Editing Action film

{{short description|Film genre}}{{Redirect|Action movie|3=Action fiction}}[[File:John Rambo.jpg|thumb|[[Sylvester Stallone]] as [[John Rambo]] in ''[[Rambo III]]'' (1988). The film was released in the decade where the term action became its own unique genre routinely in terms of promotion and film reviews.{{sfn|Kendrick|2019|p=36}}]]
The '''action film''' is a [[film genre]] that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as [[David Bordwell]] suggested they were films that favor spectacle to storytelling, others such as Geoff King stated they allow the scenes of spectacle to be attuned to storytelling. Action films are often hybrid with other genres, mixing into various forms such as [[comedy film|comedies]], [[science fiction films]], and [[horror films]].

While the term "action film" or "action adventure film" has been used as early as the 1910s, the contemporary definition usually refers to a film that came with the arrival of [[New Hollywood]] and the rise of [[antihero|anti-heroe]]s appearing in American films of the late 1960s and 1970s drawing from [[war films]], [[crime films]] and [[Western (film)|Westerns]]. These genres were followed by what is referred to as the "classical period" in the 1980s. This was followed by the post-classical era where American action films were influenced by [[Hong Kong action cinema]] and the growing using of [[computer generated imagery]] in film. Following the [[September 11 attacks]], a return to the early forms of the genre appeared in the wake of ''[[Kill Bill]]'' and ''[[The Expendables (franchise)|The Expendables]]'' films.
 
Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in ''[[Cinema Journal]]'' that action films are both one of the most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative."{{sfn|Higgins|2008|p=74}} Bordwell echoed this in his book, ''The Way Hollywood Tells It'',  writing that the reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst."{{sfn|Bordwell|2006|p=104}}

==Characteristics==
In the ''[[Journal of Film and Video]]'', Lennart Soberson stated that the action film genre has been a subject of scholarly debate since the 1980s.{{sfn|Soberson|2021|p=19}} Soberson wrote that repeated traits of the genre include chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work while other scholars asserted there were more underlying traits that define the genre.{{sfn|Soberson|2021|p=19}} [[David Bordwell]] in ''The Way Hollywood Tells It'' wrote that audiences are "told that spectacle overrides narrative" in action cinema while [[Wheeler Winston Dixon]] echoed that these films were typified by "excessive spectacle" as a "desperate attempt to mask the lack of content."{{sfn|Bordwell|2006|p=104}}{{sfn|Dixon|2000|p=4}} Geoff King argued that the spectacle can also be a vehicle for narrative, opposed to interfering with it.{{sfn|King|2000|p=4}} Soberson stated that Harvey O'Brien had "perhaps the most convincing understanding of the genre", stating that the action film was "best understood as a fusion of form and content. It represents the idea and ethic of action through a form in which action, agitation and movement are paramount."{{sfn|Soberson|2021|p=19}}

O'Brien wrote further in his book ''Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back'' to suggest action films being unique and not just a series of action sequences, stating that that the difference between ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark|Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' (1981) and ''[[Die Hard]]'' (1988), that while both were mainstream Hollywood blockbusters with hero asserting masculinity and overcoming obstacles to a personal and social solution, [[John McClane]] in ''Die Hard'' repeatedly firing his automatic pistol while swinging from a high rise was not congruent with the image of [[Indiana Jones (character)|Indiana Jones]] in ''Raiders'' swinging his whip to fend off villains in the backstreets of Cairo.{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=6}} British author and academic [[Yvonne Tasker]] expanded on this topic, stating that action films have no clear and constant iconography or settings. In her book ''The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film'' (2015), she found that the most broadly consistent themes tend to be a characters quest from freedom from oppression such as a hero overcoming enemies or obstacles and physical conflicts or challenge, usually battling other humans or alien opponents.{{sfn|Tasker|2015|p=2}}

By late 2010s studies of genre analysis, the term "genre" itself is often replaced or supplemented with the words "mode" and "narrative form" with all three terms often being used interchangeably.{{sfn|Höglund|Soltysik Monnet|2018|p=1302}} [[Johan Anders Höglund|Johan Höglund]] and Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet said that the difference between these concepts are elusive, but stated that genre could be defined as belonging to specific historical and cultural moments while "mode" and "form" can refer to a larger pattern that operates across a wider historical and cultural field.{{sfn|Höglund|Soltysik Monnet|2018|p=1302}} In their book ''Action Cinema Since 2000'' (2024), Tasker, Lisa Purse, and Chris Holmlund stated that thinking of action as a mode is more helpful than thinking of it as a genre.{{sfn|Holmlund|Purse|Tasker|2024|p=1}} The three authors suggested that action frames a certain manner of filmmaking and viewing exceed genre without eclipsing it stating that websites such as [[IMDb]] and [[Wikipedia]] rarely label films by a single genre and that streaming services such as [[Amazon Prime]] and [[Netflix]] similarly dilutes what is marketed and received as action.{{sfn|Holmlund|Purse|Tasker|2024|p=1}}

==History==
{{Actionfilmlist}}
In transnational cinema, there are two major trends in action films: Hollywood action films and their style being imitated around the globe and the other being Chinese-language martial arts films.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=147}} The roots of action films extend into the beginning of film but it was only in the mid-20th century when action films developed into their own recognizable genre instead of being a collection of other types of films such as Westerns, swashbucklers or adventure films.{{sfn|Kendrick|2019|p=36}}
Films have been described "action films" or "action-adventure film" as early as the 1910s.{{sfn|Soberson|2021|p=19}}{{sfn|Willemen|2005|p=226}}  Only by the 1980s was the term action as its own unique genre used routinely in terms of promotion and reviewing practices.{{sfn|Kendrick|2019|p=36}}

===Hong Kong action films===
{{Main|Hong Kong action cinema}}
The first Chinese-language martial arts films can be traced to Shanghai cinema of the late 1920s. These films were popular during the period, which comprised almost 60% of the total Chinese films. Man-Fung Yip stated that these film were "rather tame" by contemporary standards.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=4}} He wrote that they lacked the kind of dazzling action choreography as expected today and had crude and rudimentary special effects.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=4}} These films came under increasing attack by both government officials and cultural elites for their allegedly superstitious and anarchistic tendencies, leading them to be banned in 1932. It was not until the base of Chinese commercial filmmaking was relocated from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the late 1940s that martial arts cinema was revived. These films contained much of the characteristics of the previous era. During this period, over 100 films were based on the adventures of real life Cantonese folk hero [[Wong Fei-hung]] who first appeared in film in 1949. These films primarily on circuited within Hong Kong and Cantonese-speaking areas with Chinese [[diaspora]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=5}} Yip continued that these Hong Kong films were still lagging behind in aesthetic and technical standards that films from the United States, Europe and Japan had during this period.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=157}}

Yip described Japanese cinema as the most advanced in Asia at the time. This was showcased by the international breakthrough of [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s films like ''[[Rashomon]]'' (1950).{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=157}} The film genre known as the ''[[Samurai cinema|chanbara]]'' was at its height in Japan. The style was a sub-genre to the ''[[Jidaigeki|jidai-geki]]'', or [[Historical drama|period drama]] with an emphasis on sword fighting and action.{{sfn|Sharpe|2011|p=43}} It had a similar level of popularity to that of the [[Western film|Western]] in the United States. The most internationally known films of this era were the films Kurosawa with ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' (1954), ''[[The Hidden Fortress]]'' (1958), and ''[[Yojimbo]]'' (1961).{{sfn|Sharpe|2011|p=44}} By at least the 1950s, Japanese films were looked upon as a model to be emulated by Hong Kong film production, and Hong Kong film companies began actively enlisting professionals from Japan, such as cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto to contribute to color and widescreen cinematography.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=157}} New literary sources also developed in martial arts films of this period, with the ''xinpai wuxia xiaoshuo'' (or "new school martial arts fiction") coming into prominence with the success of [[Liang Yusheng]]'s ''Longhu Dou Jinghua'' (1954) and [[Jin Yong]]'s ''Shujian enchou lu'' (1956) which showed influence of the Shanghai martial arts films but also circulated from Hong Kong to Taiwan and Chinese communities overseas. This led to a growing demand in both local and regional markets in the early 1960s and saw a surge in production of Hong Kong martial arts films that went beyond the stories about Wong Fei-hung which were declining in popularity.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=6}} These new martial arts films featured magical swordplay and higher production values and more sophisticated special effects than the previous films with [[Shaw Brothers Studio|Shaw Brothers]] a campaign of "new school" (''xinpai'') martial arts swordplay films such as Xu Zenghong's ''Temple of the Red Lotus'' (1965) and [[King Hu]]'s ''[[Come Drink with Me]]'' (1966).{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=6-7}}
[[File:Bruce Lee 1973 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The popularity of [[Bruce Lee]] (pictured) attracted a global audience for [[kung fu films]], however his career was cut short following his untimely death in 1973, which lead to a decline in popularity for the artform.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}}]]
In the 1970s, the Hong Kong martial arts films began to grow under the format of ''yanggang'' ("staunch masculinity") mostly through the films of [[Chang Cheh]] which were popular. This transition led to the [[kung fu film]] sub-genre at beginning of the decade and moved beyond the swordplay films with contemporary settings of late Qing or early Republican periods and had more hand-to-hand combat over supernatural swordplay and special effects.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=7}} A new studio, [[Orange Sky Golden Harvest|Golden Harvest]] quickly became one of independent filmmakers to grant creative freedom and pay and attracted new directors and actors, including [[Bruce Lee]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=7-8}} The popularity of kung fu films and Bruce Lee led to attract a global audience of these films in the United States and Europe, but was cut short on Lee's death in 1973 leading the phases popularity to decline.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}} Following a period of stagnation, Chang Cheh and [[Lau Kar-leung]] revitalized the genre with shaolin kung fu films and [[Chor Yuen]]'s series of darker swordplay films based on the novels of [[Gu Long]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}} Kung Fu comedies appeared featuring [[Jackie Chan]] as martial arts films flourished into the 1980s. Other films again modernized the form with [[gangster film]]s of [[John Woo]] (''[[A Better Tomorrow]]'' (1986), ''[[The Killer (1989 film)|The Killer]]'' (1989)) and the Wong Fei Hung saga returning in [[Tsui Hark]]'s ''[[Once Upon a Time in China]]'' featuring [[Jet Li]] which again revitalized the swordplay styled films.{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8}} By the turn of the century Hollywood action films would look towards Hong Kong cinema and bringing some of their major actors and directors over to apply their style to their films, such as Chan, Woo, Li, [[Michelle Yeoh]] and [[Yuen Woo-Ping]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=8-9}} The release of [[Ang Lee]]'s ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]'' (2000) led to a Global release status of Chinese-language martial arts films, most notably [[Zhang Yimou]]'s ''[[Hero (2002 film)|Hero]]'' (2002) and ''[[House of Flying Daggers]]'' (2004), [[Stephen Chow]]'s ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'' (2004) and [[Chen Kaige]]'s ''[[The Promise (2005 film)|The Promise]]'' (2005).{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=9}} Most Hong Kong action films in the first quarter of the 21st century, such as those in ''[[Cold War (2012 film)|Cold War]]'' (2012), ''[[Cold War 2 (film)|Cold War 2]]'' (2016) and ''[[The White Storm (film series)|The White Storm]]'' film series have their violence toned down, especially compared to the earlier work of directors like Woo and [[Johnnie To]].{{sfn|Chen|2022|p=118}} Antong Chen, in his study on the Hong Kong action film, wrote that the influence of China and the amount of Chinese co-productions made with Hong Kong created a shift in these films, particularly following the release of ''[[Infernal Affairs]]'' (2002).{{sfn|Chen|2022|p=120}}

===Hollywood action films===
Harvey O'Brien wrote in 2012 that the contemporary action film emerged through other genres, primarily [[Western (film)|Westerns]], [[crime films|crime]] and [[war films]] and can be separated into four forms: the formative, the classical, the post-classical and neoclassical phases.{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=12}} [[Yvonne Tasker]] reiterated this in her book on action and [[adventure films]], saying that action films became a distinct genre during the [[New Hollywood]] period of the 1970s.{{sfn|Tasker|2015|p=2}}

[[File:Steve-McQueen-1968.jpg|thumb|[[Steve McQueen]] in 1968, the year ''Bullitt'' was released.]]
The formative films would be from the 1960s to the early 1980s where the [[Antihero|Anti-hero]] appears in cinema, featuring characters who act and transcend the law and social conventions. This appears initially in films like ''[[Bullitt]]'' (1968) where a tough police officer protects society by upholding the law against systematic corruption. This extended into films which O'Brien described as "knee-jerk responses" to perceived threats with rogue cop and [[vigilante film]]s such as ''[[Dirty Harry]]'' (1971) and ''[[Death Wish (1974 film)|Death Wish]]'' (1974) where the restoration of order is only possible by force and antisocial characters prepared to act when society does not.{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=12}} The vigilantism reappears in other films that were exploitative of southern society such as ''[[Billy Jack]]'' (1971) and ''[[White Lightning (1973 film)|White Lightning]]'' (1973) and "good ol' boy" comedies like ''[[Smokey and the Bandit]]'' (1977). This era also emphasizes the car chase scenes as moments of spectacle in films like ''Bullitt'' and ''[[The French Connection (film)|The French Connection]]'' (1971). O'Brien described these films as emphasizing "the fusion of man and machine" with the drivers and vehicles acting as one, concluding with what he described as "the ultimate in apocalyptic modernity and social erasure" in ''[[Mad Max 2]]'' (1981).{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=13}}

O'Brien described the classical form of action cinema to be the 1980s. The decade continued the trends of formative period with heroes as avengers (''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' (1987)), rogue police officers (''[[Die Hard]]'' (1988)) and mercenary warriors (''[[Commando (1985 film)|Commando]]'' (1985)). Following the continuity of the car and man hybrid of the previous decade, the 1980s featured weaponized men with who were either also carrying weapons such as ''[[Sudden Impact]]'' (1983), trained to be weapons (''[[American Ninja]]'' (1985)) or imbued with technology (''[[RoboCop]]'' (1987)).{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=13}} O'Brien noted that the formative trends at this point had become "identifiably generic" as film industries began to reproduced these films during the decade producers like [[Joel Silver]] and production companies like [[The Cannon Group, Inc.]] began to formulate production of these films with both high and low budgets.{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|pp=13-14}} The action films of this era have roots in classical story telling, specifically rooted from [[martial arts films]] and Westerns, and are built around a three-act structure centered on survival, resistance and revenge with narratives where the physical body of the hero is tested, traumatized and ultimately triumphant.{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=14}}

The third shift in action cinema, the postclassical, was defined by the predominance of Eastern cinema and its aesthetics, primarily the wire-work of [[Hong Kong action cinema]] from the classical era, through the convention of the increasingly computer generated effects. This saw the decline of overt masculinity in the action film which corresponded with the end of the [[Cold War]] in 1991, while the rise of self-referential and parodies of this era grew in films like ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' (1993). O'Brien described this era as being soft where the hard bodies of the classical era were replaced with computer generated imagery such as that of ''[[Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]'' (1991).{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=15}} This was displayed in corresponding with corresponded with millennial angst and apocalypticism showcased in films like ''[[Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day]]'' (1996) and ''[[Armageddon (1998 film)|Armageddon]]'' (1998).{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=15-16}} Action films of mass destruction began requiring more overtly super heroic characters with further comic book adaptations being made with increased non-realistic settings with films like ''[[The Matrix]]'' (1999).{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=16}}

The fourth phase arrived following the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, which suggested an end to fantastical elements that defined the action hero and genre.{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=16}} Following the release of [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s ''[[Kill Bill: Volume 1]]'' (2003) and ''[[Kill Bill: Volume 2]]'' (2004) revisited the tropes of 1970s action films leading a renaissance of vengeance narratives in films like ''[[The Brave One (2007 film)|The Brave One]]'' (2007) and ''[[Taken (film)|Taken]]'' (2008). O'Brien found that Tarantino's films were [[post-modern]] takes on the themes that rescinded irony to restore "[[cinephile]] re-actualization of the genre's conventions."{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=16}} The genre went into full circle resurrecting films from the classical period with ''[[Live Free or Die Hard]]'' (2007) and ''[[Rambo (2008 film)|Rambo]]'' (2008) finding the characters navigating a contemporary world while also acknowledging their age, culminating into ''[[The Expendables (2010 film)|The Expendables]]'' (2010) film.{{sfn|O'Brien|2012|p=16}}

The most commercially successful action films and franchise of the 21st century have been comic book adaptations, which commenced with the ''[[X-Men (film series)|X-Men]]'' and is seen in other series such as ''[[Spider-Man in film|Spider-Man]]'', and ''[[Iron Man in other media#Marvel Cinematic Universe|Iron Man]]'' series.{{sfn|Tasker|2015|p=179}}{{sfn|Tasker|2015|p=182}} Tasker wrote that despite the central characters in superhero cinema being extraordinary, occasionally even God-like, they often followed the traces of the central character becoming powerful of which is fundamental to action films, often dealt with origin stories in superhero films.{{sfn|Tasker|2015|p=180}}

==Subgenres==
===Hybrid genres===
{{Main|Hybrid genre}}
{{See also|Action comedy}}
Action films often interface with other genres. Tasker wrote that films are often labelled action thrillers, action-fantasy and action-adventure films with different nuances.{{sfn|Tasker|2004|pp=3-4}} Tasker later discussed that the term action film genre and adventure are often used in hybrid, and are even used interchangeably.{{sfn|Tasker|2015|p=17}} Along with Holmund and Purse, Tasker wrote that the action films expansiveness complicates easy categorization and though the genre is often spoken of as singular genre, it is rarely discussed as singular style.{{sfn|Holmlund|Purse|Tasker|2024|p=2}}

Screenwriter and academic [[Jule Selbo]] expanded on this, describing a film as "[[crime film|crime]]/action" or an "action/crime" or other hybrids was "only a semantic exercise" as both genres are important in the construction phase of the narrative.{{sfn|Selbo|2014|pp=229–232}} Mark Bould in ''A Companion to Film Noir'' (2013) said that categorization of multiple generic genre labels was common in film reviews who are rarely concerned with succinct descriptions that evoke elements of the film's form, content and make no claims beyond on how these elements combine.{{sfn|Bould|2013|p=34}}{{sfn|Bould|2013|p=44}}

Film Studies began to engage generic hybridity in the 1970s. [[James Monaco]] wrote in 1979 in ''American Film Now: The People, The Power, The Money, the Movies'' that "the lines that separate on genre from another have continued to disintegrate."{{sfn|Monaco|1979|p=56}} Tasker said that most post-classical action films are hybrids, drawing from genres as varied as war films, [[science fiction film|science fiction]], [[horror film|horror]], crime, [[martial arts films|martial arts]] and [[comedy films]].{{sfn|Tasker|2004|pp=3-4}}

===Martial arts film===
{{Main|Martial arts film}}
In Chinese-language films, both ''wuxia'' and kung fu are genre-specific terms, while martial arts is a generic term to refer to several types of films containing martial arts.{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=2}}

====Wuxia====
{{Main|Wuxia}}
The ''wuxia'' film is the oldest genre in Chinese cinema.{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=1}} Stephen Teo wrote in his book on ''Wuxia'' that there is no satisfactory English translation of the term, with it often being identified as "the swordplay film" in critical studies. It is derived from the Chinese words ''wu'' denoting militarist or martial qualities and ''xia'' denoting chivalry, gallantry, and qualities of knighthood.{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=2}} The term ''wuxia'' entered into popular culture in the serialization of ''Jinaghu qixia zhuan'' (1922) ({{translation|Legend of the Strange Swordsmen}}). {{sfn|Teo|2016|p=3}} In ''wuxia'', the emphasis is on chivalry and righteousness and allows for phantasmagoric actions over the [[kung fu film]]'s more ground-based combat.{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=4}}

====Kung fu film====
{{Main|Kung fu film}}
The Kung fu film emerged in the 1970s from the swordplay films.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=26}} Its name is derived from the Cantonese term ''[[Chinese martial arts|gong fu]]'' which has two meanings: the physical effort required to completing a task and the abilities and skills acquired over time.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=48}} Films from the period reflected on the cultural and social climate from the period, as seen in invoking Japanese or Western imperialist forces as foils.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=26}}

The kung fu film came out of the ''wuxia'' films.{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=2}}  In comparison to the ''wuxia'',  film, the focus on the kung fu film is on the martial arts over chivalry, {{sfn|Teo|2016|pp=4-5}} The martial arts films was in decline by the mid-1970s in Hong Kong in relation to the stock market crash which went from over 150 films in 1972 to just over 80 in 1975, which led to a downfall in martial arts films produced. When the economy became to rebound, a new trend of martial arts films, the Shaolin kung fu films emerged and sparked a revival of the genre.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=49}} Unlike the ''wuxia'', the kung fu film primarily focuses on fighting on the ground.{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=4}} While heroes in kung fu films often display chivalry, they generally hail from different fighting schools, namely ''[[Wudangquan|wudang]]'' and [[Shaolin kung fu|shaolin]].{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=2}}{{sfn|Teo|2016|p=4}}

====American-styled productions====
American martial arts films feature what author M. Ray Lott described as a more realistic style of violence over the Hong Kong ''wuxia'' films with more realism and are often low-budget productions.{{sfn|Lott|2004|pp=7-8}} Martial arts began routinely appearing in fight scenes in American films in the 1960s with films like ''[[The Born Losers]]'' (1967) which was predominantly a drama, interspersed with martial arts scenes.{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=28}}{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=42}} American martial arts films predominantly came into production following the release of ''Enter the Dragon'' (1973), with the only higher-budgeted American film to follow in its wake being ''[[The Yakuza]]'' (1974).{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=1}}{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=15}} Lott noted the two films would lead to the two subsequent styles of martial arts films in the United States, with films like ''Enter the Dragon'' about people who reveled in combat, often in a tournament setting, and ''The Yakuza'' which had several genres attached to it, but featured several martial arts sequences.{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=19}} By the end of the 1970s, the style was an established genre in American cinema, often featuring tough heroic characters who would fight and not think about their actions until after a fight sequence.{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=67}} In the 1980s, American martial arts films reflected the national move towards conservatism, reflected in films of [[Chuck Norris]] and other actors such as [[Sho Kosugi]].{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=69}} The genre would shift from theatrical releases towards the end of the decade with the rise of home video, the lower box-office of American martial arts productions, and a significant portion of [[direct-to-video]] action films that first were made in the late 1980s in the United States were martial arts films.{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=1}}{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=69}}{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=101}} Towards the end of the 1990s, production of low-budget martial arts films declined as no new stars in the genre developed and older actors such as [[Cynthia Rothrock]] and [[Steven Seagal]] started showing up in less and less films.{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=199}}{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=200}} Even internationally popular films like ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' (2000) had negligible effects in American productions in either the direct-to-video field, or in similarly low-budget theatrical releases such as ''[[Bulletproof Monk]]'' (2003).{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=206}}

While the American styled-films were predominantly made in the United States, productions were also made in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa, and were predominantly shot in the English-language.{{sfn|Lott|2004|p=8}}

===Heroic bloodshed===
{{main|Heroic bloodshed}}
Heroic Bloodshed is a that originates with English-language Hong Kong action and crime film fan communities in the late 1980s and early 1990s.{{sfn|Van Den Troost|2024|p=234}} Author Bey Logan stated that the term was coined by Rick Baker, in the British fanzine ''Eastern Heroes''.{{sfn|Van Den Troost|2024|p=234}}{{sfn|Logan|1995|p=126}} The term is used broadly.{{sfn|Van Den Troost|2024|p=234}} Baker described the style as Hong Kong action films which feature gangsters and gunplay and martial arts that were more violent than kung fu films and academic Kristof Van Den Troost described it a term used to distinguish Hong Kong gun-heavy action films from period martial arts films from the late 1980s and early 1990s.{{sfn|Logan|1995|p=126}}{{sfn|Van Den Troost|2024|p=234}}

In the Chinese language, the term used for these films is ''jinghungpin'', literally meaning "hero films".{{sfn|Van Den Troost|2024|p=234}} Academic Laikwan Pang asserts that these gangster films appeared at a time when Hong Kong citizens felt particularly powerless with the [[handover of Hong Kong]] from the United Kingdom to China set for 1997.{{sfn|Pang|2005|pp=35-37}}
The key directors of the genre were [[John Woo]] and [[Ringo Lam]], and producer [[Tsui Hark]], with the starting point of the genre being traced to Woo's ''[[A Better Tomorrow]]'' (1986) make a record-breaking HK$34.7 million at the Hong Kong box office.{{sfn|Bitel|2019}} The style of these films would influence American productions, such as [[Michael Bay]]'s ''[[Bad Boys II]]'' (2003) and the [[Wachowskis]]' ''[[The Matrix]]'' (1999).{{sfn|Bitel|2019}} Korean media recognized the more fatalistic and pessimistic tone of these films, leading to Korean journalists to label the style as "Hong Kong ''noir''".{{sfn|Kelso-Marsh|2020|p=59}} The influence of these films was evident in early Korean films such as [[Im Kwon-taek]]'s ''[[General's Son]]'' (1990) and later films such [[Song Hae-sung]]'s ''[[A Better Tomorrow (2010 film)|A Better Tomorrow]]'' (2010), ''[[Cold Eyes]]'' (2013) and ''[[New World (2013 film)|New World]]'' (2013).{{sfn|Kelso-Marsh|2020|p=60}}

Postcolonial Hong Kong cinema has struggled to maintain its international identity as a provider of these types action films because the talents involved had abandoned the Hong Kong film industry after the handover in 1997.{{sfn|Martin|2009|p=31}}

==Regional action cinema==
Anglophone action film scholarship has tended to emphasize bigger budget American action films, with academics tending to find films that fall out of Hollywood productions as not quite fitting definitions of the genre. By 2024, many national and regional industries were known for action films. These include international films such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, [[Malayalam cinema|Malayalam]], South Korean, Japanese, [[Cinema of Thailand|Thai]], [[Cinema of Brazil|Brazilian]], [[Cinema of China|Chinese]], [[Cinema of South Africa|South African]], French and [[Cinema of Italy|Italian]] action titles.{{sfn|Holmlund|Purse|Tasker|2024|p=3}}

===Australia===
At the turn of the millennium, Australian genre films have gained increasing acceptance in the Australian feature film industry, while the action genre represented a small percentage of its output in the 21st century.{{sfn|Ryan|McWilliam|2021}}{{sfn|Howell|2021}}

Scholars of Australian genre film generally used the term "action-adventure" which allows them to apply it to various forms of narratives such as tongue in cheek heroic posturing stories like ''[[Crocodile Dundee]]'' (1986), [[road movies]] or bush/outback films.{{sfn|Howell|2021}} In the book ''Australian Genre Film'', Amanda Howell suggested that this label was used to help distance Australian cinema from Hollywood films as it would be suggesting commerce over culture and that it would be "quite unacceptable to make Australian movies using conventions established in the U.S.A."{{sfn|Howell|2021}} Howell stated this to be the case with action films of the 1970s and 1980s with [[Brian Trenchard-Smith]]'s ''[[Turkey Shoot (1982 film)|Turkey Shoot]]'' (1982) being the most notorious. Smith had previously released films like ''[[Deathcheaters]]'' (1976) and ''[[Stunt Rock]]'' (1979) when financial incentives were available for overtly commercial projects.{{sfn|Howell|2021}} She commented that action films did tell identifiably Australian stories such as the [[Sandy Harbutt]]'s biker film ''[[Stone (1974 film)|Stone]]'' (1974) and Miller's post-apocalyptic film ''[[Mad Max (film)|Mad Max]]'' (1979) derived from Australia's social and cultural realities, as well as how [[George Miller (director)|George Miller]]'s later ''[[Mad Max: Fury Road]]'' (2015) derived from Australia's long-standing cinematic fascination with the road and cars and a history of cultural anxiety towards a bleak and forbidding outback landscape opposed to the optimism of American action films.{{sfn|Howell|2021}}

===France===
[[File:Luc Besson Cannes 2014.jpg|thumb|Luc Besson in 2014. Lisa Purse described Besson's France-based [[EuropaCorp]] the most significant producer of French action films.{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=173-174}}]]
France is a major European country for film production and has made co-production commitments with 44 countries around the world.{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=172-173}} Around beginning of the 21st century, France began producing a series of films explicitly intended for international markets, with action films representing a significant portion. These films include ''[[Taxi 2]]'' (2000), ''[[Kiss of the Dragon]]'' (2001), ''[[District 13]]'' (2004) and ''[[Unleashed (2005 film)|Unleashed]]'' (2005).{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=173}} Whan asked about the Americanization of these French films, [[Christophe Gans]], director of ''[[Brotherhood of the Wolf]]'' (2001) stated that "Hollywood ownership of certain elements [...] must be challenged, in order to show that these elements have also long been present in European culture."{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=174}}

The most significant producers of French action films with international ambitions is [[Luc Besson]]'s France-based [[EuropaCorp]], who released films like ''[[Taxi (1998 film)|Taxi]]'' (1998) and ''[[From Paris with Love (film)|From Paris with Love]]'' (2010).{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=173-174}} EuropaCorp produced ''[[Transporter (franchise)|Transporter]]'' franchise starred British actor [[Jason Statham]] and made him an action film star, which led him to feature in ''The Expendables'' series by the end of the 2010s.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=174}}

===India===
The action film genre has been a staple of [[Hindi cinema|Bollywood cinema]].{{sfn|Shandilya|2024|p=163}}
In the 1970s, the [[Hindi cinema|Bollywood]] action film consolidated with two films starring [[Amitabh Bachchan]]: [[Prakash Mehra]]'s ''[[Zanjeer (1973 film)|Zanjeer]]'' (1973) and [[Yash Chopra]]'s ''[[Deewaar]]'' (1975). The box office success of these films made Bachchan a star and spawned the "angry young man" film in Bollywood cinema.{{sfn|Shandilya|2014|p=112}}  
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the action genre film declined considerably with new films predominantly featuring former [[Bodybuilding|bodybuilders]] failing to reach the popularity Bachan had. These films predominantly earned their revenue through longer runs at B-grade theatres.{{sfn|Shandilya|2014|p=112}} A cycle of action films came from these films in the 1980s and 1990s called the Avenging Woman film, where female protagonists seek justice for a rape victim, where the protagonist seeks revenge through violence.{{sfn|Shandilya|2024|pp=163-164}}

In 2009, the action genre was re-popularized with the box office success of ''[[Wanted (2009 film)|Wanted]]'' (2009) starring [[Salman Khan]]. Khan reinvented his screen persona with that of his image in the Bollywood press who reported on him in the headlines of Bollywood magazines for his public brawls and affairs with leading actresses.{{sfn|Shandilya|2014|p=112}} In ''[[Dabangg]]'' (2010), Khan continued with this public persona, which was repeated in several of his later films such as ''[[Ready (2011 film)|Ready]]'' (2011), ''[[Bodyguard (2011 Hindi film)|Bodyguard]]'' (2011),  ''[[Ek Tha Tiger]]'' (2012) and ''[[Dabangg 2]]'' (2012).{{sfn|Shandilya|2014|p=113}}

From the 1980s, generations of actors in [[Telugu cinema]] have invoked Hong Kong action films, such as [[Srihari]] who stated he wanted to become an actor after watching his first Bruce Lee film. Several films in Telugu cinema were remakes of Hong Kong films, such as ''[[Hello Brother (1994 film)|Hello Brother]]'' (1994) which is based on ''[[Twin Dragons]]'' (1992).{{sfn|Srinivas|2005|p=112}} Other films such as the martial arts film ''[[Bhadrachalam (film)|Bhadrachlam]]'' (2001), borrows from American cinema with the [[Jean-Claude Van Damme]] film ''[[Kickboxer (1989 film)|Kickboxer]]'' (1989).{{sfn|Srinivas|2005|p=112-113}} [[SS Rajamouli]]'s ''[[RRR]]'' (2022) was among the highest budgeted films made in India, and became a rare hit film outside of Indian diaspora, where it broke box office records in Japan and performed exceptionally well in American box office.{{sfn|BBC|2023|ref=BBC}}{{sfn|Abrams|2022}}

===Japan===
Japan was a difficult market for Hong Kong action cinema to break into. Prompted by the success of ''[[Enter the Dragon]]'' and the popularity of Bruce Lee, [[Toei Company|Toei]] made their own Bruce Lee-style martial arts films, with ''[[The Street Fighter]]'' and its two sequels starring [[Sonny Chiba]] as well as a spin-off with a female lead similar to Hong Kong's [[Angela Mao]] called ''[[Sister Street Fighter]]''. The success of ''Enter the Dragon'' briefly allowed an influx of Hong Kong films to Japan, but the trend did not last, with 28 Hong Kong films, mostly kung fu films, being released in 1974, and the number decreasing to five in 1975, four in 1977 and only two in 1978.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=166}}

[[Ryuhei Kitamura]], director of ''[[Versus (2000 film)|Versus]]'' (2000), said in 2004 that he grew frustrated with the Japanese film industry as producers felt they couldn't make action films in competition with Hong Kong or American productions.{{sfn|Directory of World Cinema: Japan 3|2015|p=77|ref=DoW3}} ''Versus'' grew to become popular outside of Japan, and Kitamura said he was aiming for the foreign audience, as he was disappointed with the current state of Japanese films.{{sfn|Mes|2004}} Kitamura's characters have been described as "a careful combination of the maverick independence of 1980s Hollywood action heroes and the calmness and acceptance of Japanese samurai, a consistent criticism of Japanese people today."{{sfn|Directory of World Cinema: Japan 3|2015|p=78|ref=DoW3}} Kitamura followed up ''Versus'' with two manga-inspired big-budget action films, ''[[Azumi (film)|Azumi]]'' and ''[[Sky High (2003 film)|Sky High]]''. Both released in 2003, the former was one of the highest-grossing movies of the year in Japan. Following ''LoveDeath'', Kitamura's next directing work was in the United States.{{sfn|Macias|2008}}

===Korea===
The action cinema of South Korea mostly existed on the margins of the film industry in South Korea.{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=97}} The genre was initially called  the ''Hwalkuk'' ("living theatre") was a term that indicated plays and films driven by action scenes, while this term has not been used regularly since the late 1970s, with "action movie" becoming the more familiar term.{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=100}} The Korean action films came from Japanese cinema, [[James Bond in film|James Bond series]], and Hong Kong action cinema.{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=101}} As North Korea borders China, it block access to the continent from a South Korean perspective, the [[Cold War]] allowed South Koreans to substitute deferred travel beyond the border through films with locations shot in Hong Kong.{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=99}} While melodrama and comedy were staples in South Korean cinema, most action films were sporadic and tied to the use of locations such as Hong Kong.{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=103}} These films often featured one-legged or otherwise handicapped action characters similar to those of Japanese films (''Zatoichi'') and Hong Kong films (''The One-Armed Swordsmen'').{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=99}}{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=103}} These included Im Kwon-taek's ''Returned Left-Handed Man'' (1968), Aekkunun Bak's ''One-Eyd Park'' (1970) and Lee Doo-yong's ''Returned One-Legged Man'' (1974).{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=170}}

In the 1990s, the country's national cinema was in decline leading to Hong Kong gangster films filled in this void leading to large commercial success at the national box office.{{sfn|Choi|2011}} Early Korean heirs to Hong Kong action films include ''Rules of The Game'' (1994), ''[[Beat (1997 film)|Beat]]'' (1997), and ''[[Green Fish]]'' (1997) involving men who gain confidence and achieve personal growth as they embark on journeys to protect national state and meet devastating ends.{{sfn|Kwon|2023}}
South Korean cinema only received international attention in both art film and blockbuster formats towards the end of the 1990s. Films such as ''[[Chunhyang (film)|Chunhang]]'' (2000) and ''[[Memento Mori (film)|Memento Mori]]'' (2000) and action films ''[[Shiri (film)|Shiri]]'' (1999) and ''[[Nowhere to Hide (1999 film)|Nowhere to Hide]]'' (1999) received commercial releases in North America, Asia, and Europe. The success of the latter two films was unprecedented, and was followed by other South Korean action films in the early 2000s reaching the top of the local box office.{{sfn|Soyoung|2005|p=97}} These South Korean films mimic some traits of the [[Hong Kong action cinema]], such melodramatic male bonding and marginalized women characters, while the Korean films also have greater elements of tragedy and romance emphasized.{{sfn|Kwon|2023}}

==Reception==
Most martial arts films made before the mid-1960s were [[Cantonese|Cantonese-language]] productions. In comparison, [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin-language]] films were an integral part of [[Hong Kong cinema]] due to the influx of Shanghai film talent in the postwar period. These films were targeted at the more educated and more refined middle-class audiences who saw themselves as above the contemporary martial arts films.{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=5}}{{sfn|Yip|2017|p=157}}

Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in ''[[Cinema Journal]]'' that Hollywood action films are both one of the most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative."{{sfn|Higgins|2008|p=74}} Bordwell echoed this in his book, ''The Way Hollywood Tells It'',  writing that the reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst."{{sfn|Bordwell|2006|p=104}}

Tasker wrote that when action and adventure films secured awards, it is often in categories such as [[visual effects]] and sound editing.{{sfn|Tasker|2015|p=8}}

=== Acclaimed action films ===
''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' magazine conducted a poll with fifty experts in the field of action cinema, including actors, critics, filmmakers and stuntmen. Out of the 101 films ranked in the poll, the following films were voted the top ten best action films of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Rothkopf |first1=Joshua |last2=Semlyen |first2=Phil |date=21 March 2022 |title=The 101 Best Action Movies of All Time |url=https://www.timeout.com/film/the-101-best-action-movies-ever-made |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]] |publisher=[[Time Out Group]] |language=en-GB |archive-date=2020-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828134924/https://www.timeout.com/film/the-101-best-action-movies-ever-made |url-status=live }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank
! Film
! Year
! Director
!Country
|-
|1
|''[[Die Hard]]''
|[[1988 in film|1988]]
|[[John McTiernan]]
|[[Cinema of the United States|United States]]
|-
|2
|[[Aliens (film)|''Aliens'']]
|[[1986 in film|1986]]
|[[James Cameron]]
|United States / [[Cinema of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]]
|-
|3
|''[[Seven Samurai]]''
|[[1954 in film|1954]]
|[[Akira Kurosawa]]
|[[Cinema of Japan|Japan]]
|-
|4
|''[[The Wild Bunch]]''
|[[1969 in film|1969]]
|[[Sam Peckinpah]]
|United States
|-
|5
|[[Police Story (1985 film)|''Police Story'']]
|[[1985 in film|1985]]
|[[Jackie Chan]]
|[[Hong Kong action cinema|Hong Kong]]
|-
|6
|''[[Enter the Dragon]]''
|[[1973 in film|1973]]
|[[Robert Clouse]]
|[[Cinema of Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] / United States
|-
|7
|''[[Mad Max 2]]''
|[[1981 in film|1981]]
|[[George Miller (filmmaker)|George Miller]]
|[[Cinema of Australia|Australia]]
|-
|8
|''[[Hard Boiled]]''
|[[1992 in film|1992]]
|[[John Woo]]
|[[Cinema of Hong Kong|Hong Kong]]
|-
|9
|''[[Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]''
|[[1991 in film|1991]]
|James Cameron
|United States
|-
|10
|''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]''
|1981
|[[Steven Spielberg]]
|United States
|-
|}

===Gender in action cinema===
{{Expand section|date=January 2024}}
===Hong Kong===
In Hong Kong, the "new school" of martial arts films that Shaw Brothers brought in 1965 featured what featured what Yip described as "strong, active female characters as protagonists." These female-centered films were challenged with the rise of a new male heroic prototype marked by a strong sense of youthful energy and defiance and by a propensity for violent action, identified with the films of [[Chang Cheh]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=7}}

===Hollywood===
Violent female characters have been part of cinema since its early inception, with characters such as Kate Kelly brandishing a shotgun in ''[[The Story of the Kelly Gang]]'' (1906). Women traditionally appear in action films as romantic interests, [[tomboy]]s, or [[sidekick]]s to male protagonists.{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}

Violent [[White people|white women]] would appear in other genres as well such as the ''[[femme fatale]]s'' in ''[[film noir]]'' and horror films of the 1970s. Violent women were common in action films since the 1960s. These films featured [[working-class]] women exacting revenge. Films of the 1970s featured [[Black people|black]] women such as [[Pam Grier]] in films like ''[[Foxy Brown (film)|Foxy Brown]]'' (1974).{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}

In the 1980s, a new symbolically transgressive character emerged in the form of [[Ellen Ripley]] in ''Aliens'' (1986) and [[Sarah Connor (Terminator)|Sarah Connor]] in ''[[Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]'' (1991) and the title character in ''[[China O'Brien]]'' (1990) who were physically muscular and or enacted more extreme violence that was usually reserve for male action leads.{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=76}} In her book ''Contemporary Action Cinema'' (2011), Lisa Purse described the media response to female leads in action films  reveal a discomfort about their presence and are often described with hesitant terms of women moving into territories that are perceived as masculine.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=76}} Revealing woman in this form deconstructs the notion that traditional marks of masculinity are not exclusive to men and that musculature was not natural, but something to be achieved. Accusations of these muscular women of the era were levelled at that them by 1993 were that they were "men in drag" and that the films generally have to "explain" why their female leads displayed physical aggression and why they were "driven to do it."{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=77}} As the 1990s went on, Hollywood films began having more conventional looking women in their action films such as ''[[The Long Kiss Goodnight]]'' (1996).{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=78}}

[[File:Ultraviolet poster.jpg|thumb|[[Yvonne Tasker]] identified action film heroines, such as the lead in ''[[Ultraviolet (film)|Ultraviolet]]'' (2006) after the mid-90s as "exaggerated statements of sexuality" in the tradition of "fetishistic figure of fantasy" drawn from comics and [[softcore pornography]].{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=78-79}}]]
A vibrant debate exists about whether hypersexualization is itself empowering and, if not, whether a hypersexualized female character can still represent strength and autonomy.{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}
Hypersexualized female action leads had tight fitting or revealing costumes that Tasker identified as "exaggerated statements of sexuality" and in the tradition of "fetishistic figure of fantasy" derives from comic books and [[Softcore pornography|soft pornography]].{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=78-79}} This originated in television with characters like [[Buffy Summers]] (''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' (1997–2003)) and [[Xena]] (''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' (1995–2001)). These series popularity demonstrated a growing market for female action film heroes, in films of the 2000s like ''[[Lara Croft: Tomb Raider]]'' (2001), ''[[Charlie's Angels (2000 film)|Charlie's Angels]]'' (2000), ''[[Ultraviolet (film)|Ultraviolet]]'' (2006), ''[[Salt (2010 film)|Salt]]'' (2010) and series like ''[[Underworld (film series)|Underworld]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil (film series)|Resident Evil]]''. These series like their television series earlier, had their leads eroticized as active and physically capable while also being scantily-clad, hyper-feminized similar to the woman of exploitation films of the 1970s such as ''[[Caged Heat]]'' (1974) and ''[[Big Bad Mama]]'' (1974).{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=79}} While characters like Frank in ''The Transporter'' series are permitted to visibly sweat, strain and be bloodied, Purse found a reluctance for filmmakers to have their female leads have any appearance warping injuries to ensure a perfectly made-up face.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=81}} Comedy is often used in films of this period to place the female leads in implausible elements, such as in ''Charlie's Angels'', ''[[Fantastic Four (2005 film)|Fantastic Four]]'' (2005) and ''[[My Super Ex-Girlfriend]]'' (2006).{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=80}} The fighting styles of women also tend towards more traditionally feminine fluid movements of martial arts, over using guns or directly punching.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=82}}

Purse wrote that the contemporary female action film lead's sexualized brand had her in close proximity of [[post-feminism]] discourse about choice, power and sexuality.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=82}} Marc O'Day interprets the action heroine's dual status of an active subject and sexual object was overturning the traditional gender binary because the films "assume that women are powerful" without resorting to justify her physical aggression through narratives involving maternal drive, mental instability or trauma.{{sfn|O'Day|2004|p=215}} Purse found that female leads in films like ''[[Elektra (2005 film)|Elektra]]'' (2005), ''[[Kill Bill: Volume 1|Kill Bill]]'', ''Underworld'', ''Charlie's Angels'' and ''[[Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005 film)|Mr. & Mrs. Smith]]'' (2005) did showcase women having expensive cars, clothing, travel, homes and often high-paying jobs, but that this was only shown as being applicable to white middle-class women.{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=82-83}} Purse found that these women were empowered at the price of women of other ethnicities. This is seen in ''[[Æon Flux (film)|Aeon Flux]]'' (2005) where Sithandra dies protecting Aeon and Rain's death to make way for Alice in ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' (2002).{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=82-83}}

==See also==
{{portal|Film}}
* [[List of action film actors]]
* [[List of action film directors]]
* [[List of female action heroes and villains]]
* [[Action hero]]
* [[Film genre]]
* [[Lists of action films]]
* [[List of female action heroes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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* {{cite book|last=Pang|first=Laikwan|title=Masculinities and Hong Kong Cinema|year=2005|chapter=Post-1997 Hong Kong Masculinity|editor-last1=Pang|editor-last2=Wong|editor-first1=Laikwan|editor-first2=Day|publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]]|isbn=962-209-737-5}}
* {{cite book|title=Contemporary Action Cinema|year=2011|last=Purse|first=Lisa|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|isbn=978-0-7486-3817-8}}
* {{cite book|title=Australian Genre Film|publisher=Routledge|year=2021|last1=Ryan|first1=Mark David|last2=McWilliam|first2=Kelly|isbn=9780429469121}}
* {{cite book|last=Selbo|first=Jule|title=Film Genre for the Screenwriter|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=2014|isbn=978-1-317-69568-4}}
* {{cite journal|journal=South Asian Popular Culture|volume=12|issue=2|last=Shandilya|first=Krupa|title=Of Enraged Shirts, Gyrating Gangsters and Farting Bullets: Salman Khan and the New Bollywood Action Film|year=2014|pages=111–121 |doi=10.1080/14746689.2014.937579 |s2cid=144426047 }}
* {{cite book|title=Action Cinema Since 2000|editor-last1=Holmlund|editor-last2=Purse|editor-last3=Tasker|editor-first1=Chris|editor-first2=Lisa|editor-first3=Yvonne|isbn=9781839022784 |year=2024|last=Shandilya|first=Krupa|chapter=Bollywood's New Action Cinema: The Woman-led Action Film and the Nation|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing}}
* {{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Jasper |date=2011 |title=Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7541-8}}
* {{cite journal|journal=[[Journal of Film and Video]]|title=The Ultimate Ride: A Comparative Narrative Analysis of Action Sequences in 1980s and Contemporary Hollywood Action Cinema|last=Soberson|first=Lennart|date=Spring 2021|volume=73|issue=1}}
* {{cite book|title=Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema|publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]]|isbn=1-932643-19-2|editor-last1=Morris|editor-first1=Meaghan|editor-last2=Li|editor-first2=Siu Leung|editor-last3=Ching-kiu|editor-first3=Stephen Chan|last=Soyoung|first=Kim|chapter=Genre as Contact Zone: Hong Kong Action and Korean Hwalkuk|year=2005}}
* {{cite book|title=Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=1-932643-19-2|editor-last1=Morris|editor-first1=Meaghan|editor-last2=Li|editor-first2=Siu Leung|editor-last3=Ching-kiu|editor-first3=Stephen Chan|last=Srinivas|first=S.V.|chapter=Hong Kong Action Film and the Career of the Telugu Mass Hero|year=2005}}
* {{cite book|title=Action and Adventure Cinema|editor-last1=Tasker |editor-first1=Yvonne|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=0-203-64515-4}}
* {{cite book|title=The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film|last=Tasker|first=Yvonne|publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|John Wiley & Sons, Inc.]]|isbn=978-0-470-65924-3|year=2015}}
* {{cite book|last=Teo|first=Stephen|title=Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition|edition=2|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4744-0386-3}}
* {{cite journal|last=Van Den Troost|first=Kristof|title=Registers of the Melodramatic Mode: The 1980s Heroic Bloodshed Cycle in the History of the Hong Kong Crime Film|date=Summer 2024|issn=0036-9543|journal=[[Screen (journal)|Screen]]|volume=65|issue=2}}
* {{cite book|title=Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=1-932643-19-2|editor-last1=Morris|editor-first1=Meaghan|editor-last2=Li|editor-first2=Siu Leung|editor-last3=Ching-kiu|editor-first3=Stephen Chan|last=Willemen|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Willemen|chapter=Action Cinema, Labour Power and the Video Market|year=2005}}
* {{cite book|title=Martial Arts Cinema and Hong Kong Modernity|first=Man-Fung|last=Yip|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|year=2017|isbn=978-988-8390-71-7}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | editor-last = Inness | editor-first = Sherrie | title = Action chicks: new images of tough women in popular culture | publisher = [[Palgrave Macmillan]] | location = New York | year = 2004 |isbn=978-1-4039-6396-3 }}
* {{Cite journal | last = Kim | first = L.S. |title = ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'': making women warriors – a transnational reading of Asian female action heroes | journal = [[Jump Cut (journal)|Jump Cut:A Review of Contemporary Media]] | volume = 48 | date = Winter 2006 | url = http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc48.2006/womenWarriors/index.html }}
* {{cite book | last1 = Osgerby | first1 = Bill | last2 = Gough-Yates | first2 = Anna | last3 = Wells | first3 = Marianne | title = Action TV: tough guys, smooth operators and foxy chicks | publisher = [[Routledge]] | location = London New York | year = 2001 |isbn=978-0-415-22621-9 }}
* {{cite book|author-link1=Yvonne Tasker | last = Tasker | first = Yvonne | title = Spectacular bodies: gender, genre, and the action cinema | publisher = Routledge | location = London New York | year = 2002 |isbn=978-0-203-22184-6 }}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|action movie}}
* {{cite magazine|author=Taylor, John|title= Hollywood's New Action Toys|magazine= [[New York Magazine]]|date=April 1, 1991|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JOkCAAAAMBAJ&q=black%20rain%20stallone&pg=PA33|access-date=2010-12-01}}

{{Film genres}}
{{Films by genre}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Action films]]
[[Category:Film genres]]
[[Category:1960s in film]]
[[Category:1970s in film]]
[[Category:1980s in film]]
[[Category:1990s in film]]
[[Category:2000s in film]]
[[Category:2010s in film]]