Woo's mid-to-late 80s action films were balletic rather than frenetic, pacing and characteristic rhythms drew on Cantonese and Peking Opera's sense of timing and pause. Today, HK action tends to be frenetic rather than balletic.
Re. 5th Generation directors such as Chen Kaige & Zhang Zimou, Rey Chow suggests they explore rural life in ways that, far from consolidating 'Chineseness' as an essence residing in China's center, in effect help to 'other' China through portrayals of unfamiliar histories, identities, and means of living that persist on fringes of time and space. Michael Hoover