Cast Member: Waise Lee

This is the ‘Citizen Kane’ of HK heroic bloodshed films and it never ages, even after repeat viewings.

‘A Taste Of Killing And Romance’ may do enough to pass the time if you’re a fan of any of the actors involved but it’s certainly far from anyone’s finest work.

This is only for the war history (and propaganda/sentimentality pushing) completist out there. Those wanting a war combat fix best look elsewhere.

‘Bullet in the Head’ still packs an enormous emotional punch and is very much one of the all time classics of Hong Kong cinema.

Like the first film, it is a slick and intense thriller that boasts solid performances from its cast.

Full of humanity and interest, it remarkably manages to takes three or four strong sub-plots and amalgamate them together without letting any of them suffer.

Much like a television movie version of ‘God of Gamblers’, but stripped of many of the elements that made the original work, this 2020 unofficial update is low budget and low entertainment value.

Unfortunately not enough of the storyline’s potential is realised to be fully satisfying; such an intriguing plot needed a bit more attention to its effects instead of just skimming over the matter.

It’s important to remember that this is nothing out of the ordinary though and, if you didn’t enjoy the original, it’s unlikely that you’ll enjoy this weaker sequel.

By no means a classic action comedy, ‘Inspector Pink Dragon’ nonetheless succeeds in providing a entertaining 90-odd minutes.

A well-scripted, superbly executed thriller with a formidable triumvirate at the centre, this could well be one of the best genre films to have come from Asia in the past few years.

This is as much about relationships than anything else and by the end of the film it develops into an unusual variant on the buddy genre.