10 Incredible Asian Action Movies You Have To See Before You Die

From: Hong Kong

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

Any number of early Jackie Chan films could have made this list, with Police Story and Supercop (Rotten Tomatoes scores of 85% and 92% respectively) both well worth the time of any action movie fan. The reason Rumble in the Bronx was chosen is that it represents Chan's breakthrough into the American market at a time when he was at the peak of his abilities.

He plays Ma Hon Keung, a Hong Kong cop travelling to New York to attend his uncle's wedding. Said uncle's plans are thrown into disarray when the process of selling his successful multicultural supermarket in the Bronx is halted by a biker gang who begin targeting the place. Keung is forced to take matters into his own hands and soon finds that teaming with the bikers against a larger criminal syndicate threatening the whole neighbourhood is the best way to deal with the problem.

Neither the plot nor the production value are anything to write home about, but that is the case with all of Jackie Chan's best movies, where the sole attraction is the star. The critics rightly gushed over Chan's impeccable performance, which was based on a blatant disregard for his own safety in the name of entertainment.

In fact, Chan's insistence on making his stunts memorable lead to the star having to complete half of the film with his foot in a cast, having broken it while leaping from a pier onto a moving boat. The crew coloured in a sock so that it matched his one remaining sneaker and the show went on.