Heroic Bloodshed is one of the more widely excepted genres of Hong Kong cinema. Mainly because it has nothing in it the western audience don't relate with. In fact it is the only style really that Hollywood also makes in the same way. I mean there are many different techniques in HK Heroic Bloodshed that make it more exciting than say an American action film. Take Mission Impossible for an example, the original was a good thriller and topped many American action movies, but with MI:2 they brought in John Woo, Hong Kong's greatest action director, and it made a completely different and more exciting film. I think the main reason behind this is (I may be wrong though) a Hong Kong film like 'The Killer' has a much lower budget than say an American film like 'Total Recall' but it has much better action. Hong Kong directors have to think of new and cheaper ways to make the thrills, other wise they would come out with bad films, so they come up with camera tricks, amazing set usage and great editing to beat the small budgeting. Actors like Chow Yun Fat are also greatly used, there charismatic screen presence bring a romance to the action, as well as the hard man image people like Kurt Rustle bring to the films. It is apparent of the skill of people like Ringo Lam and especially John Woo, because when they are given a Hollywood budget they make amazing ground breaking films (sometimes it takes them a while though, as Black Jack proved) but as John Woo has proven with Face/Off and MI:2 the Hong Kong Heroes are far superior.

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