, Van Damme became an international action movie superstar, working constantly. The actor has been open about developing a serious cocaine habit during the '90s due to the stress of constant movie shooting and promotion. Street Fighter Steven E. de Souza has previously described Van Damme as "coked out of his mind" during the movie's production, which evidently led to a chaotic filming experience.

Street Fighter actor Jay Tavare reflects on what it was like working with actor Jean-Claude Van Damme on the 1994 action movie. Directed by Steven E. de Souza, Street Fighter serves as an adaptation of the popular video game series of the same name. Van Damme stars in the movie as Colonel Guile, who leads...

Six years passed without a new film from director Uwe Boll, a filmmaker some would describe as infamous, while others would say he’s legendary. Then last year he made Hanau (Deutschland im Winter – Part 1), about a real-life mass murderer. Now he’s back with the police drama First Shift, and while the movie isn’t expected to be released until sometime in 2024, a trailer has already arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above.

Boll wrote, directed, and produced First Shift, which is described as being a gripping police drama with the spirit of a classic road movie, taking us on a soul-stirring journey through the vibrant streets of New York City into the depths of our own reality and the innermost corners of our souls. Immersing viewers in a high-octane adventure delving into the lives of dedicated law enforcement officers.

The story follows a NYC...