Heroic bloodshed is a genre of Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence. The term heroic bloodshed was coined by editor Rick Baker in the magazine Eastern Heroes in the late 1980s, specifically referring to the styles of directors John Woo and Ringo Lam. Baker defined the genre as "a Hong Kong action film that features a lot of gun play and gangsters rather than kung fu. Lots of blood. Lots of action." Woo's film A Better Tomorrow is said to have popularized the genre. Woo has also been a major influence in its continued popularity and evolution in his later works, namely Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow 2, and The Killer.
Read more about Heroic Bloodshed: Motifs, Americanization, Heroic Bloodshed Films
Famous quotes containing the words heroic and/or bloodshed:
“The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one’s self a fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when it be obeyed.”
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864)
“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)