10 Best Chow Yun Fat Movies

10. God of Gamblers (1989)

Director: Wong Jing

This movie is a lesson in tone. A bizarre hybrid of action, drama, and slapstick comedy. Chow Yun Fat builds two completely distinct, believable characters in one film. It breaks genre conventions over and over to deliver something totally unique.

9. Prison on Fire (1987)

Director: Ringo Lam

A year after City on Fire (more on that later), Chow reunited with Ringo Lam for this brutal and gritty prison drama. Chow’s performance as a world-weary inmate is shot with documentary style. There's a ton of long takes in this movie that immerse you in the world.

8. An Autumn's Tale (1987)

Director: Mabel Cheung

This is the film that proves Chow Yun Fat is far more than just an action star. He won Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for this delicate, New York-set romance. He plays a good-hearted "everyman" who falls for a more refined student (Cherie Chung). I can't believe how quiet this movie is, the whole thing is so confident. We just are watching characters fall in love.

7. City on Fire (1987)

Director: Ringo Lam

This is the film that Reservoir Dogs famously homaged. But don’t just watch it for the Tarantino connection. Watch it for Ringo Lam’s grounded take on the cop-and-robber genre. Chow plays an undercover cop who is emotionally shredded by his divided loyalties. And even though there is action, the heart of the movie is...its heart.

6. Once a Thief (1991)

Director: John Woo

This movie was released after The Killer and Bullet in the Head, so you can tell John Woo and Chow Yun Fat decided to just have some fun. This is Woo’s version of a Hitchcockian heist film. Woo uses his trademark slow-motion and dynamic framing for dance sequences and comedic beats in this one, showcasing his versatility as a director.

5. A Better Tomorrow II (1987)

Director: John Woo

After Chow's character Mark Gor died in the first film, people were like up in arms and wanted him back. But his character is really dead, so instead they have him come back to play Mark's identical twin brother, Ken. It's so funny and it just works because you never question it. The final 20-minute, three-man assault on a mansion is one of the most ludicrously explosive and masterfully choreographed sequences Woo ever filmed.

4. A Better Tomorrow (1986)

Director: John Woo

This single-handedly invented the "Heroic Bloodshed" genre and made Chow Yun Fat the biggest star in Asia. He plays Mark Gor, and was technically a supporting character, but he stole the movie and redefined action cinema forever.

This movie is a masterclass in action. Chow is almost always shot from a low angle, making him larger than life. Woo combines gun-fu with melodrama to create what feels like a whole new genre.

3. The Killer (1989)

Director: John Woo

This is the film that put John Woo and Chow Yun Fat on the global map. It's one of those movies I think all filmmakers need to see. It's so representative of Hong Kong cinema, and it influenced everyone from Tarantino to the Wachowskis. It has defined gun-fu for a generation, right up until Wick. Woo uses slow-motion not just in the action but to explore themes of honor and redemption. This movie has so much style.

2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Director: Ang Lee

The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Chow should have won a Best Actor Oscar, or at least Supporting, but I digress. He is the film’s soulful, grounded center. This film is a technical marvel. Peter Pau won the Oscar for cinematography and shoots action and the story with a romantic glossiness that sucks you into the legend. And Yuen Woo-ping’s choreography might be the best wire work of all time. And that doesn't even take into account Ang Lee's direction, which knew when to lean into fighting and when you could have a love scene or a long, furtive glance.

1. Hard Boiled (1992)

Director: John Woo

To me, this might be the best action movie of all time. At least, it's in the top 5, I would really have to think about it. This is John Woo’s final, explosive Hong Kong statement before leaving for Hollywood and he does everything big and loud. Chow Yun Fat’s "Tequila" Yuen is a jazz-playing, "shoot-first-ask-questions-later" cop who teams up with an undercover agent (Tony Leung) to take down a gun-smuggling ring. At the end of this movie, they throw babies out a window of a burning hospital to get them to safety while wielding shotguns. There are so many set pieces in this movie that can be studied for all of time.

Summing It All Up 

Look, I stopped writing this like five times to buy these movies and then watch them. There's so much to unpack with this actor and so many cool movies you need to see to believe.

Chow Yun Fat is one of the greatest actors of all time, and I'm eager to see his next projects.