Found out that Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, who directed the last two Bad Boys movies, released a sequel to their Belgian crime film GANGSTA this year (the title's... GANGSTAS). 2nd half contains nice set pieces, such as a long (fake) oner shootout. Only on Prime Benelux for now.

I've been trying to catch up with major releases lately, so here's my 2025 Action Films list. It's obviously still a WIP. I've found this year to be pretty rich so far, with several interesting international challengers and a few daring propositions. letterboxd.com/headexposure...

Boom! Surprise Qin Pengfei flick! Here's a scene from the first 5 minutes of THE FINDER / 追踪者 letterboxd.com/film/the-fin...

The cat's out of the bag: I'm curating a V-Cinema focus program for the upcoming International Film Festival Rotterdam www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Come ooooon, bring it to us!

Unsurprisingly, I really liked the Rishab Shetty's KANTARA - A LEGEND: CHAPTER 1 (2025). A well conducted mythological epic that dwells on primordial beliefs, but is also quite funny in its first half. I probably laughed more than I should have at this moment:

TIMUR Teaser Reveals Iko Uwais’ Explosive New Hostage Action Thriller The film opens in Indonesia on December 18

Finally, a trailer for action comedy KUNG FU, from Taiwanese director Giddens Ko (MON MON MON MONSTER, A CHOO). 😃 Taiwan's biggest production in a while and choreo from the Triple A stunt team!

Did you know that Hong Kong stunt performers got the idea to use cardboard boxes to break falls from... the French?! 😳 I did not.

Looking forward to Iko's directing debut!

Li Bingyuan, the absolute madman who gave us the unhinged, exhilarating FIGHTER two years ago, is back with a wuxia pian!!!

For PENANCE to work as a feature film, it still needs more work. But oh boy, did I like the action. It opens on a 9-minute action scene that makes it feel like it will be unstoppable. filmexposure.ch/2025/09/23/f...

ROAD TO VENDETTA isn't the action extravaganza I thought it would be; the action is just fine, actually. But its characters and visuals will no doubt prove memorable. filmexposure.ch/2025/09/22/f...

Fresh off its Fantastic Fest premiere, Spanish thriller LUGER delivers a reflection on the inevitability of violence, peppered with a few brutal beatdowns. filmexposure.ch/2025/09/21/f...

DEED OF DEATH aka GERAN was a nice surprise back in 2021. Ready for more bone-crushing silat!

The fights start 1 min in and remain nearly constant thereafter. Koichi Sakamoto levels of action: dynamic, cheap, efficient, a bit repetitive but with cool acrobatics. Paid less than 3€ to rent; easily worth 5 times that. To say you get your money's worth would be a euphemism.

Really digging this new trailer for Lu Yang's fantasy drama actioner A WRITER'S ODYSSEY 2. The first installment from 2021 comes highly recommended!

IKATAN DARAH, one of the two films from Iko Uwais' new production company, will have its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. 😎 No reason to expect anything other than total kinetic insanity.

Oooh, first teaser for GAUA, the new film from Basque filmmaker Paul Urkijo Alijo. I really liked his previous features (ERREMENTARI and IRATÌ). Ready for more pagan cinema!

My review of THE FURIOUS, where I reflect on why the film might be of lasting importance to the action genre: filmexposure.ch/2025/09/07/t...

I had never seen anything quite like THE FURIOUS before. Unrelenting, generous, precise, virtuoso. Accutely aware of the genre's past while forging a way forward. Some action design ideas are pretty unique.

The time has come for #TheFurious

Hey, Toronto! What's up? Just visiting for a couple of days. I heard there's a cool film playing tomorrow at midnight. 😎 The things I do for action movies... 😅 #TheFurious #TIFF50

Recently watched ALAPPUZHA GYMKHANA from director Khalid Rahman (THALLUMAALA) and it's a breath of fresh air in the sports drama genre. Doesn't reinvent the wheel, but relies on great character interactions and energetic camera work during boxing scenes.

I love Timo's work, but I cannot abide the destruction of an Iron Maiden pinball machine in NOBODY 2. Sorry, line crossed. 😔 Kidding, the film's a lot of fun! Ideal mid-budget actioner that wastes no time. (Hope they played it before breaking it. Killer game design from Keith Elwin!)

First clip from Kenji Tanigaki's THE FURIOUS, featuring Tse Miu and Brian Le. I'm ready (or maybe I'm not, and that's the point).

Cool. I'll be there. (I hope the editing is better than in the previous one.)

Trailer for Yugo Sakamoto's FLAME UNION, the third theatrical installment in his indie fake documentary action series, following LEGENDARY HITMAN, KUNIOKA and GREEN BULLET. Sakamoto is mostly known internationally for his Baby Assassins franchise. In Japanese cinemas 10 October.

Not a great year so far for Chinese DTVs (compared to 2024), but Jingle Ma's BATTLE OF THE WOLF, starring Vincent Zhao, is pretty decent as a 90-min old-school actioner set on a plane (complete with Western henchman and overbearing melodramatic music). Better than HIGH FORCES!

Casually browsing the Busan International Film Festival's website, when suddenly: THE FURIOUS 👀 More festivals to come this fall, I'm sure. Hoping for a good festival run followed by a wide theatrical release. Cinematic ultra violence belongs on the big screen.

Today! Koichi Sakamoto's non-stop brawler ISOLATED is having its intl' premiere at Big Bad Film Fest, and action scholar @actionanders.bsky.social can't stop singing its praises! Just like that, the film "smashed its way into the action-movies-of-the-year discussion" filmexposure.ch/2025/08/24/i...

PENANCE will debut at Fantastic Fest next month. Indie feature film from stunt professional Nikolas Pelekai. Most of the actors are also stunt people. More details below. I've been told to expect low budget wall-to-wall fighting in a blood-soaked tale of brotherhood and retribution. Say no more:

Hey, this looks cool! Directed by Ra Hee-chan and starring Jo Woo-jin, Jung Kyung-ho, and Park Ji-hwan. Plot: Two possible heirs of a gang who dream of a normal life must do everything they can to lose the election to become the new Boss. Count me in.

SKYLINE WARPATH, let's freaking gooooooooo! Also, check out the text for ROAD TO VENDETTA, holy shite:

76 minutes, action-packed, cool choreos, and quirky characters? Of course it's from Koichi Sakamoto.

Brotherhood, betrayal, and violence? The Defenderz stunt team delivers the goods in the unexpectedly hard-hitting Malaysian gangster flick BLOOD BROTHERS: BARA NAGA (on Netflix from August 10th).

Oh boy, a new masterpiece of splatter cinema incomiiing! 🤩 www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfd-...

@timessqkungfu.bsky.social @headexposure.bsky.social the list of cities for the Hong Kong Cinema Classics theatrical run is out. It's going to be incredible to see these restorations on the big screen!

Trailer for A WRITER'S ODYSSEY 2. Finally! 😃

Kenji Tanigaki directing Tse Miu, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian, Joey Iwanaga, Jeeja Yanin, and Brian Le. THE FURIOUS is giving off "once-in-a-decade game changer" vibes. I have to see this. Nothing else matters until I do. World premiere announced at TIFF.

Hadn't seen Vanness Wu in a while, and he suddenly pops up in a DTV actioner alongside Andy On, directed by Sammy Hung (Sammo's son). RELENTLESS FURY is just fine, but there’s an elevator fight, so here goes.

I wake from my slumber (work has been mental) to share with you my boundless admiration for REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND, an exploration of the aesthetics of genre cinema distilled to their purest form through laser-focused shot compositions and razor-sharp editing. It's never...

Sammo Hung reflects on the amount of work he had to put in to pull off his dance sequence with Deanie Ip in the 1984 film THE OWL VS. BUMBO. (Taken from the Hong Kong Film Archive oral history project on D&B Films)

Extremely solid work from everyone involved in this high-end DTV actioner. Superior fight choreo and execution! Now I need prequels/spin-offs/whatever you call them with more Marko Zaror on freak mode, slashing his way through equally skilled fighters. 🙏

A violent Indonesian animated film based off a 1968 comic book about a 15th century warrior battling the forces of black magic? Why, yes, thank you very much. PANJI TENGKORAK (Daryl Wilson, 2025)

There's a Telugu actioner that just landed on Netflix called HIT: THE THIRD CASE. The story is over the top, but so is everything else... including the last 30 minutes of action, one of the bloodiest pieces of cinematic violence I've seen in a while.

Provided a video essay for this release. Thanks to the amazing folks over Vinegar Syndrome and @jlalibs.com on being part of this dream release. Look at that Tony Stella art!

The Neon Splatter Interview: Guillaume Pierret for LAST BULLET Shafi Malik sits down with @gpierret.bsky.social , the writer/director of the LOST BULLET series, to discuss his latest film, directing helicopters, and the current state of action movies. www.neonsplatter.com/editorials/t...

Longer trailer for Kang Hyung-Chul's superhero action comedy HI-5!