Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

Thai Movies Vs Chinese Movies Vs Japanese Movies Vs Korean Movies

Which has the best martialarts/etcs film?
Which is more realistic?
Which has the best looking actors/actress?

at the moment i have to say that korean cinema is producing some amazing films...japan produces some great stuff but much of the cultural referencing in jap films is lost on the west...chinese fight films are pretty generic...with few exceptions...some great works of art though....havent had alot of experience with thai films..

China and Hong Kong have a wealthy history of good to great Martial Arts epics, most notably wuxia. They own cinema, in that department. I mean, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is an unmatched piece of martial arts filmmaking, but there are so many more.

Thailand has some interesting films, but they normally don't appeal to me at all. Japan has the best looking actors and actices. Korean art house cinema is really coming along these days, so they might take over soon.

I break it down like this: Best action/martial arts, I say look no further than Tony Jaa in Thailand. Maybe he's not as great as he claims, but dude kicks mucho ass. Most realistic, I have to go with Korean and Thai, not because of the stories, but because of the budgets. They really don't have multimillion dollar budgets to produce their movies, so they have to keep special effects to a mininum, which definitely gives everything a sense of realism. And Best looking actors/actresses, I'm sorry, but I have a thing for Japanese girls. Hands down hot, they are.

I think it depends on what you're looking for. I reckon:

Traditional martial arts, beautiful epics and the best gangster movies - china and Hong Kong.

Gritty, realistic films - Thailand

Stylish ultraviolence - Korea and Japan

Surreal weirdness - Korea and Japan

I would have to say the Chinese Movies.Saw one the other day on spike tv.I think it was called "The atteck of the Chinese people' or something like that.It was pretty funny!jm

Originally posted by jaden101
at the moment i have to say that korean cinema is producing some amazing films...japan produces some great stuff but much of the cultural referencing in jap films is lost on the west...chinese fight films are pretty generic...with few exceptions...some great works of art though....havent had alot of experience with thai films..
Same. Korea seems to be leading the Asian movie market.

as far as martial arts go, CURRENTLY thailand reigns supreme.{ONG-BAK, MUA THAI WARRIOR} go WATCH it! if u havent already.
some japanese moveis, a significan amount, are just plain stupid, trying to copy anime expressions{versus, etc}. others are quite nice{pistol theatre}. their old movies like bishamon were AWESOME! they have some good martial rts movies of the past but currently, techno goth, neo western culture has destroyed creativity. plus special affects, camera tricks and wires dont work out too well. korean are good at the unstylised neo gothic stuff. plus some of their love stories are excessively cheesybut very warm. chinese cinema has the WORST serious martial arts movies. although if theyr meant to be funny. theyr ok. hong kong makes some nice horror movies and thrillers though. and classic love stories. same for japan for the horrror movies.

Originally posted by leonheartmm
as far as martial arts go, CURRENTLY thailand reigns supreme.{ONG-BAK, MUA THAI WARRIOR} go WATCH it! if u havent already.
some japanese moveis, a significan amount, are just plain stupid, trying to copy anime expressions{versus, etc}. others are quite nice{pistol theatre}. their old movies like bishamon were AWESOME! they have some good martial rts movies of the past but currently, techno goth, neo western culture has destroyed creativity. plus special affects, camera tricks and wires dont work out too well. korean are good at the unstylised neo gothic stuff. plus some of their love stories are excessively cheesybut very warm. chinese cinema has the WORST serious martial arts movies. although if theyr meant to be funny. theyr ok. hong kong makes some nice horror movies and thrillers though. and classic love stories. same for japan for the horrror movies.

leonheartmm you are an idiot chinese cinema has the WORST serious martial arts movies what have you been watching are you more stupid than I think. Hong Kong cinema can have both serious and not serious martial arts epic or realistic or unrealistic martial arts films stupid watch Ip Man, Police Story because it sounds like you know nothing about Chinese martial arts films. Thai martial arts films are great thanks to Tony Jaa and Dan Chupong because of their works like ong bak born to fight but those movies are not at par with hong kongs legendary films such as crouching tiger hidden dragon, police story, come drink with me, etc.

Hong Kong has been ahead of everyone in terms of martial arts films to this day no one has ever made a film to truly beat their epic wuxia/kung fu/martial arts genre. Hong Kong started great and still has.

I would say Japans Samurai flicks have matched the glory of wuxia films thanks to Akira Kurosawa and japanese kaiju and anime films are top notch.

Korean films are okay to me

Thai movies are the best for just hard-core action. Japanese is mostly awful but there are some real hidden gems in it as well, especially ones that have kind of unique concepts behind them. Chinese movies are also mostly bad imo, but I have seen some interesting movies, Crouching Tiger of course is great wuxia, also "Ashes of Time" was one of the greatest in my opinion. Korean films, i've barely watched them but the ones I did watch were incredibly strange, I didn't even know what to think.