The Rise and Fall of Hong Kong Cinema

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[BenLiuChungHin]

No mention of Stephen Chow.. He pretty much owned it in the 90s.

[Liam-whj]

I hope Hong Kong cinema can find a way to revive its golden era. The creativity and energy back then were truly unmatched.

[MichaelHaddad-wfwn]

Its kind of sad now, that the 80s and 90s martial arts movies don't exist anymore. Back in the 70s, when Bruce Lee brought out of the Kung Fu Craze in the World, everybody start to take up martial arts and that's why we had martial artists in movies and they were great. Sadly, as the kids are spoiled today it's going to be hard to get that back. Even again, Hollywood is doing non-original movies (sequels, remakes, reboots), martial arts movies will be hard to revive today. Lastly, as Donnie Yen is about to do Hollywood's Kung Fu Movie Remake of the 1972 TV Series, he'll will be the last Asian martial arts actor to do martial arts movies and he won't do a lot of movies because as everyone is aging, they won't do the things they used to do back then.

[frayhua]

Jackie Chan is a legend over there in-fact his Police Story Movie franchise is a big hit in Hong Kong.

[funveee]

I’m a hongkonger, and thank you for making this video. Appreciate that

[AyaC]

I love the HK movies of the late 70s, 80s and 90s. With stars like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Chow Yuen Fatt, Stephen Chow and so on, HK movies back then dare to try different things although they have a habit of following a trend like the 1st Mr vampire movie which was a hit and everyone follow the trend in making vampire and ghost comedy movies.

Golden Harvest and Cinema City were the big 2 movie studios that compete in the box offices especially during the Chinese New Year season where there will be either a Jackie Chan movie or Stephen Chow movie which people will queue up to watch.

However after 1997, things change a lot especially China regulations that restrict HK movie makers creativity. Which is why now if you see the HK movies of today, it is either a crime drama like internal affairs or a triad movie that is about the big gangsters of the past. No more supernatural movies, no more slapstick movies. It's really sad that HK movies has fallen so much...

[CaptainJim]

While King Hu had a strong influence for sure, it's worth nothing he quickly left HK and the Shaw studios for Taiwan. His style of filmmaking had much less of an impact on the years that followed in Hong Kong than the works of Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-Leung, who were both massive draws at the box office before and during Bruce Lee's fame as well. In fact John Woo was a former assistant to Chang Cheh and shares with him a certain approach to stylized violence as well as a focus on masculinity and friendship (the famous yangyang genre).

[Jam-nb]

Watching this video brought back so many memories of classic Hong Kong films. The stunts, the action, the storytelling—it was all so unique and unforgettable.

[paulstanley]

Better pronunciation of the chinese would be a plus, and a mention of competition from the growing mainland chinese film industry, and it’s a pity that all the mentioned movie stars are men, but altogether this is an excellent overview

[Ava-wms]

Hong Kong invented and redefined many genres. But now, the film industry is stagnant. One reason is that the talent from the 80s and 90s was truly generational.

[Panama-ndxy]

wow! really great work for such a small channel

[Amelia-nql]

Really awesome! I loved it. Looking forward to your next video—keep it up!

[soshiderek]

HK invented and re-invented many genres. Now, filming industry is stagnant. One reason is 80s/90s talent was generational.

[tonzhoyaj]

With Bruce Lee gone and the GOATS like Sammo, Jackie, Donnie, Jet, and Stephen Chow are all aging, and as of right now mainland China and HK cinema haven't been able to create stars to replace those guys. And so once they're gone mainland China cinema and HK cinema's popularity will decrease even further.

[Oliver-gol]

Pretty good breakdown. Thanks for this! It’s a great history lesson on Hong Kong cinema.

[AmbientWalking]

Pretty good breakdown. Thanks for this! Good history lesson about HK film.

[Noah-pwp]

Insightful video, and the advanced graphics are very impressive.

[FaceEast]

I know it is not in the Martial Arts genre, but when I saw Derek Tsang's movie 'Better Days' starring Zhou Dongu, it was one of the best things I'd seen in years, and the most moved I was since Wong Kar Wai in the early 90s. So I know that the Island is still packing some awesome movie-making.Sure I wish really do Chow makes a new movie every year, but I know that's never going to happen, and Bruce Lee is still the only person (IMHO) to match Humphrey Bogart for on-screen charisma, but maybe the HK movies could be in different style. I hope it will rise again, and soon.

[angelochan]

I don’t like the guy as a person, but Jackie Chan’s Police story is GOATed

[williamho]

Jet Li was also a draw in the 1990s box office boom