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159-399: Infernal Affairs is a 2002 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak from a screenplay written by Mak and Felix Chong . The film stars Andy Lau , Tony Leung , Anthony Wong , Eric Tsang , Sammi Cheng and Kelly Chen . The film follows an undercover Hong Kong Police Force officer who infiltrates a triad and another police officer who is secretly a spy for

318-559: A photograph , face ; hand , or iris measurements; or fingerprints . Many countries issue electronic identity cards . Law enforcement officials claim that identity cards make surveillance and the search for criminals easier and therefore support the universal adoption of identity cards. In countries that do not have a national identity card, there is concern about the projected costs and potential abuse of high-tech smartcards. In many countries – especially English-speaking countries such as Australia , Canada , Ireland , New Zealand ,

477-538: A qualification (without proving identity). For example, all taxicab drivers in the UK carry ID cards. Managers, supervisors, and operatives in construction in the UK can get a photographic ID card, the CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) card, indicating training and skills including safety training. The card is not an identity card or a legal requirement, but enables holders to prove competence without having to provide all

636-586: A "desperate attempt to mask the lack of content." Geoff King argued that the spectacle can also be a vehicle for narrative, opposed to interfering with it. Soberson stated that Harvey O'Brien had "perhaps the most convincing understanding of the genre", stating that the action film was "best understood as a fusion of form and content. It represents the idea and ethic of action through a form in which action, agitation and movement are paramount." O'Brien wrote further in his book Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back to suggest action films being unique and not just

795-505: A Global release status of Chinese-language martial arts films, most notably Zhang Yimou 's Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004), Stephen Chow 's Kung Fu Hustle (2004) and Chen Kaige 's The Promise (2005). Most Hong Kong action films in the first quarter of the 21st century, such as those in Cold War (2012), Cold War 2 (2016) and The White Storm film series have their violence toned down, especially compared to

954-535: A KTP (Kartu Tanda Penduduk) identity card. The card will identify whether the holder is an Indonesian citizen or foreign national . In 2011, the Indonesian government started a two-year ID issuance campaign that utilizes smartcard technology and biometric duplication of fingerprint and iris recognition . This card, called the Electronic KTP (e-KTP), will replace the conventional ID card beginning in 2013. By 2013, it

1113-764: A central Biometric Database, which is used by the Bangladesh Election Commission to oversee the electoral procedure in Bangladesh. All Bangladeshis are issued with an NID Card which can be used to obtain a passport, Driving Licence, credit card, and to register land ownership. The Bhutanese national identity card (called the Buthanese Citizenship card) is an electronic ID card, compulsory for all Bhutanese nationals and costs 100 Bhutanese ngultrum. The People's Republic of China requires each of its citizens aged 16 and over to carry an identity card. The card

1272-458: A cop while Lau has erased his criminal connections. At police headquarters, Chan and Lau meet for the first time. As Lau prepares to reinstate Chan into the police force, Chan deduces that Lau was the mole and leaves promptly. Realising what had happened, Lau takes possession of Chan's police identity file to use as leverage to dissuade Chan from exposing him. Chan meets with Lee, the only person left whom he can trust, and convinces her that he truly

1431-573: A daily basis. More than 4.5 million people are expected to register and obtain ID cards of citizenship or residence in Liberia. The project has already started where NIR (National Identification Registry) is issuing Citizen National ID Cards. The centralized National Biometric Identification System (NBIS) will be integrated with other government ministries. Resident ID Cards and ECOWAS ID Cards will also be issued. Mauritius requires all citizens who have reached

1590-418: A dialogue scene. Gordon Lam did not receive the full script and did not know his character was also a triad mole until the final scene. The script for Infernal Affairs originally belonged to Andy Lau's Teamwork Motion Pictures , but due to the company's entanglement in a lawsuit at the time, it was unable to produce the film. In addition, the creative team could not find investors because other studios at

1749-442: A driving licence, and young people may need to use specially issued "proof of age cards" when purchasing alcohol. Arguments for identity documents as such: Arguments for national identity documents: Arguments against identity documents as such: Arguments against national identity documents: Arguments against overuse or abuse of identity documents: According to Privacy International , as of 1996 , possession of identity cards

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1908-436: A fight sequence. In the 1980s, American martial arts films reflected the national move towards conservatism, reflected in films of Chuck Norris and other actors such as Sho Kosugi . The genre would shift from theatrical releases towards the end of the decade with the rise of home video, the lower box-office of American martial arts productions, and a significant portion of direct-to-video action films that first were made in

2067-408: A form of identification. Some countries require all people to have an identity document available at all times. Many countries require all foreigners to have a passport or occasionally a national identity card from their home country available at any time if they do not have a residence permit in the country. A version of the passport considered to be the earliest identity document inscribed into law

2226-493: A global audience of these films in the United States and Europe, but was cut short on Lee's death in 1973 leading the phases popularity to decline. Following a period of stagnation, Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-leung revitalized the genre with shaolin kung fu films and Chor Yuen 's series of darker swordplay films based on the novels of Gu Long . Kung Fu comedies appeared featuring Jackie Chan as martial arts films flourished into

2385-566: A hero overcoming enemies or obstacles and physical conflicts or challenge, usually battling other humans or alien opponents. By late 2010s studies of genre analysis, the term "genre" itself is often replaced or supplemented with the words "mode" and "narrative form" with all three terms often being used interchangeably. Johan Höglund and Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet said that the difference between these concepts are elusive, but stated that genre could be defined as belonging to specific historical and cultural moments while "mode" and "form" can refer to

2544-454: A larger pattern that operates across a wider historical and cultural field. In their book Action Cinema Since 2000 (2024), Tasker, Lisa Purse, and Chris Holmlund stated that thinking of action as a mode is more helpful than thinking of it as a genre. The three authors suggested that action frames a certain manner of filmmaking and viewing exceed genre without eclipsing it stating that websites such as IMDb and Misplaced Pages rarely label films by

2703-403: A lift, but is shot in the head by Big B. Big B then reveals to Lau that he is also a mole planted by Hon, and assures Lau of his loyalty. When they ride the lift down to the ground floor, Lau kills Big B. Six months later, Lee discovers records of Chan's identity as an undercover cop and he is buried with honours beside Wong. Lau salutes Chan at his funeral. Meanwhile, the internal affairs case

2862-537: A national identity card in 2005, but its adoption back then was limited and not widespread. The country is now in the process of introducing a new biometric ID card complete with a SmartCard and other security features. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is the federal government agency responsible for the issuance of these new cards, as well as the management of the new National Identity Database. The Federal Government of Nigeria announced in April 2013 that after

3021-543: A propensity for violent action, identified with the films of Chang Cheh . Violent female characters have been part of cinema since its early inception, with characters such as Kate Kelly brandishing a shotgun in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). Women traditionally appear in action films as romantic interests, tomboys , or sidekicks to male protagonists. Violent white women would appear in other genres as well such as

3180-515: A recurring element of its storyline, and also in its sequels. Action thriller film While the term "action film" or "action adventure film" has been used as early as the 1910s, the contemporary definition usually refers to a film that came with the arrival of New Hollywood and the rise of anti-heroes appearing in American films of the late 1960s and 1970s drawing from war films , crime films and Westerns . These genres were followed by what

3339-422: A rooftop to discuss Hon's next drug shipment as well as Chan's fear of being uncovered. Hon learns about Wong's location from Lau and sends his henchmen to confront them. Chan escapes from the building while Wong tries to distract the gangsters but ends up being thrown off the roof to his death. Just then, the police show up and a shootout ensues. Henchman Keung, unaware that Chan is the mole, chauffeurs him away from

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3498-501: A series of action sequences, stating that that the difference between Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Die Hard (1988), that while both were mainstream Hollywood blockbusters with hero asserting masculinity and overcoming obstacles to a personal and social solution, John McClane in Die Hard repeatedly firing his automatic pistol while swinging from a high rise was not congruent with

3657-725: A significant portion. These films include Taxi 2 (2000), Kiss of the Dragon (2001), District 13 (2004) and Unleashed (2005). Whan asked about the Americanization of these French films, Christophe Gans , director of Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) stated that "Hollywood ownership of certain elements [...] must be challenged, in order to show that these elements have also long been present in European culture." The most significant producers of French action films with international ambitions

3816-653: A similar level of popularity to that of the Western in the United States. The most internationally known films of this era were the films Kurosawa with Seven Samurai (1954), The Hidden Fortress (1958), and Yojimbo (1961). By at least the 1950s, Japanese films were looked upon as a model to be emulated by Hong Kong film production, and Hong Kong film companies began actively enlisting professionals from Japan, such as cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto to contribute to color and widescreen cinematography. New literary sources also developed in martial arts films of this period, with

3975-406: A single genre and that streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix similarly dilutes what is marketed and received as action. In transnational cinema, there are two major trends in action films: Hollywood action films and their style being imitated around the globe and the other being Chinese-language martial arts films. The roots of action films extend into the beginning of film but it

4134-524: A smart card ID was launched to replace the ID book. The cards were launched on July 18, 2013, when a number of dignitaries received the first cards at a ceremony in Pretoria. The government plans to have the ID books phased out over a six to eight-year period. The South African government is looking into possibly using this smart card not just as an identification card but also for licences, National Health Insurance , and social grants. Every citizen of Tunisia

4293-616: A television series, and attracted the attention of Hollywood . In 2003, Brad Pitt 's production company Plan B Entertainment acquired the rights for a Hollywood remake, named The Departed , which was directed by Martin Scorsese , written by William Monahan , starred Leonardo DiCaprio , Matt Damon , Jack Nicholson , Mark Wahlberg , Martin Sheen , Ray Winstone , Vera Farmiga , and Alec Baldwin , set in Boston , Massachusetts, and roughly based on

4452-451: A three-act structure centered on survival, resistance and revenge with narratives where the physical body of the hero is tested, traumatized and ultimately triumphant. The third shift in action cinema, the postclassical, was defined by the predominance of Eastern cinema and its aesthetics, primarily the wire-work of Hong Kong action cinema from the classical era, through the convention of the increasingly computer generated effects. This saw

4611-594: A tough police officer protects society by upholding the law against systematic corruption. This extended into films which O'Brien described as "knee-jerk responses" to perceived threats with rogue cop and vigilante films such as Dirty Harry (1971) and Death Wish (1974) where the restoration of order is only possible by force and antisocial characters prepared to act when society does not. The vigilantism reappears in other films that were exploitative of southern society such as Billy Jack (1971) and White Lightning (1973) and "good ol' boy" comedies like Smokey and

4770-456: Is Luc Besson 's France-based EuropaCorp , who released films like Taxi (1998) and From Paris with Love (2010). EuropaCorp produced Transporter franchise starred British actor Jason Statham and made him an action film star, which led him to feature in The Expendables series by the end of the 2010s. The action film genre has been a staple of Bollywood cinema . In the 1970s,

4929-624: Is a cop. Chan then sends a CD to Lau's address containing a recording of Lau's earlier meeting with Hon. Lau's fiancée, Mary, inadvertently listens to the CD and discovers Lau's secret. Chan arranges to meet with Lau on the same rooftop where Wong was killed. There, he disarms Lau and points a pistol to his head. Lau states calmly that he wants to start over as a good person, but Chan rejects his plea to help him conceal his criminal past. Inspector "Big B" arrives and points his gun at Chan, ordering him to release Lau. Chan holds Lau hostage at gunpoint and backs into

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5088-455: Is a cop. Meanwhile, Lau appreciates his life as a respected police officer and wants to sever his ties with the triad. Lau is tasked by Hon to identify the cop who infiltrated the triad; coincidentally, he is also assigned by the HKPF to lead the mission to uncover the triad's mole within their ranks. He uses his new role to have Wong surveilled, hoping to catch him meeting his mole. Wong meets Chan on

5247-569: Is a generic term to refer to several types of films containing martial arts. The wuxia film is the oldest genre in Chinese cinema. Stephen Teo wrote in his book on Wuxia that there is no satisfactory English translation of the term, with it often being identified as "the swordplay film" in critical studies. It is derived from the Chinese words wu denoting militarist or martial qualities and xia denoting chivalry, gallantry, and qualities of knighthood. The term wuxia entered into popular culture in

5406-463: Is actually more a recolonization than a decolonization of the capitalist Cantonese city by the mainland Mandarin master." Infernal Affairs opens with Buddhist classic Nirvana Sutra Verse Nineteen, stating that "The worst of the Eight Hells is called Continuous Hell. It has the meaning of Continuous Suffering. Thus the name." The film also closes with another quote from Buddha , stating that "He who

5565-651: Is based on Twin Dragons (1992). Other films such as the martial arts film Bhadrachlam (2001), borrows from American cinema with the Jean-Claude Van Damme film Kickboxer (1989). SS Rajamouli 's RRR (2022) was among the highest budgeted films made in India, and became a rare hit film outside of Indian diaspora, where it broke box office records in Japan and performed exceptionally well in American box office. Japan

5724-518: Is better, but the Hollywood version is pretty good too. [Scorsese] made the Hollywood version more attuned to American culture." Andy Lau, one of the main actors in Infernal Affairs , when asked how the movie compares to the original, said: " The Departed was too long and it felt as if Hollywood had combined all three Infernal Affairs movies together." Lau pointed out that the remake featured some of

5883-550: Is closed after they conclude that Big B was the mole in the police force. A flashback shows the day that Chan was ostensibly expelled from the police academy, with Lau looking back with guilt and wishing he was the one expelled instead. An alternate ending for the film was shot in order to comply with Article 25 (7) of the Chinese Film Administration Regulations specifying that films cannot propagate obscenity, gambling or violence, or abet to commit crimes. In

6042-611: Is directed towards the possibility of abuse of centralised databases storing sensitive data. A 2006 survey of UK Open University students concluded that the planned compulsory identity card under the Identity Cards Act 2006 coupled with a central government database generated the most negative response among several options. None of the countries listed above mandate identity documents, but they have de facto equivalents since these countries still require proof of identity in many situations. For example, all vehicle drivers must have

6201-455: Is estimated that approximately 172 million Indonesian nationals will have an e-KTP issued to them. Every citizen of Iran has an identification document called Shenasnameh ( Iranian identity booklet ) in Persian (شناسنامه). This is a booklet based on the citizen's birth certificate which features their Shenasnameh National ID number, given name , surname , their birth date, their birthplace, and

6360-455: Is expected to apply for an ID card by the age of 18; however, with the approval of a parent(s), a Tunisian citizen may apply for, and receive, an ID card prior to their eighteenth birthday upon parental request. In 2016, The government has introduced a new bill to the parliament to issue new biometric ID documents. The bill has created controversy amid civil society organizations. Zimbabweans are required to apply for National Registration at

6519-642: Is in Continuous Hell never dies. Longevity is a big hardship in Continuous Hell." In Buddhism, Continuous Hell is also termed The Avici , where one can never reincarnate nor be relieved from guilt and suffering. This concept of timeless, placeless, and endless suffering especially applies to the character Lau throughout the trilogy, who infinitely bears the burden of self-betrayal (serves as a mole), loss of family and friendship, and unsettledness. Upon its premiere in Hong Kong, Infernal Affairs grossed $ 160,356 during

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6678-442: Is itself empowering and, if not, whether a hypersexualized female character can still represent strength and autonomy. Hypersexualized female action leads had tight fitting or revealing costumes that Tasker identified as "exaggerated statements of sexuality" and in the tradition of "fetishistic figure of fantasy" derives from comic books and soft pornography . This originated in television with characters like Buffy Summers ( Buffy

6837-449: Is no mandatory identity card in India, the Aadhaar card, a multi-purpose national identity card, carrying 16 personal details and a unique identification number, has been available to all citizens since 2009. The card contains a photograph, full name, date of birth, and a unique, randomly generated 12-digit National Identification Number . However, the card itself is rarely required as proof,

6996-574: Is referred to as the "classical period" in the 1980s. This was followed by the post-classical era where American action films were influenced by Hong Kong action cinema and the growing using of computer generated imagery in film. Following the September 11 attacks , a return to the early forms of the genre appeared in the wake of Kill Bill and The Expendables films. Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in Cinema Journal that action films are both one of

7155-492: Is set for a remake for a two-picture deal Lau, Tsang, and Jacky Cheung parodied the cinema scene to promote the Hong Kong Film Awards . Lau and Tsang, in their respective characters, go through the scene where they meet to gather info on the undercover cop amongst Hon Sam's gang. Lau Kin-ming asks Hon, "Why do we always meet in a cinema?", to which Hon answers, "It's quiet. No one comes to movies". Cheung comes out from

7314-439: Is the national identity card of Cape Verde . It is compulsory for all Egyptian citizens age 16 or older to possess an ID card ( Arabic : بطاقة تحقيق شخصية Biṭāqat taḥqīq shakhṣiyya , literally, "Personal Verification Card"). In daily colloquial speech , it is generally simply called "el-biṭāqa" ("the card"). It is used for: Egyptian ID cards consist of 14 digits, the national identity number, and expire after 7 years from

7473-601: Is the only acceptable legal document to obtain employment, a residence permit, driving licence or passport, and to open bank accounts or apply for entry to tertiary education and technical colleges. The Hong Kong Identity Card (or HKID ) is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong to all people who hold the right of abode, right to land or other forms of limited stay longer than 180 days in Hong Kong. According to Basic Law of Hong Kong , all permanent residents are eligible to obtain

7632-540: Is yet to be determined. South African citizens aged 15 years and 6 months or older are eligible for an ID card. The South African identity document is not valid as a travel document or valid for use outside South Africa. Although carrying the document is not required in daily life, it is necessary to show the document or a certified copy as proof of identity when: The South African identity document used to also contain driving and firearms licences ; however, these documents are now issued separately in card format. In mid 2013

7791-568: The femme fatales in film noir and horror films of the 1970s. Violent women were common in action films since the 1960s. These films featured working-class women exacting revenge. Films of the 1970s featured black women such as Pam Grier in films like Foxy Brown (1974). In the 1980s, a new symbolically transgressive character emerged in the form of Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986) and Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and

7950-692: The 40th Golden Horse Awards and 8th Golden Bauhinia Awards . The film was selected as Hong Kong's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards but was not nominated. Miramax Films acquired the United States distribution rights and gave it a limited US theatrical release in 2004. Martin Scorsese remade the film in 2006 as The Departed , which won the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as Academy Award for Best Director , Scorsese's first and only Oscar in his career, and Best Adapted Screenplay . A 4K remaster of

8109-574: The Bahamas , Canada , Nauru , New Zealand , Samoa , Tuvalu and the United Kingdom . Other identity documents such as passports or driver's licenses are then used as identity documents when needed. However, governments of the Bahamas and Samoa are planning to introduce new national identity cards in the near future Some countries, like Denmark, have more simple official identity cards, which do not match

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8268-540: The Bollywood action film consolidated with two films starring Amitabh Bachchan : Prakash Mehra 's Zanjeer (1973) and Yash Chopra 's Deewaar (1975). The box office success of these films made Bachchan a star and spawned the "angry young man" film in Bollywood cinema. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the action genre film declined considerably with new films predominantly featuring former bodybuilders failing to reach

8427-548: The Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card which states that the holder has the right of abode in Hong Kong . All persons aged 16 and above must carry a valid legal government identification document in public. All persons aged 16 and above must be able to produce valid legal government identification documents when requested by legal authorities; otherwise, they may be held in detention to investigate his or her identity and legal right to be in Hong Kong. While there

8586-508: The Hong Kong action cinema , such melodramatic male bonding and marginalized women characters, while the Korean films also have greater elements of tragedy and romance emphasized. Most martial arts films made before the mid-1960s were Cantonese-language productions. In comparison, Mandarin-language films were an integral part of Hong Kong cinema due to the influx of Shanghai film talent in

8745-572: The Infernal Affairs trilogy was released on 12 December 2022, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Infernal Affairs . Hon Sam, a Hong Kong triad boss, sends Lau Kin-ming, a young gangster, to the police academy to become his mole in the Hong Kong Police Force . Around the same time, cadet Chan Wing-yan is ostensibly expelled from the police academy, but is actually selected to be an undercover cop reporting only to Superintendent Wong Chi-shing, who sends him to infiltrate Hon's triad. Over

8904-503: The September 11 attacks in 2001, which suggested an end to fantastical elements that defined the action hero and genre. Following the release of Quentin Tarantino 's Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) revisited the tropes of 1970s action films leading a renaissance of vengeance narratives in films like The Brave One (2007) and Taken (2008). O'Brien found that Tarantino's films were post-modern takes on

9063-651: The United Kingdom , and the United States – there are no government-issued compulsory identity cards for all citizens. Ireland's Public Services Card is not considered a national identity card by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP), but many say it is in fact becoming that, and without public debate or even a legislative foundation. There is debate in these countries about whether such cards and their centralised databases constitute an infringement of privacy and civil liberties . Most criticism

9222-589: The identity crisis suffered by both Chan and Lau as moles hint at the struggle of Hong Kong residents, who faced both the colonization by the British and the reunification with Mainland China . Specifically, under Deng Xiaoping 's one country, two systems policy, the duplicity, unsettling, and uncertain nature of the future of Hong Kong residents is tightly echoed in Chan and Lau's character developments. Scholar Howard Y. F. Choy further claimed that "this postcolonial (re)turn

9381-501: The xinpai wuxia xiaoshuo (or "new school martial arts fiction") coming into prominence with the success of Liang Yusheng 's Longhu Dou Jinghua (1954) and Jin Yong 's Shujian enchou lu (1956) which showed influence of the Shanghai martial arts films but also circulated from Hong Kong to Taiwan and Chinese communities overseas. This led to a growing demand in both local and regional markets in

9540-629: The "golden quotes" of the original but did have much more swearing. He ultimately rated The Departed 8/10 and said that the Hollywood remake is worth a view, though according to Lau's spokeswoman Alice Tam, he felt that the combination of the two female characters into one in The Departed was not as good as the original storyline. Media Asia released a limited edition of eight-DVD set of the Infernal Affairs trilogy in an Ultimate Collectible Boxset ( 無間道終極珍藏DVD系列(8DVD套裝) ) on 20 December 2004. Features included an online game and two Chinese novelisations of

9699-428: The 1960s with films like The Born Losers (1967) which was predominantly a drama, interspersed with martial arts scenes. American martial arts films predominantly came into production following the release of Enter the Dragon (1973), with the only higher-budgeted American film to follow in its wake being The Yakuza (1974). Lott noted the two films would lead to the two subsequent styles of martial arts films in

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9858-593: The 1970s. James Monaco wrote in 1979 in American Film Now: The People, The Power, The Money, the Movies that "the lines that separate on genre from another have continued to disintegrate." Tasker said that most post-classical action films are hybrids, drawing from genres as varied as war films, science fiction , horror , crime, martial arts , and comedy films . In Chinese-language films, both wuxia and kung fu are genre-specific terms, while martial arts

10017-768: The 1980s. Other films again modernized the form with gangster films of John Woo ( A Better Tomorrow (1986), The Killer (1989)) and the Wong Fei Hung saga returning in Tsui Hark 's Once Upon a Time in China featuring Jet Li which again revitalized the swordplay styled films. By the turn of the century Hollywood action films would look towards Hong Kong cinema and bringing some of their major actors and directors over to apply their style to their films, such as Chan, Woo, Li, Michelle Yeoh and Yuen Woo-Ping . The release of Ang Lee 's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) led to

10176-443: The 2004 TVB television drama Shades of Truth were re-writings based on the plot of the film. In Taiwan SHODA ( 劉裕銘 ) and a secondary school student Blanka ( 布蘭卡 ) cut and rearranged the original film and inserted new sound tracks to produce their videos Infernal Affairs CD pro2 and Infernal Affairs iPod on the web. The videos had many views and both producers removed their videos after receiving cease and desist letters from

10335-702: The 21st century have been comic book adaptations, which commenced with the X-Men and is seen in other series such as Spider-Man , and Iron Man series. Tasker wrote that despite the central characters in superhero cinema being extraordinary, occasionally even God-like, they often followed the traces of the central character becoming powerful of which is fundamental to action films, often dealt with origin stories in superhero films. Action films often interface with other genres. Tasker wrote that films are often labelled action thrillers, action-fantasy and action-adventure films with different nuances. Tasker later discussed that

10494-511: The 21st century. Being the most critically acclaimed film of his to date, it was ranked No. 30 in Empire ' s "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2019. Infernal Affairs gained significant traction during its festival run as it was nominated for sixteen awards during the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards , winning seven of those categories. It also won the Best Picture at the 40th Golden Horse Awards ,

10653-402: The 62nd Best Movie of 2004, 86th Most Discussed Movie of 2004, and the 95th Most Shared Movie of 2004. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a three-out-of-four star rating and described Infernal Affairs as offering "rare emotional depth." In his words, "The movie pays off in a kind of emotional complexity rarely seen in crime movies. I cannot reveal what happens but will urge you to consider

10812-675: The 8th Golden Bauhinia Awards , and the Best Foreign Language Film at the 46th Blue Ribbon Awards . Eventually, Infernal Affairs would spark the creation of two more films, with Infernal Affairs II getting 11 nominations and Infernal Affairs III getting 7 nominations during the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards , with Infernal Affairs II winning Best Original Film Song. Composer: Ronald Ng Lyrics: Albert Leung Sung by: Tony Leung, Andy Lau With star power, visual allure, and an engaging script, Infernal Affairs did very well critically and financially, spawned two sequels and

10971-513: The Bandit (1977). This era also emphasizes the car chase scenes as moments of spectacle in films like Bullitt and The French Connection (1971). O'Brien described these films as emphasizing "the fusion of man and machine" with the drivers and vehicles acting as one, concluding with what he described as "the ultimate in apocalyptic modernity and social erasure" in Mad Max 2 (1981). O'Brien described

11130-746: The Bollywood press who reported on him in the headlines of Bollywood magazines for his public brawls and affairs with leading actresses. In Dabangg (2010), Khan continued with this public persona, which was repeated in several of his later films such as Ready (2011), Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Dabangg 2 (2012). From the 1980s, generations of actors in Telugu cinema have invoked Hong Kong action films, such as Srihari who stated he wanted to become an actor after watching his first Bruce Lee film. Several films in Telugu cinema were remakes of Hong Kong films, such as Hello Brother (1994) which

11289-593: The Dragon briefly allowed an influx of Hong Kong films to Japan, but the trend did not last, with 28 Hong Kong films, mostly kung fu films, being released in 1974, and the number decreasing to five in 1975, four in 1977 and only two in 1978. Ryuhei Kitamura , director of Versus (2000), said in 2004 that he grew frustrated with the Japanese film industry as producers felt they couldn't make action films in competition with Hong Kong or American productions. Versus grew to become popular outside of Japan, and Kitamura said he

11448-663: The Group Power Workshop Limited ( 群體工作室 ), the Taiwan distributor of the film. The hi-fi shop scene was later recreated with additions of excerpts of the film to encourage businesses to join the Quality Tourism Services Scheme in Hong Kong. The success of the film inspired many genres, including an open-world video game from United Front Games titled Sleeping Dogs (or True Crime: Hong Kong before being canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011), with

11607-545: The Hong Kong film industry after the handover in 1997. Anglophone action film scholarship has tended to emphasize bigger budget American action films, with academics tending to find films that fall out of Hollywood productions as not quite fitting definitions of the genre. By 2024, many national and regional industries were known for action films. These include international films such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam , South Korean, Japanese, Thai , Brazilian , Chinese , South African , French and Italian action titles. At

11766-802: The Red Lotus (1965) and King Hu 's Come Drink with Me (1966). In the 1970s, the Hong Kong martial arts films began to grow under the format of yanggang ("staunch masculinity") mostly through the films of Chang Cheh which were popular. This transition led to the kung fu film sub-genre at beginning of the decade and moved beyond the swordplay films with contemporary settings of late Qing or early Republican periods and had more hand-to-hand combat over supernatural swordplay and special effects. A new studio, Golden Harvest quickly became one of independent filmmakers to grant creative freedom and pay and attracted new directors and actors, including Bruce Lee . The popularity of kung fu films and Bruce Lee led to attract

11925-480: The United States, Europe and Japan had during this period. Yip described Japanese cinema as the most advanced in Asia at the time. This was showcased by the international breakthrough of Akira Kurosawa 's films like Rashomon (1950). The film genre known as the chanbara was at its height in Japan. The style was a sub-genre to the jidai-geki , or period drama with an emphasis on sword fighting and action. It had

12084-406: The United States, with films like Enter the Dragon about people who reveled in combat, often in a tournament setting, and The Yakuza which had several genres attached to it, but featured several martial arts sequences. By the end of the 1970s, the style was an established genre in American cinema, often featuring tough heroic characters who would fight and not think about their actions until after

12243-562: The United States. The United Kingdom's scheme was scrapped in January 2011 and the database was destroyed. In the United States, the Federal government issues optional non-obligatory identity cards known as " Passport Cards " (which include important information such as the nationality). On the other hand, states issue optional identity cards for people who do not hold a driver's license as an alternate means of identification. These cards are issued by

12402-584: The Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)) and Xena ( Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001)). These series popularity demonstrated a growing market for female action film heroes, in films of the 2000s like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Charlie's Angels (2000), Ultraviolet (2006), Salt (2010) and series like Underworld and Resident Evil . These series like their television series earlier, had their leads eroticized as active and physically capable while also being scantily-clad, hyper-feminized similar to

12561-583: The action film genre has been a subject of scholarly debate since the 1980s. Soberson wrote that repeated traits of the genre include chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work while other scholars asserted there were more underlying traits that define the genre. David Bordwell in The Way Hollywood Tells It wrote that audiences are "told that spectacle overrides narrative" in action cinema while Wheeler Winston Dixon echoed that these films were typified by "excessive spectacle" as

12720-553: The action heroine's dual status of an active subject and sexual object was overturning the traditional gender binary because the films "assume that women are powerful" without resorting to justify her physical aggression through narratives involving maternal drive, mental instability or trauma. Purse found that female leads in films like Elektra (2005), Kill Bill , Underworld , Charlie's Angels and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) did showcase women having expensive cars, clothing, travel, homes and often high-paying jobs, but that this

12879-749: The age of 16. Zimbabwean citizens are issued with a plastic card which contains a photograph and their particulars onto it. Before the introduction of the plastic card, the Zimbabwean ID card used to be printed on anodised aluminium. Along with Driving Licences, the National Registration Card (including the old metal type) is universally accepted as proof of identity in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are required by law to carry identification on them at all times and visitors to Zimbabwe are expected to carry their passport with them at all times. Afghan citizens over

13038-545: The age of 18 are required to carry a national ID document called Tazkira . Bahraini citizens must have both an ID card, called a "smart card", which is recognized as an official document and can be used within the Gulf Cooperation Council , and a passport, which is recognized worldwide. Biometric identification has existed in Bangladesh since 2008. All Bangladeshis who are 18 years of age and older are included in

13197-498: The age of 18 to apply for a National Identity Card. The National Identity Card is one of the few accepted forms of identification, along with passports. A National Identity Card is needed to apply for a passport for all adults, and all minors must take with them the National Identity Card of a parent(s) when applying for a passport. Bilhete de identidade (BI) is the national ID card of Mozambique . Nigeria first introduced

13356-435: The book Australian Genre Film , Amanda Howell suggested that this label was used to help distance Australian cinema from Hollywood films as it would be suggesting commerce over culture and that it would be "quite unacceptable to make Australian movies using conventions established in the U.S.A." Howell stated this to be the case with action films of the 1970s and 1980s with Brian Trenchard-Smith 's Turkey Shoot (1982) being

13515-550: The classical form of action cinema to be the 1980s. The decade continued the trends of formative period with heroes as avengers ( Lethal Weapon (1987)), rogue police officers ( Die Hard (1988)) and mercenary warriors ( Commando (1985)). Following the continuity of the car and man hybrid of the previous decade, the 1980s featured weaponized men with who were either also carrying weapons such as Sudden Impact (1983), trained to be weapons ( American Ninja (1985)) or imbued with technology ( RoboCop (1987)). O'Brien noted that

13674-427: The date of issue. Some feel that Egyptian ID cards are problematic, due to the general poor quality of card holders' photographs and the compulsory requirements for ID card holders to identify their religion and for married women to include their husband's name on their cards. All Gambian citizens over 18 years of age are required to hold a Gambian National Identity Card. In July 2009, a new biometric identity card

13833-459: The decline of overt masculinity in the action film which corresponded with the end of the Cold War in 1991, while the rise of self-referential and parodies of this era grew in films like Last Action Hero (1993). O'Brien described this era as being soft where the hard bodies of the classical era were replaced with computer generated imagery such as that of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). This

13992-546: The direct-to-video field, or in similarly low-budget theatrical releases such as Bulletproof Monk (2003). While the American styled-films were predominantly made in the United States, productions were also made in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa, and were predominantly shot in the English-language. Heroic Bloodshed is a that originates with English-language Hong Kong action and crime film fan communities in

14151-487: The earlier work of directors like Woo and Johnnie To . Antong Chen, in his study on the Hong Kong action film, wrote that the influence of China and the amount of Chinese co-productions made with Hong Kong created a shift in these films, particularly following the release of Infernal Affairs (2002). Harvey O'Brien wrote in 2012 that the contemporary action film emerged through other genres, primarily Westerns , crime and war films and can be separated into four forms:

14310-432: The early 1960s and saw a surge in production of Hong Kong martial arts films that went beyond the stories about Wong Fei-hung which were declining in popularity. These new martial arts films featured magical swordplay and higher production values and more sophisticated special effects than the previous films with Shaw Brothers a campaign of "new school" ( xinpai ) martial arts swordplay films such as Xu Zenghong's Temple of

14469-484: The end of the 1990s. Films such as Chunhang (2000) and Memento Mori (2000) and action films Shiri (1999) and Nowhere to Hide (1999) received commercial releases in North America, Asia, and Europe. The success of the latter two films was unprecedented, and was followed by other South Korean action films in the early 2000s reaching the top of the local box office. These South Korean films mimic some traits of

14628-410: The evidence. After this incident, Wong and Hon realise they each have a spy within their own organisations, and race each other to uncover the moles. By this time, both Chan and Lau are struggling with their double lives. Chan is afraid he is turning into an actual criminal while also fearing his cover will be blown; he begins undergoing sessions with psychiatrist Lee Sum-yee and jokingly tells her that he

14787-527: The female leads in implausible elements, such as in Charlie's Angels , Fantastic Four (2005) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006). The fighting styles of women also tend towards more traditionally feminine fluid movements of martial arts, over using guns or directly punching. Purse wrote that the contemporary female action film lead's sexualized brand had her in close proximity of post-feminism discourse about choice, power and sexuality. Marc O'Day interprets

14946-440: The film series by Lee Muk-Tung ( 李牧童 ), titled 無間道I+II小說 and 無間道III終極無間小說. In 2009, a Korean remake City of Damnation , which was directed by Kim Dong-won was released on 22 January 2009. In 2009, a Telugu remake Homam , which directed and acted by JD Chakravarthy along with Jagapathi Babu was released and became a notable movie. In 2012, Double Face ( ダブルフェイス ), a Japanese television remake starring Hidetoshi Nishijima

15105-409: The film. On Rotten Tomatoes , Infernal Affairs has an approval rating of 94% based on reviews from 64 critics, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The consensus from the site reads as "Smart and engrossing, this is one of Hong Kong's better cop thrillers." On Metacritic , the film has a score of 75 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". It was ranked as

15264-455: The films' events, with some minor characters reprising their roles alongside a new cast. The TV series uses the same concept as the film, but with an entirely new story and characters, and the setting expanded beyond Hong Kong to include Thailand and Shenzhen . It stretched through three seasons with each season consisting of 12 episodes. Hindi remake is going to be a joint development between Warner Bros. India and Mumbai – based banner Azure and

15423-414: The following films were voted the top ten best action films of all time. In Hong Kong, the "new school" of martial arts films that Shaw Brothers brought in 1965 featured what featured what Yip described as "strong, active female characters as protagonists." These female-centered films were challenged with the rise of a new male heroic prototype marked by a strong sense of youthful energy and defiance and by

15582-682: The form of the Ghana Card arose in the country. Full implementation of the Ghana Cards begun from 2006. According to the National Identification Authority , over 15 million Ghanaians have been registered for the Ghana card by September 2020. Liberia has begun the issuance process of its national biometric identification card, which citizens and foreign residents will use to open bank accounts and participate in other government services on

15741-448: The formative trends at this point had become "identifiably generic" as film industries began to reproduced these films during the decade producers like Joel Silver and production companies like The Cannon Group, Inc. began to formulate production of these films with both high and low budgets. The action films of this era have roots in classical story telling, specifically rooted from martial arts films and Westerns, and are built around

15900-598: The formative, the classical, the post-classical and neoclassical phases. Yvonne Tasker reiterated this in her book on action and adventure films , saying that action films became a distinct genre during the New Hollywood period of the 1970s. The formative films would be from the 1960s to the early 1980s where the Anti-hero appears in cinema, featuring characters who act and transcend the law and social conventions. This appears initially in films like Bullitt (1968) where

16059-540: The former was one of the highest-grossing movies of the year in Japan. Following LoveDeath , Kitamura's next directing work was in the United States. The action cinema of South Korea mostly existed on the margins of the film industry in South Korea. The genre was initially called the Hwalkuk ("living theatre") was a term that indicated plays and films driven by action scenes, while this term has not been used regularly since

16218-430: The ground. While heroes in kung fu films often display chivalry, they generally hail from different fighting schools, namely wudang and shaolin . American martial arts films feature what author M. Ray Lott described as a more realistic style of violence over the Hong Kong wuxia films with more realism and are often low-budget productions. Martial arts began routinely appearing in fight scenes in American films in

16377-727: The identity document and database is based on personal information present on the document, such as the bearer's full name , birth date , address , an identification number, card number, gender, citizenship and more. A unique national identification number is the most secure way, but some countries lack such numbers or do not show them on identity documents. In the absence of an explicit identity document, other documents such as driver's license may be accepted in many countries for identity verification . Some countries do not accept driver's licenses for identification, often because in those countries they do not expire as documents and can be old or easily forged. Most countries accept passports as

16536-424: The identity document is a plastic card it is called an identity card (abbreviated as IC or ID card ). When the identity document incorporates a photographic portrait , it is called a photo ID . In some countries, identity documents may be compulsory or non-compulsory to have. The identity document is used to connect a person to information about the person, often in a database . The connection between

16695-484: The image of Indiana Jones in Raiders swinging his whip to fend off villains in the backstreets of Cairo. British author and academic Yvonne Tasker expanded on this topic, stating that action films have no clear and constant iconography or settings. In her book The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film (2015), she found that the most broadly consistent themes tend to be a characters quest from freedom from oppression such as

16854-520: The late 1920s. These films were popular during the period, which comprised almost 60% of the total Chinese films. Man-Fung Yip stated that these film were "rather tame" by contemporary standards. He wrote that they lacked the kind of dazzling action choreography as expected today and had crude and rudimentary special effects. These films came under increasing attack by both government officials and cultural elites for their allegedly superstitious and anarchistic tendencies, leading them to be banned in 1932. It

17013-564: The late 1970s, with "action movie" becoming the more familiar term. The Korean action films came from Japanese cinema, James Bond series , and Hong Kong action cinema. As North Korea borders China, it block access to the continent from a South Korean perspective, the Cold War allowed South Koreans to substitute deferred travel beyond the border through films with locations shot in Hong Kong. While melodrama and comedy were staples in South Korean cinema, most action films were sporadic and tied to

17172-501: The late 1980s and early 1990s. In the Chinese language, the term used for these films is jinghungpin , literally meaning "hero films". Academic Laikwan Pang asserts that these gangster films appeared at a time when Hong Kong citizens felt particularly powerless with the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China set for 1997. The key directors of the genre were John Woo and Ringo Lam , and producer Tsui Hark , with

17331-458: The late 1980s and early 1990s. Author Bey Logan stated that the term was coined by Rick Baker, in the British fanzine Eastern Heroes . The term is used broadly. Baker described the style as Hong Kong action films which feature gangsters and gunplay and martial arts that were more violent than kung fu films and academic Kristof Van Den Troost described it a term used to distinguish Hong Kong gun-heavy action films from period martial arts films from

17490-431: The late 1980s in the United States were martial arts films. Towards the end of the 1990s, production of low-budget martial arts films declined as no new stars in the genre developed and older actors such as Cynthia Rothrock and Steven Seagal started showing up in less and less films. Even internationally popular films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) had negligible effects in American productions in either

17649-492: The late 20th century. Both Australia and Great Britain, for example, introduced the requirement for a photographic passport in 1915 after the so-called Lody spy scandal . The shape and size of identity cards were standardized in 1985 by ISO/IEC 7810 . Some modern identity documents are smart cards that include a difficult-to-forge embedded integrated circuit standardized in 1988 by ISO/IEC 7816 . New technologies allow identity cards to contain biometric information, such as

17808-415: The life of famed Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger . The Departed was released on 6 October 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures and won four Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Adapted Screenplay for Monahan, and Best Director for Scorsese. Andrew Lau, the co-director of Infernal Affairs , who was interviewed by Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily , said: "Of course I think the version I made

17967-413: The lift. This alternate ending was shown in mainland China and Malaysia. Writer Alan Mak had long wanted to write a story about police and gangsters. The script of Infernal Affairs was inspired by John Woo 's Face/Off (1997) but Mak knew that its science fiction elements were too implausible in reality, so he focused on the exchange of identity and psychology between the two leads as its themes. In

18126-617: The most notorious. Smith had previously released films like Deathcheaters (1976) and Stunt Rock (1979) when financial incentives were available for overtly commercial projects. She commented that action films did tell identifiably Australian stories such as the Sandy Harbutt 's biker film Stone (1974) and Miller's post-apocalyptic film Mad Max (1979) derived from Australia's social and cultural realities, as well as how George Miller 's later Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) derived from Australia's long-standing cinematic fascination with

18285-470: The most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative." Bordwell echoed this in his book, The Way Hollywood Tells It , writing that the reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst." In the Journal of Film and Video , Lennart Soberson stated that

18444-474: The names, birth dates and National ID numbers of their legal ascendants. In other pages of the Shenasnameh, their marriage status, names of spouse(s), names of children, date of every vote cast and eventually their death would be recorded. Every Iranian permanent resident above the age of 15 must hold a valid National Identity Card ( Persian :کارت ملی) or at least obtain their unique National Number from any of

18603-469: The next general election in 2015, all subsequent elections will require that voters will only be eligible to stand for office or vote provided the citizen possesses a NIMC-issued identity card. The Central Bank of Nigeria is also looking into instructing banks to request for a National Identity Number (NIN) for any citizen maintaining an account with any of the banks operating in Nigeria. The proposed kick off date

18762-413: The next ten years, Chan is under great stress due to his questionable actions working undercover. Meanwhile, Lau quickly rises through the ranks, becoming a Senior Inspector . After successfully infiltrating the triad, Chan informs Wong of a transaction between Hon and some Thai cocaine dealers, which Wong's team interrupts. However, Lau alerts Hon, giving him enough time to get his henchmen to dispose of

18921-604: The notion that traditional marks of masculinity are not exclusive to men and that musculature was not natural, but something to be achieved. Accusations of these muscular women of the era were levelled at that them by 1993 were that they were "men in drag" and that the films generally have to "explain" why their female leads displayed physical aggression and why they were "driven to do it." As the 1990s went on, Hollywood films began having more conventional looking women in their action films such as The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). A vibrant debate exists about whether hypersexualization

19080-463: The number or a copy of the card being sufficient. The card has a SCOSTA QR code embedded on the card, through which all the details on the card are accessible. In addition to Aadhaar, PAN cards, ration cards , voter cards and driving licences are also used. These may be issued by either the government of India or the government of any state and are valid throughout the nation. The Indian passport may also be used. Residents over 17 are required to hold

19239-548: The opening day (16–19 January). In total, the film grossed $ 7,035,649 during its run in Hong Kong theatres. The film was then released across Asia, where it grossed a further $ 169,659 from theatre receipts. In 2016, South Korean theaters re-released the film, which went on to gross $ 128,026 across three weeks. The total lifetime gross of the film in Korea is $ 977,903. In total, worldwide, the film grossed $ 8,836,958 across release in both domestic markets and European theatres which displayed

19398-441: The original Hong Kong ending, Lau concealed his true identity as a triad spy and identified himself as a police officer to avoid punishment. Therefore, the original ending was deemed to promote criminal activity and injustice, and an alternate ending was filmed to make the film suitable for mainland China. In the alternate ending, Inspector Cheung discovers evidence of Lau's criminal activity and immediately arrests him when he gets off

19557-474: The pertinent documents. Those working on UK railway lands near working lines must carry a photographic ID card to indicate training in track safety (PTS and other cards) possession of which is dependent on periodic and random alcohol and drug screening . In Queensland and Western Australia , anyone working with children has to take a background check and get issued a Blue Card or Working with Children Card, respectively. Cartão Nacional de Identificação (CNI)

19716-435: The physical effort required to completing a task and the abilities and skills acquired over time. Films from the period reflected on the cultural and social climate from the period, as seen in invoking Japanese or Western imperialist forces as foils. The kung fu film came out of the wuxia films. In comparison to the wuxia , film, the focus on the kung fu film is on the martial arts over chivalry, The martial arts films

19875-567: The popularity Bachan had. These films predominantly earned their revenue through longer runs at B-grade theatres. A cycle of action films came from these films in the 1980s and 1990s called the Avenging Woman film, where female protagonists seek justice for a rape victim, where the protagonist seeks revenge through violence. In 2009, the action genre was re-popularized with the box office success of Wanted (2009) starring Salman Khan . Khan reinvented his screen persona with that of his image in

20034-543: The postwar period. These films were targeted at the more educated and more refined middle-class audiences who saw themselves as above the contemporary martial arts films. Scott Higgins wrote in 2008 in Cinema Journal that Hollywood action films are both one of the most popular and popularly derided of contemporary cinema genres, stating that "in mainstream discourse, the genre is regularly lambasted for favoring spectacle over finely tuned narrative." Bordwell echoed this in his book, The Way Hollywood Tells It , writing that

20193-417: The process of Mak's creation, his good friend Felix Chong also encouraged and supported him. The script, written by Mak and revised by Chong, took three years to complete. The dialogue in the famous rooftop showdown was created on the spot by Felix Chong and Tony Leung, with Chong playing Andy Lau's part. The script originally included a typical shootout in the third act, but Leung insisted on turning it into

20352-548: The protagonist of the story infiltrating the criminal underworld as an undercover cop. The original film score for Infernal Affairs was written and performed by Chan Kwong-wing . The theme song, Infernal Affairs ( 無間道 ), was composed by Ronald Ng, lyrics provided by Albert Leung , and performed in Cantonese and Mandarin by Andy Lau and Tony Leung. Although not included in the soundtrack album, Tsai Chin 's song "Forgotten Times" ( 被遺忘的時光 ) features prominently in this film as

20511-402: The reception to the genre as being "the emblem of what Hollywood does worst." Tasker wrote that when action and adventure films secured awards, it is often in categories such as visual effects and sound editing. Time Out magazine conducted a poll with fifty experts in the field of action cinema, including actors, critics, filmmakers and stuntmen. Out of the 101 films ranked in the poll,

20670-441: The road and cars and a history of cultural anxiety towards a bleak and forbidding outback landscape opposed to the optimism of American action films. France is a major European country for film production and has made co-production commitments with 44 countries around the world. Around beginning of the 21st century, France began producing a series of films explicitly intended for international markets, with action films representing

20829-672: The same organisation responsible for driver's licenses, usually called the Department of Motor Vehicles . Passport Cards hold limited travel status or provision, usually for domestic travel. For the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara , pre-1975 Spanish identity cards are the main proof that they were Saharawi citizens as opposed to recent Moroccan settlers. They would thus be allowed to vote in an eventual self-determination referendum . Companies and government departments may issue ID cards for security purposes, proof of identity , or also as proof of

20988-456: The same triad. It is the first in the Infernal Affairs series and is followed by Infernal Affairs II and Infernal Affairs III (both 2003). At the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards , Infernal Affairs won seven out of the sixteen awards it was nominated for—including Best Film , Best Director , Best Actor (Leung), and Best Supporting Actor (Wong). It also won in those categories at

21147-454: The scene but succumbs to a gunshot wound he sustained earlier. When the news reports that Keung was apparently an undercover cop, Hon assumes he was the mole. Using Wong's phone, Lau contacts Chan and convinces him to collaborate in taking Hon down. The police successfully foils Hon's subsequent drug deal and arrests his henchmen. Lau then betrays Hon and kills him. Everything seems to have fallen into place—Chan can revert to his true identity as

21306-511: The security and level of acceptance of a national identity card, and which are used by people without driver's licenses. A number of countries have voluntary identity card schemes. These include Austria, Belize, Finland, France (see France section ), Hungary (however, all citizens of Hungary must have at least one of: valid passport, photo-based driving licence, or the National ID card), Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Saint Lucia, Sweden, Switzerland and

21465-464: The serialization of Jinaghu qixia zhuan (1922) ( transl.  Legend of the Strange Swordsmen ). In wuxia , the emphasis is on chivalry and righteousness and allows for phantasmagoric actions over the kung fu film 's more ground-based combat. The Kung fu film emerged in the 1970s from the swordplay films. Its name is derived from the Cantonese term gong fu which has two meanings:

21624-496: The shadows behind them and says, "I don't know...quite a few people watch movies" and we see a slew of Hong Kong celebrities watching various clips of Hong Kong films on the screen. Originally Tony Leung was going to appear but scheduling conflicts led to the recasting. The 2003 TVB spoof celebrating the Chinese New Year called Mo Ba To ( 吐氣羊眉賀新春之無霸道 ), the 2004 comedy film Love Is a Many Stupid Thing by Wong Jing , and

21783-479: The starting point of the genre being traced to Woo's A Better Tomorrow (1986) make a record-breaking HK$ 34.7 million at the Hong Kong box office. The style of these films would influence American productions, such as Michael Bay 's Bad Boys II (2003) and the Wachowskis ' The Matrix (1999). Korean media recognized the more fatalistic and pessimistic tone of these films, leading to Korean journalists to label

21942-433: The style as "Hong Kong noir ". The influence of these films was evident in early Korean films such as Im Kwon-taek 's General's Son (1990) and later films such Song Hae-sung 's A Better Tomorrow (2010), Cold Eyes (2013) and New World (2013). Postcolonial Hong Kong cinema has struggled to maintain its international identity as a provider of these types action films because the talents involved had abandoned

22101-450: The term action film genre and adventure are often used in hybrid, and are even used interchangeably. Along with Holmund and Purse, Tasker wrote that the action films expansiveness complicates easy categorization and though the genre is often spoken of as singular genre, it is rarely discussed as singular style. Screenwriter and academic Jule Selbo expanded on this, describing a film as " crime /action" or an "action/crime" or other hybrids

22260-445: The themes that rescinded irony to restore " cinephile re-actualization of the genre's conventions." The genre went into full circle resurrecting films from the classical period with Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and Rambo (2008) finding the characters navigating a contemporary world while also acknowledging their age, culminating into The Expendables (2010) film. The most commercially successful action films and franchise of

22419-466: The thoughts of two men who finally confront their own real identities—in the person of the other character." New York Times reviewer Elvis Mitchell was so enraptured with the film that he stated that " Infernal Affairs is so beautifully shot that the images occasionally distract you from the condensed policier plot." Infernal Affairs played an integral role in Andrew Lau 's breakout films in entering

22578-409: The time thought that an undercover film wasn't novel enough to make money. Eventually, Andrew Lau made a hopeless bid and showed the script to John Chong at Media Asia Entertainment Group . To his surprise Chong and company chairman Peter Lam saw potential in the story. Lam proceeded to invest HK $ 20 million in the film, under the condition that Andy Lau will star the film. In Infernal Affairs ,

22737-525: The title character in China O'Brien (1990) who were physically muscular and or enacted more extreme violence that was usually reserve for male action leads. In her book Contemporary Action Cinema (2011), Lisa Purse described the media response to female leads in action films reveal a discomfort about their presence and are often described with hesitant terms of women moving into territories that are perceived as masculine. Revealing woman in this form deconstructs

22896-533: The turn of the millennium, Australian genre films have gained increasing acceptance in the Australian feature film industry, while the action genre represented a small percentage of its output in the 21st century. Scholars of Australian genre film generally used the term "action-adventure" which allows them to apply it to various forms of narratives such as tongue in cheek heroic posturing stories like Crocodile Dundee (1986), road movies or bush/outback films. In

23055-422: The use of locations such as Hong Kong. These films often featured one-legged or otherwise handicapped action characters similar to those of Japanese films ( Zatoichi ) and Hong Kong films ( The One-Armed Swordsmen ). These included Im Kwon-taek's Returned Left-Handed Man (1968), Aekkunun Bak's One-Eyd Park (1970) and Lee Doo-yong's Returned One-Legged Man (1974). In the 1990s, the country's national cinema

23214-468: The woman of exploitation films of the 1970s such as Caged Heat (1974) and Big Bad Mama (1974). While characters like Frank in The Transporter series are permitted to visibly sweat, strain and be bloodied, Purse found a reluctance for filmmakers to have their female leads have any appearance warping injuries to ensure a perfectly made-up face. Comedy is often used in films of this period to place

23373-448: Was "only a semantic exercise" as both genres are important in the construction phase of the narrative. Mark Bould in A Companion to Film Noir (2013) said that categorization of multiple generic genre labels was common in film reviews who are rarely concerned with succinct descriptions that evoke elements of the film's form, content and make no claims beyond on how these elements combine. Film Studies began to engage generic hybridity in

23532-408: Was a difficult market for Hong Kong action cinema to break into. Prompted by the success of Enter the Dragon and the popularity of Bruce Lee, Toei made their own Bruce Lee-style martial arts films, with The Street Fighter and its two sequels starring Sonny Chiba as well as a spin-off with a female lead similar to Hong Kong's Angela Mao called Sister Street Fighter . The success of Enter

23691-466: Was aiming for the foreign audience, as he was disappointed with the current state of Japanese films. Kitamura's characters have been described as "a careful combination of the maverick independence of 1980s Hollywood action heroes and the calmness and acceptance of Japanese samurai, a consistent criticism of Japanese people today." Kitamura followed up Versus with two manga-inspired big-budget action films, Azumi and Sky High . Both released in 2003,

23850-647: Was compulsory in about 100 countries, though what constitutes "compulsory" varies. In some countries, it is compulsory to have an identity card when a person reaches a prescribed age. The penalty for non-possession is usually a fine, but in some cases it may result in detention until identity is established. For people suspected with crimes such as shoplifting or no bus ticket, non-possession might result in such detention, also in countries not formally requiring identity cards. In practice, random checks are rare, except in certain situations. A handful of countries do not issue identity cards. These include Andorra , Australia ,

24009-417: Was displayed in corresponding with corresponded with millennial angst and apocalypticism showcased in films like Independence Day (1996) and Armageddon (1998). Action films of mass destruction began requiring more overtly super heroic characters with further comic book adaptations being made with increased non-realistic settings with films like The Matrix (1999). The fourth phase arrived following

24168-464: Was in decline by the mid-1970s in Hong Kong in relation to the stock market crash which went from over 150 films in 1972 to just over 80 in 1975, which led to a downfall in martial arts films produced. When the economy became to rebound, a new trend of martial arts films, the Shaolin kung fu films emerged and sparked a revival of the genre. Unlike the wuxia , the kung fu film primarily focuses on fighting on

24327-509: Was in decline leading to Hong Kong gangster films filled in this void leading to large commercial success at the national box office. Early Korean heirs to Hong Kong action films include Rules of The Game (1994), Beat (1997), and Green Fish (1997) involving men who gain confidence and achieve personal growth as they embark on journeys to protect national state and meet devastating ends. South Korean cinema only received international attention in both art film and blockbuster formats towards

24486-551: Was introduced by King Henry V of England with the Safe Conducts Act 1414 . For the next 500 years up to the onset of the First World War , most people did not have or need an identity document. Photographic identification appeared in 1876 but it did not become widely used until the early 20th century when photographs became part of passports and other ID documents, all of which came to be referred to as " photo IDs " in

24645-399: Was introduced. The biometric card is one of the acceptable documents required to apply for a Gambian Driving Licence. Ghana begun the issuing of a national identity card for Ghanaian citizens in 1973. However, the project was discontinued three years later due to problems with logistics and lack of financial support. This was the first time the idea of national identification systems in

24804-599: Was not until the base of Chinese commercial filmmaking was relocated from Shanghai to Hong Kong in the late 1940s that martial arts cinema was revived. These films contained much of the characteristics of the previous era. During this period, over 100 films were based on the adventures of real life Cantonese folk hero Wong Fei-hung who first appeared in film in 1949. These films primarily on circuited within Hong Kong and Cantonese-speaking areas with Chinese diaspora . Yip continued that these Hong Kong films were still lagging behind in aesthetic and technical standards that films from

24963-504: Was only in the mid-20th century when action films developed into their own recognizable genre instead of being a collection of other types of films such as Westerns, swashbucklers or adventure films. Films have been described "action films" or "action-adventure film" as early as the 1910s. Only by the 1980s was the term action as its own unique genre used routinely in terms of promotion and reviewing practices. The first Chinese-language martial arts films can be traced to Shanghai cinema of

25122-526: Was only shown as being applicable to white middle-class women. Purse found that these women were empowered at the price of women of other ethnicities. This is seen in Aeon Flux (2005) where Sithandra dies protecting Aeon and Rain's death to make way for Alice in Resident Evil (2002). Identity document An identity document (abbreviated as ID ) is a document proving a person's identity. If

25281-452: Was released by TBS and WOWOW . The production aired in two parts: "Police Impersonation" on WOWOW and "Undercover" on TBS. A TV series remake debuted in 2018 produced by Media Asia and former TVB producer Tommy Leung. The series, which is titled Infernal Affairs like the film, stars Gallen Lo , Damian Lau , Paul Chun , Lo Hoi-pang , Eric Tsang , Derek Kok , Dominic Lam , Toby Leung and Yuen Biao . The story takes place years after

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