Well I don’t mind low budget as long as the film knows its limits! After all I did enjoy the recent Hydra, it’s no budget but it kept the story small and the fights fast, so what more could I ask for from something like that. The Beast seems like it’s on YT for $2?

Yeah I like how a lot of recent Chinese action films use Thailand like Hong Kong did too! All the plots about the drug dealing in the Golden Triangle take me back. It’s also a way for them to dodge censorship since they can’t show shootouts on the streets of China I think? We’ll see how things go from here. I did watch Extraordinary Mission! It felt like a Hong Kong movie taking place in the mainland with mainland actors. Got a bit of that 90s/00s Milkyway vibe from it. If it was made 20 years earlier it would have been Leon Lai in the lead. Action was pretty intense and pacing built up to be pretty intense towards the third act, too bad it didn’t do well I heard.

The 2011 flick is very low budget, to the point that it makes the more recent Chinese direct-to-streaming output look like Hollywood blockbusters. Approach it as a DTV time-filler though and there may be some enjoyment to be had, the plot is pretty ludicrous!

Thanks for the 2 recommendations, the trailers definitely sell them well, and both look to be filmed in Thailand if I’m not mistaken? Good to see China utilising the countries more budget-friendly environment for practical car stunts and real explosions, just like Hong Kong frequently did in the early 90’s! Speaking of Thailand shot Chinese flicks, have you checked out 2017’s ‘Extraordinary Mission’ YM?

I made a mistake. I thought 2011’s Beast was from
another year. I accidentally found it while looking for 2019’s. There should be a rule with Korean films not to include the word “Beast” in their titles anymore.

Hey that 2011 The Beast movie looks like fun!

You know I just saw a Chinese movie recently that’s partly in the Man from Nowhere vein, I think it’s called “On the Verge”. The story is some basic DTV stuff and there’s a terribly wooden gwailo actress thrown in but the fight scenes are kick ass! Some of it’s over edited but overall (especially the finale) its got some of the most brutal looking fights I’ve seen all year. You can see the HK, Indonesian, and Korean influences.

I don’t know how you will be able to access it; I had to deep dive using Baidu which you may not want to. It’s produced by iQiyi, the Chinese Netflix. Here’s the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0OHhLsP-F0&list=PLLTsezT9VesXGqDXCjFG3ek8kaqxpHoVU&index=10

It’s not as action packed as the trailer suggest but at only 71 minute’s it moves quite fast. There’s also another one called Break Through, which is a Taken clone of sorts but the pacing is so good and action is also top notch. There’s even some great looking car stunts! Here’s a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxzVredMZCE

These are two of the best and most consistent (very little CGI) DTV Chinese action movies I’ve seen in years, If you ever somehow find these Paul I suggest you take a look. China’s DTV land is still mostly garbage but every once in a while I’ll stumble upon something good.

Don’t forget the 2011 slice of ‘Man from Nowhere’-sploitation, ‘The Beast’!

In short, the answer is no, it’s purely coincidence. Out of the movies you mentioned it’s actually 2019’s ‘The Beast’ that the Korean title reflects phonetically – 비스트 (비 – Bi, 스 – seu, 트 – teu).

The other titles you mention are translating the word 짐승 (pronounced jimseung) as beast, which is a direct translation from Korean.

With this movie, 2019’s The Beast and 2015’s The Beast, does the word have a significant meaning in Korean culture?