Director Gareth Evans and Indonesia martial arts superstar Iko Uwais are about to unleash their latest action-packed extravaganza with the highly-anticipated sequel, The Raid 2: Berandal this 27 March. To celebrate their upcoming release, heres our selection of 10 Asian movies that have gone big in the international market: 1. Rashomon (1950) For the most exciting CGI fest weve seen in 2013 that would make any man-child giddy like little boys again, it was like having a container ship smacked to the face to find that even the meticulous design of the Kaijus and the Jaegars didnt earn Guillermo del Toros Pacific Rim at least a nomination in the Visual Effects category. We cant imagine what the Academy saw in the derailed trains and smoky explosions of The Lone Ranger to give that box office dud a long shot in beating Gravity for that category. 2. Seven Samurai (1954) This classic Samurai movie is Akira Kurosawas most famous movie ever made. Seven Samurai, which centres on a group of Samurais whom offer their services to protect a poor village against a bunch of bandits, became a basis for Hollywood director John Sturges to remake Seven Samurai into a Western. That Western, of course, would become known as The Magnificent Seven in 1960. The Magnificent Seven is famous for its legendary acting ensemble including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. Not only that, Elmer Bernsteins evergreen rousing score in The Magnificent Seven becomes an iconic theme used in the U.S. commercial for Marlboro cigarettes. In 1998, Pixar used Seven Samurai as template to make A Bugs Life. 3. Gojira (1954) Widely known as the granddaddy of all monster movies, Gojira is an iconic Japanese monster movie that spawned countless inspirations around the world, including the 1998s big-budget Hollywood fiasco, Godzilla. Despite the Roland Emmerich-directed flop, Monsters director Gareth Edwards now attempts to make amends with his own version of Godzilla this coming May. 4. Yojimbo (1961) Mixing classic the Samurai genre and Hollywood western elements, Akira Kurosawas Yojimbo is considered as the first post-modern samurai movie. This classic movie is also best remembered for Toshiro Mifunes career-defining performance. The movies classic premise, which centres on a lone stranger (Toshiro Mifune) caught between two rival gangs and plays both sides against each other, inspired director Sergio Leone in A Fistful Of Dollars in 1964. Thanks to Yojimbo, a new genre called Spaghetti Western becomes popular and made Sergio Leone into a household name in Hollywood. Not to forget also is then-young Clint Eastwoods star-making performance as the Man With No Name. 5. Enter The Dragon (1973) Enter The Dragon, which starred legendary Bruce Lee, is widely regarded as the quintessential martial arts movie that inspired many action filmmakers worldwide. Famous for its Hall Of Mirrors sequence, this martial arts classic also introduced Bruce Lee as well as the genre itself to Western viewers. 6. Ringu (1998) / Ju-On (2002) This is the movie that kickstarts the J-horror craze. The basic template for J-horror is usually about haunted children and vengeful spirits. Ringu is so phenomenally popular in Japan as well as around the world that Hollywood eventually takes notice and remade it as The Ring in 2002 starring Naomi Watts. In 2005, Ringu director Hideo Nakata came on board to direct the Hollywood sequel, The Ring Two. Another J-horror which also made successful transition from Japan to Hollywood is Takashi Shimizus Ju-On (2002) and his own American remake under the title of The Grudge (2004). The Hollywood version also spawned two sequels in 2006 and 2009. 7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) This is the Chinese Wuxia movie that conquered Hollywood – big time. Not only did the movie become the highest grossing foreign-language movie at the U.S. and U.K. box office history, it also scored 10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture and won four awards. 8. Infernal Affairs (2002) Infernal Affairs directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, was a huge hit in Hong Kong and set a new benchmark for movie genre revolving around undercover cops. And thanks to the mass influence of Infernal Affairs, which also spawned a prequel and a sequel, legendary director Martin Scorsese finally managed to struck Oscar gold (winning his long-overdue Best Director, of course) for his excellent Hollywood remake, The Departed in 2006. 9. Ong Bak (2003) This is the landmark movie that made then-unknown Tony Jaa into a Thailand martial arts superstar and pioneered the Muay Thai fighting style for the big screen. Jaa, who is a big fan of Jackie Chan, did all of his own death-defying stunts throughout the movie without the help of wireworks or computer-generated effects. The huge success of Ong Bak quickly spawned many Thailand martial arts movie in the subsequent years. Two sequels, Ong Bak 2 (2008) and Ong Bak 3 (2010) then followed. 10. The Raid (2012) Known in Indonesia as Serbuan Maut, Gareth Evans The Raid is a brutal actioner that made the Welsh director as well as its lead star Iko Uwais catapult into international superstardom. The movie, of course, is famous for its traditional Indonesian martial arts known as pencak silat. Prior to The Raid, pencak silat was already showcased in 2009s Merantau Warrior, the first successful collaboration between Evans and Uwais.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 02:38:31 +0000
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