10 Movies Every Action Fan Needs To See

You know a lead character is going to kick a** when he’s introduced with the line “He’s a karate man, sir – a mean bast**d.” Sure enough, Takuma Tsurugi is exactly the right person to defend an heiress against thugs that want to kidnap her. Tsurugi is of course played by Sonny Chiba, the kind of fighter who can break boards just by staring at them.

Well-staged, and loaded with bone-crushing action sequences (be sure to watch the 91 minute version for the full impact), The Streetfighter not only confirmed Chiba as the rightful heir to Bruce Lee, but also breathed new life into the kung-fu genre after the Little Dragon’s passing.

If the climactic confrontation looks familiar, that’s because this is the film that Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette are watching in the cinema at the start of True Romance. With such an enthusiastic endorsement from Quentin Tarantino, you know the movie’s going to be something special and it doesn’t disappoint.