The best action movies to watch at home right now
16.08.2023 - 13:53
/ polygon.com
/ Michelle Yeoh
/ Best
What makes a great action movie?
It could be the fight choreography and blocking, viscerally bringing the viewer in on every blow. It could be the stunt work, awing the audience with gravity-defying leaps and tricks. It could be the effects work, with massive explosions or sickening bone breaks. It could be a tense narrative that explodes into frenetic action.
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In many cases, it’s all of the above (or at least a combination of a few). And for all the movies below, it’s a guaranteed good time. Here are our favorite action movies currently streaming, and where you can watch them. Our latest update added In the Line of Duty IV.
Year: 1989Run time: 1h 34mDirector: Yuen Woo-pingCast: Cynthia Khan, Donnie Yen, Michael Wong
One of the absolute classics of the golden age of Hong Kong action cinema, In the Line of Duty IV teams up a young Donnie Yen with the peerless Cynthia Khan in an action- and stunt-filled roller coaster from legendary choreographer and director Yuen Woo-ping.
Technically a part of the Yes Madamseries (which features all-time Michelle Yeoh action bangers Royal Warriors and Yes, Madam!), In the Line of Duty IV reprises Cynthia Khan’s Inspector Rachel Yeung character from In the Line of Duty III. But you do not need to watch the others in the series to get the magnificence of In the Line of Duty IV.
Inspector Yeung is assisting the Seattle Police Department in a drug smuggling operation when things go wrong, and an officer is killed by the CIA agents secretly doing the drug smuggling. When the wrong man is framed for murder and escapes to Hong Kong, Yeung and Seattle PD officer Donnie Yen (played, of course, by Donnie Yen) chase him down and attempt to find the truth.
In the Line of Duty IV has a more coherent plot than many of the other Hong Kong action movies of this era, but it’s all there to support the outstanding stunts and fights. Yen was in his 20s when he filmed the movie, and his legendary speed is on full display here, but it’s Khan who really steals the show. A terrific lead in many action movies of the era, Khan took her stage name from two of her idols: Yes, Madam! co-stars Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh (who was credited as Michelle Khan at the time). She brings a determination and fearlessness to the role and her stunts, including a jaw-dropping sequence on top of a moving ambulance.
The list of phenomenal fights in this movie is nearly endless, but I want to shout out the rooftop fight scene between Yen and American martial artist Michael Woods. The two met because Woods trained at Yen’s mother’s martial arts school in the Boston area, and they went on to star in many movies together.
There’s a new excellent box set out from 88 Films, but luckily the movie is