While Hollywood continues to dominate the limelight in the Western world, regional centers for movie production keep upping their game in terms of the quality of their outputs.  

In recent years, Asian studios have released some incredible blockbusters. Just last year, we saw hits like Summer with Hope (2022), Cold as Marble (2022), and How I Got There (2022) from West-Central Asia and while South Korea gave us hits like Carter (2022) and Hunt (2022).  

The 2010s were also a great decade for Asian movies. During that decade, we were treated to titles like Lucky Life (2010), Naked Soldier (2012), and Missing You. 

But as the first decade of the 21st century begins to fade into the blurry mush that is “the past”, many fans of Asian cinema are forgetting that the 2000s was a great decade. Here is a reminder of some of the spectacular titles we were treated to in the first 10 years of the millennium. 

Tazza: The High Rollers (2006)

There’s no end of movies about casinos, casino games, and the people that play them out there. Hollywood, in particular, regularly pumps out productions that include betting and gaming scenes, giving us big hits like The Hangover (2009), Casino Royale (2006), and Casino (1995). 

It’s easy to see why, after all, casino gaming is incredibly popular, making them a relatable and easy-to-understand feature in a film. Demand for these games is helped significantly by online platforms like PokerStars Casino that have created multiple variants of traditional table games like roulette, such as American and high roller, that allow them to appeal to a broad spectrum of people.  

Asian cinema has also caught on to this trend and produced plenty of casino movies of its own. One of the best of all time is Tazza: The High Rollers which hit cinema screens back in 2006.  

Starring Cho Seung-woo, Kim Hye-soo, Yoo Hae-jin, and Baek Yoon-sik, it became the second-best-selling movie in South Korea that year.  

Tazza: The High Rollers tells the story of Goni, a player of the Korean card game Hwatu, who is trained by a famous professional. Things begin to unravel when he falls in love with a woman who runs the underground casino he plays at and she is arrested.  

Hero (2002)

Zhang Yimou is one of China’s best film directors in the modern era. He’s been pumping out blockbusters since he released Red Sorghum back in 1988 and has picked up many awards for his efforts.  

Hero (2002) was his second release of the 21st century, following Happy Times which hit movie screens in 2000. It is a martial arts movie that combines many great elements, including some kick-ass fight scenes, plenty of tradition and history, and a fascinating plot.  

But unlike many movies from Asia that don’t manage to make their way to other continents (outside of the interest of a small number of passionate enthusiasts), Hero broke records by becoming the first Chinese-language film to take the top spot at the American box office. 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Released in 2000, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a wuxia film based on a 1940s book series of the same name.  

Directed by Ang Lee and starring Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was produced on a relatively tiny budget of $15 million. Despite this, it became a huge international hit, generating more than $210 million in box offices around the world. It has since gone on to become the highest-rated Asian movie from 2000 on IMDb. 

Set in 19th-century China during the Qing dynasty, the film follows a young upstart warrior who steals a sword from a famous swordsman. Her theft triggers a sequence of events that no one could predict and results in action and romance in equal amounts. 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became an unexpected success after capturing the interest of millions of foreign fans. After receiving critical acclaim from much of the world’s press, it was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning four of them.