Cast Member: Chen Zhi-Hui

It has numerous nods to the Shaw Brothers classics and harks back to those swordplay flicks of yesteryear, making you smile, cry, jump for joy and shout like a banshee, like any good martial arts film should.

‘An Empress And The Warriors’ is enticing enough to divert the attention, but without anything substantial within the duration it is quickly forgotten.

This is a Jet Li film we can finally be proud of and a Ronny Yu work that will finally stand the test of time.

If you’re an action fan you won’t be disappointed and for me, this is Donnie Yen’s best film to date from an acting perspective.

A ho-hum attempt at old school martial arts that succumbs to plodding pacing and dull storytelling.

A few fight scenes pull one back from catatonia, but mostly this is a failure without the luxury of budget constraints to blame its incompetence on.

Wong Fei-Hung gets the revisionist upgrade that someone, somewhere asked for and the results, though mixed, are mostly positive.

Yu’s epic is often stunning to look at, is a lot less stuffy and longwinded than many a recent Chinese period epic, moves at a fair clip and delivers a surfeit of adrenaline surged spectacle.

The dramatic framework is sturdy enough to make ‘Shaolin’ emotionally engaging, while the Yuen Kwai-orchestrated action is a delightful throwback to the Golden Age.

‘Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon’ is a mixture of well shot conflict, stirring heroism and flawed drama.

‘White Vengeance’ – in keeping with the generic expectations of recent years – has big, bruising conflict aplenty and it’s those moments that tend to have the greatest impact.