NOV 9 — Action movies are very much like comfort food for me, and probably works the same way for a lot of dudes who grew up during the 1980s and 1990s, where action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal are at the top of the food chain while on the lower rungs are names like Chuck Norris, Billy Blanks, Mark Dacascos, Olivier Grunier and Cynthia Rothrock.

Just like the definition of comfort food, action flicks provide nostalgic or sentimental value, often associated with that particular person’s childhood.

Unlike the 1980s and 1990s where, even though the bulk of the action stuff we love are more often than not straight-to-video affairs, we can still find plenty of them released in cinemas, action flicks nowadays have almost exclusively gone straight to streaming and digital platforms, with the exception of Hong Kong action flicks, which can still find their way into cinemas, even Malaysian ones.

Because most of them go straight to streaming/digital, it is indeed very easy to miss out even on the fact that they have been released, or even exist.

Here are three new ones that I think are worth checking out, with one of them even playing in local cinemas right now, albeit with only a limited release.

The Shadow Strays

Out now on Netflix, this latest film from Indonesian action/horror maestro Timo Tjahjanto is another satisfying ultra-violent fight flick that fans of the genre will gleefully lap up.

I’d still say that his 2018 Netflix film The Night Comes For Us is his magnum opus when it comes to fight flicks, but The Shadow Strays is no slouch either, and is probably the best action movie of 2024 so far.

At almost two and a half hours, I was initially worried that this movie would be a slog as it’s another one of those movies about a trained killer without a past who grows tired of his/her life and decides to risk it all by protecting someone he/she barely knows.

However, by now, Timo is already an expert at staging and delivering flawlessly executed fight scenes that are filled with excessive gore and over-the-top violence, sprinkling these in with abundance throughout the film, making for a very exciting viewing experience.

Plus, unlike a lot of those fight flicks we often see go straight to streaming/digital nowadays, The Shadow Strays looks and feels like it at least has a very decent budget, with beautiful and classy production design, and everything turned up to 11.

If you’re an action junkie, this one’s a no-brainer.

Take Cover

The undisputed king of DTV (Direct-To-Video) action movies of the last decade or so, Scott Adkins stars in something a wee bit different when compared to his usual stuff.

Except for the short opening where the movie establishes the relationship between sniper Sam (Adkins) and his spotter Ken (Jack Parr) during a job, and another short bit towards the film’s end, the bulk of the film is set in just one location – a luxury hotel room in which the two pals are supposed to rest, together with two call girls, before doing their "one last job”, during which they found themselves attacked by not just snipers, but also a bunch of other mercenaries who are clearly trying to eliminate them.

Debuting director Nick McKinless (a former stuntman) does a pretty decent job of keeping things moving, interspersing character dialogue moments with shootouts and even some fisticuffs, keeping things tight and fun within its 85-minute runtime.

It’s not going to win anyone any Oscars here, but if you want something different from Scott Adkins (but still want to see those high kicks), this one will do just nicely.

Weekend In Taipei

I’m a Luc Besson fan, so if I see a new action movie bearing the logo of his production company EuropaCorp, I’ll go see it, no questions asked, especially if it’s playing in cinemas.

Yes, they’re often very formulaic action movies, from the Taken movies to the Transporter movies and even the Taxi movies, but there’s a reason why they’re still making them (there’s even a Taxi 5, and I won’t be shocked if there’s a Taxi 6 in the works), because enough people have kept on coming back to see them.

Weekend In Taipei, starring Luke Evans, is without any doubt a EuropaCorp action flick, with the unique hook being that it’s set in Taiwan.

Evans plays DEA agent John Lawlor, who has a history in Taiwan trying to bring down businessman Kwang (Sung Kang, of Tokyo Drift fame) and now has a chance to do so after being in contact with an informant who’s managed to steal Kwang’s ledger.

What John doesn’t know is that the informant turns out to be Raymond (Wyatt Yang), a son he never knew he had with his ex-girlfriend, Joey (Gwei Lun-mei), who happens to be married to Kwang now.

It’s a nicely contrived set-up from director George Huang, who proves quite adept at helming the film’s many action set-pieces, from your standard EuropaCorp shootouts to its impressive opening hand-to-hand fight scene in a kitchen and even Fast and Furious style car chases.

The very definition of action comfort food, this one’s a surprisingly pleasant viewing experience for me, and it’s funny too!