Summing up the results of action cinema 2021: Best action film and Best Asian action film

19.02.2022Danil Chupakhin

The calendar says February 19, which means it’s time to start considering the winners in various categories as part of our project to sum up the results of action films for 2021. Let's start with the best action films.

Best action movie 2021

Not to say that the year turned out to be rich in good films for the classic Western action movie. That is, quite a lot of action films have been released over the past year, but their quality leaves much to be desired. It is interesting that one of the main, as it seemed to us, leaders is the last for Daniel Craig Film about James Bond, didn't even make it into the top three. And again... we had no doubts about first place.

Nobody (dir. Ilya Naishuler) (26%, 42 votes)

Thriller "No one" our compatriot Ilya Naishulera on the one hand, it seems out of place with the “gold” medal in our project. Judge for yourself: a well-worn theme about a combat pensioner, starring an almost sixty-year-old old man who has not previously been seen in action films, and at the director’s helm is a young Russian music video director, who was previously noted only as an interesting, but nothing more than an action film "Hardworker".

But if you look a little more broadly, you will notice that again and again in our voting the first places are taken by films where people who love this area and are well versed in it are responsible for the action component. And what about the names? David Leitch (director of the first "John Wick" и "Atomic Blonde") as a producer and Derek Kolstad (franchise writer "John Wick") as a screenwriter, the pictures definitely had to add confidence that "No one" will not turn out to be an ordinary action movie. And he didn't turn out like that.

Yes, Ilya’s film is indeed stylistically very similar to "John Wick", but adds some originality to it Bob Odenkirk. He, being a dramatic and comedic actor, looks absolutely logical in a dark, almost noir action film, because his hero has long retired from “business”, but at the same time he has lost interest in life, that “spark” has disappeared, and the random absurdity that drives him with the Russian mafia, lights this fuse to a blazing flame. And this transformation is interesting to watch. Which, unfortunately, cannot be said about the hero Alexey Serebryakov, who, despite his absolutely stunning first appearance on camera, remained a typical Russian bandit without a cuckoo, with a clear hint of that same cranberry in the right places.

There are few action scenes in the film, but they are well-timed and you simply don’t have time to get bored. Well, only the lazy didn’t notice the scene of Odenkirk’s hand-to-hand fight with the gopot on the bus. Action in "No one" the guys from the team were doing 87Eleven, and Bob was responsible for physical activity and training himself Daniel Bernhard, which together with Kirk Jenkins staged a fight amazing in its nerve and cruelty, where Bob Odenkirk I did 90% of everything myself.

There is also complete order with chases and shootouts. And also an absolutely wonderful extended cameo of the old man Christopher Lloyd could not, as they say, not hit the heart!

"No one" - the movie is not ideal and in many ways secondary, but it is absolutely certain that it was made with soul. That’s why it turned out to be such a playful, somewhat hooligan, but good and not stupid action movie. And the number of votes only confirms this.

Human Wrath (dir. Guy Ritchie) (17%, 27 votes)

The dispute is whether "The Wrath of Man" a full-fledged action movie or is it, after all, a crime drama for which he was once famous Guy Ritchie, - we suggest leaving it out of brackets. Well... Or you can argue about it further in the comments below this material.

The fact is obvious - the number of people who voted for this film brought it to the second line of our podium. This means that by default we will call "The Wrath of Man" action movie and move on.

Yes, noticeably aged Jason Statham does not scatter assorted villains left and right with the help of throws and punches and kicks. In fact, he is no longer the same action hero that the Briton was during the "Carriers", "Adrenaline" or "Parker". We can say that Jason has somewhat changed his role and even “matured”, despite the frankly stupid antics in the last "Fast and Furious". And in Ritchie’s film, this newest role is completely justified by the plot and affects the viewer’s mood.

As often happens in Guy's films, "The Wrath of Man" is an extremely intricate story, which is based on the director’s favorite techniques, such as flashbacks, different time periods of the narrative, or a story told in reverse. As a result, we are presented with an interestingly filmed detective drama about revenge for a murdered son.

There really aren't many action scenes in the film. In fact, two, if you don’t pay attention to minor skirmishes. But the last half hour turns, albeit tense, but drama, into the coolest action movie. The final shootout is really well shot and edited, it has both nerve and drama. You can even really care about some of the characters. And this scene does not let go even when the sounds of the gunfire stop. It is so imbued with suspense and intrigue.

It’s also nice to see good actors in the frame, like Scott Eastwood, Josh Hartnett or seemingly long forgotten Jeffrey Donovan. Each of them gives themselves completely to this movie, although the events revolve, of course, around Jason, who, without pampering the audience with emotions in the frame, easily conveys the necessary experiences.

Generally, "The Wrath of Man" is a good movie from a cult director, which returned Statham to a full-fledged leading role in an action movie. Yes, still in an action movie! How else can we explain silver in this category?

One Shot (dir. James Nunn) (13%, 21 votes)

Here you can immediately congratulate Scott Adkins with the anniversary – the fifth time in the top three in this category! That is, for five years in a row, the votes for militants with a Briton are as stable as for Queen Elizabeth II.

But let's abstract from the usual films of Adkins, because before us, for a minute, is a feature film, completely shot with the effect of single-frame shooting! That's what the director of the action movie decided James Nunn and, apparently, the producers. Did this benefit the film? Yes and no.

On the one hand, such a technical feature is truly unusual and is designed to maintain maximum interest for the viewer at the screen, but on the other hand, it imposes certain obligations on both the narrative process and, which is what worries us, on the action scenes.

Arguing with what Adkins looks like in "One shot" as much as “one’s own” doesn’t make sense. This is a truly successful role for the British in many ways. But still, we love it when Scott fights in the frame, and not shoots from a machine gun or stealth takes out the villains one by one. Within the given vector of the picture, our beloved Boyka will not be allowed to wave his legs, because... it is simply inappropriate here. Choreography director Tim Man tried to demonstrate to the viewer a more realistic, army battle in those rare moments when the main character can afford not to “play naughty” with a firearm. And again: on the one hand, filming a fierce fight with a big guy Lee Charles was short enough to justify a "single shot"; and on the other hand - the final battle against the main villain performed by a former kickboxing champion Jessa Liodina no longer seemed tense, since Gunn had to continue telling the story, and the frame, as we remember, in this movie “does not break.”

As a result, "One Shot" - this is at least an interesting project, at least a good shooter action movie and at a minimum a step forward for those mired in strange films of an incomprehensible category Scott Adkins. He plays well here and looks natural in the dramatic scenes. Having a movie like this in your portfolio is an order of magnitude better than any other "Hostage" or "Legacy of Lies".

Best Asian Action Movie 2021

China, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and even our neighbors Kazakhstan were proposed in this category, but everyone understood that they were really waiting for only one Asian action movie of 2021...

Crossfire (dir. Benny Chan) (37%, 46 votes)

Let's start with the fact that "Crossfire" became the last film in the filmography of a very cult Hong Kong director Benny ChanWhich died from nasopharyngeal cancer immediately after active filming of the film, without really starting to edit the material. The stunt coordinator took on this role. Kenji Tanigaki and himself Donnie Yen, for which, in fact, this film also became a kind of swan song. And this is what we think is why.

The fact is that, in fact, Yen remained the last of those very “Mohicans” who maintained the very level of quality of Chinese combat cinema. But Donny is almost sixty, so projects like his signature urban action films a la "Hot spot" (2007) or "Special Person" (2013) may, in principle, turn out to be the last for the actor in terms of physical and acting form.

Judge for yourself: what do we see in "Crossfire"? How the youthful 56-year-old Ian, with foundation and makeup falling off his face, again plays the ideal hero without fear or reproach, rushing into battle first even with a pregnant wife at home. He also doesn’t drink, doesn’t eat fatty foods, and can only stand nearby with a cigarette in the plot, what’s the point of making difficult moral and ethical decisions? Yes, Chinese censorship! Yes, that’s how the late Benny loved to shoot! But what does it give the viewer? It’s boring to look at Ian with a heavy thought in his temples, which, by the way, he takes advantage of Nicholas Tse, who completely outplays his older comrade and steals every frame with his attractive villainous charm, motivation, and energy.

Okay, let's leave the discussion about the characters. We're interested in action. There is very little of it here; the director spends more time focusing on the suffering of the characters and squeezing out emotions through long dramatic scenes. But when the ballet of bullets finally comes into play, it is clear that Chan was inspired "Fight" (1995) director Michael Mann – the shootouts at the beginning and end of the film boldly hint at this. There are a couple of well-shot chases and a pinch of hand-to-hand scenes in the film, the crown of which was the showdown between Yen and Tse in an abandoned church.

The fight is furious, steep and brutal, but the lack of some spark in Ian will not escape the experienced eye, the blurry shots of familiar blows, all these MMA rolls and throws may seem secondary, and the most interesting thing in this battle will again look... Nicholas Tse, which, it turns out, has something to show in terms of combat. The 41-year-old singer and actor has long revealed his dramatic potential, and we have forgotten that at the beginning of his career, Tse showed promise as a hero of hand-to-hand action films.

The film was highly anticipated, so having it in first place in this category is a done deal. In the Chinese action movie segment over the past year, it is definitely the best. But to us it seemed a little artificial and forced, like makeup on the face Donnie Yen, who after all these "Ip Manov" и "Crossfires" It’s not clear where to film now in order to be interesting to fans of combat films.

Psycho (dir. Kanishk Varma) (14%, 17 votes)

A Bollywood action movie in the top three? Again? Yes, again! After all, this is again a tandem of a talented martial artist and actor Vidyut Jamwala and director of fight choreography and stunts Andy Long (Andreas Nguyen), whose collaboration has already been called upon several times to prove that they are quite capable of “riding” this genre from the Indian side.

Otherwise, we have before us another paraphrase "Die Hard" and its endless plot and conceptual clones. The main character is in a closed room with a whole squad of terrorists, a loved one held hostage and a couple of ridiculous assistants who are mainly responsible for the humor.

Unlike "Crossfire", bollywood "Crazy" filled with action scenes so don't play around. And although Indians are still fixated on rapid-fire dramatic scenes (though, to the point of squeezing tears from Benny Chan they care about China...), the film has a minimum of conversations and a maximum of action. Of course, there is a lot of shooting here, but films with Vidyut Jamwal we watch not because of the shootings, but because of the hurricane and well-shot scenes of hand-to-hand combat.

Many in our group or on the website like to rant about the fact that no one today films like the classics of Hong Kong cinema of the 80s. But here it is! Looking at how Jamval scatters technical opponents with the help of all kinds of improvised means, the best hits come to mind Jackie Chan, Sammo Hunga or Yuen Biao.

Yes, the film itself turned out to be weaker than the third one "Commando" conceptually and plot-wise, but such hand-to-hand action films as "Crazy" Don't miss it! And the silver medal is proof of this!

Fable 2: The Killer Who Doesn't Kill (dir. Kan Eguchi) (10%, 13 votes)

Japanese films are not a frequent guest in this category. Last time in the top three hit So Sakaguchi with his "Rebirth". But it seems that the Land of the Rising Sun can still pleasantly surprise our brother.

"The Killer Who Doesn't Kill" is a sequel to the action comedy about the best living killer who has to settle in a small town, keep a low profile and not kill anyone! At the same time, Fable himself has more than enough enemies.

As in the first part, the sequel contains strange Japanese humor, a detective line, a couple of large action scenes and, what’s nice, the development of character motivations. Once again the leading role is played by the charismatic Junichi Okada, who also acted in the second part and acted as stunt coordinator.

In general, it’s interesting how Okada, being originally a musician, dancer and voice actor, is gradually turning into a new action hero of Japanese cinema. This is not out of nowhere, because Junichi has been practicing various martial arts for quite a long time.

And again, "Fable 2" not stuffed to the brim with action scenes, but rather reminiscent "The Wrath of Man" or "Crossfire" in terms of quantity, location and, thank God, quality of action. For this, the film completes the top three in this category. And if for some reason you were not among the people who voted for this movie and did not watch the film, you can read detailed review duology from our columnist Yuri Dudin.

Home » Movie News » Summing up the results of action cinema 2021: Best action film and Best Asian action film
Tags: Nobody, One Shot, Raging Fire, Sanak: Hope Under Siege, The Fable: A Hitman Who Doesn't Kill, Wrath of Men, Alexey Serebryakov, Benny Chan, Bob Odenkirk, Vidyut Jamwal, Guy Ritchie, James Nunn, Jason Statham, Junichi Okada, Donnie Yen, Daniel Bernhard, Ilya Naishuller, results of action cinema 2021, Kirk A. Jenkins, Nicholas Tse, Summing up the fight cinema, Scott Adkins, Tim Man, Andy Long

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