We were inspired to showcase some readily available Hong Kong action movies that are a great companion to Sleeping Dogs. This is not a definitive list but one that should get you started once you get the HK action fever.
Great video concept, i really enjoy the idea of video games and movies sharing certains tones. Great movie choices and Hard Boiled is one of my all time favs. But i would also add "Dog bites dog" & "S.P.L." aka "Kill Zone" for some nice HK Martial action with a good story.
2 Like I've been looking for some HK movies to watch after seeing the game so should get a few here, thanks. And you would have got so much hate if you hadn't put HB and IA in there, I know, so good job ha!
1 Like To me one of the movie Protege is very close to Sleeping Dogs in terms of the theme that his loyalty to the cops and his gang are both tested. In the movie Daniel Wu is deep undercover and is the Protege to the leader of one of the gangs and he is being groomed to take over as the leader. Very Excellent movie.
It terms of combat would say Flaspoint and SPU with Donnie Yen are very closed to Sleeping Dogs.
My list would certainly include Hard Boiled, Infernal Affairs, A Better Tomorrow and the Young & Dangerous series.
Then try Hong Kong Godfather (1985), The Big Heat (1988), and though not a triad film Full Contact (1992) is a gritty HK crime classic.
And any of Johnnie To's crime movies are worth seeing...just be aware that some are more dramatic than action packed.
Of course, I also have to recommend the sloppy but exciting Tiger on the Beat (1988) starring Chow Yun Fat and Conan Lee (the voice of Sleeping Dogs' Two Chin Tsao). Notably for the ending, featuring a chainsaw fight between Lee and Gordon Liu (Kill Bill's Pai Mei).
Good times!
@driftglass Wow some good stuff. You just reminded me of that wacky/awesome chainsaw fight in "Tiger on the Beat" great stuff. ;)
@driftglass Yeah anyone of Johnnie To's crime movies are great Triad Election is one my favorites by him.
1 Like Ha ha ha. City on Fire. The movie Tarantino stole shamelessly from for Reservoir Dogs.
@anvilone Well to be fair to Tarantino he admitted that City on Fire was the inspiration for Reservoir Dogs and that he did pretty much rip it off.
I give you my list without a 30 seconds Microsoft Video ad, or a boring 5 min video compilation: 1. In the Mood for Love [Wong Kar-Wai; 2001] #272 - Hong Kong-France [photo rt] 2. Raise the Red Lantern [Zhang Yimou; 1991] #303 - Hong Kong 3. Farewell, My Concubine [Chen Kaige; 1993] #456 - Hong Kong-China 4. Chungking Express [Wong Kar-Wai; 1994] #534 - Hong Kong 5. Killer, The [Woo, John; 1989] #709 - Hong Kong 6. Happy Together [Wong Kar-Wai; 1997] #1085 - Hong Kong 7. Days of Being Wild [Wong Kar-Wai; 1990] #1118 - Hong Kong 8. Fallen Angels [Wong Kar-Wai; 1995] #1147 - Hong Kong
@sethfrost Wong Kar-Wai is the least iconic of Hong Kong action directors. In fact, I don't think you could fairly argue that he even qualifies. Fallen Angels and Ashes of Time, maybe. ITMFL is right out and Days of Being Wild has one scene that comes close to fitting the genre. What about Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam, not to mention the legacy of the Shaw Brothers? Also, The Killer is a great film, but the Better Tomorrow films and Hard Boiled deserve to be on that list long before anything by Wong.
Whoops typed that up before the video finished. Well see Election and The Killer while you are at it.
By focusing on action movies alone you are missing some amazing HK crime thrillers. Election has long been one of my favorite movies and if you've ever seen The Departed and missed Infernal Affairs then you should see that.
3 Like the end fight of "flash point" is one of the best i've seen. donny yen is remarkable. and the entire action pieces of "raid: redemption" are amazing and brutal and really well choreographed.
@topeira the raid redemption has nothing to do with hong kong or th triads, but i agree it was a nice action movie.
The Stranglehold game was supposed to be a direct sequel to the movie Hard Boiled. It certainly felt like it haha!! Oh man, Hard Boiled is still the best action movie ever made in history.. I still can't think of anything else that comes close.
Stranglehold was alot of fun as a simple action game. It wasn't a huge open world environment, and it mainly just dealt with fighting and gun play but it was just a fun game for an afternoon of stress relief.
I just got Sleeping Dogs yesterday and excited to try it out.
WOW Game looks terrible on console (compared to PC).....sorry I know I sound elitist but seriously this game on PC is like EPIC. Not that it actually looks bad, but the upgrade to PC just looks soo amazing.
@SpazldNinjaDude Yeah, I tried to play Sleeping Dogs on the PC but since my PC sucks I had to get the PS3 version. The difference in graphics quality was actually distracting at first. That said, I'm still definitely enjoying the game.
I hope there will be games where you can have some one-on-one fights. Like this one from SPL.
Young and Dangerous 3 was my favorite HK triad film, along with School on Fire, some of the story elements present in Sleeping Dogs can be found in those films.
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2 Like Oh yea and the subtitles for one of the versions of Hard Boiled are SO BAD, one part the girl is supposed to say, "There's still a baby in the nursery". I swear to god they released it saying, "Theres still a baby in the pussary".
2 Like Sorry for the chain replies, just found it, I was off by a little bit http://verydemotivational.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/demotivational-posters-pussary.jpg
@Psycold I have never seen Hard Boiled, sad to say. However, I just ordered a used copy off of amazon for $3 (including shipping) I'm almost hoping it's the version you're talking about just for the amusement of that one line XD
Still, if I like the movie, what version would you say is currently the best one available?
I loved Sleeping Dogs too, so I watched Infernal Affairs, but I found it really difficult to follow. I found that the subtitles flashed up too quick to read sometimes. It gave me a headache trying to read the subtitles and follow the action on screen at the same time, I had to turn it off half way through...
Never had this problem before with subtitled films. Anyone else have this problem?
I think there were maybe two subtitles that went by a little too fast, but nothing that caused any real issue. I didn't have any trouble following the storyline either. I thought it was a very good film!
@JangoF-76 Not at all, I watched the 3 infernal affairs movies subtitled. Believe me you should try to watch them, they're a masterpiece of the asian cinema, I dare to say they're the asian equivalent to the godfather movies, except that the 3 are awesome.
@JangoF-76 There is a dubbed version on DVD.
I don't recall the problem you described happening the last time I saw it.
Police Story, Dragons Forever. Though my personal favorite is Drunken Master, sure it has no police/triad whatever, but the movie was awesome.
Rumble in the bronx, ong-bak and enter the dragon should be on this list since they've got outfits you unlock in game resembling the wardrobe the actors wear in the movies. Police Story, A better tomorrow, The killer, there so many more great films, even big trouble in little china, it's not an HK action flick, but it's john carpenter at his best.
I would have to disagree with you John Carpenter at his best would have to be "The Thing". And if your going to pick a Jackie Chan film for HK modern action you would pick "Police Story" those crazy stunts and fighting action was out of this world compared to the lame "American Effort" of "Rumble in the bronx"
2 Like I'm more of a mid 90's Jackie Chan fan myself. I would go to the video store as a kid and rent his movies all the time. And then, trying his moves myself with my friends in front of the shameful eyes of my parents. God.
1 Like I will admit, this game is wicked. I wasn't expecting to like it this much. After my Darksiders 2 save crashed on me. I popped this in. The game is Awesome.
Sleeping Dogs 2 please.
