Cast Member: Jade Leung

What Lan has given audiences is a hark back to the new-wave boom of the early-90s that, while never setting the screen alight, is mostly entertaining.

If you approach a film of this nature, with this cast, with this storyline and with this lack of imagination, there is very little sympathy you (or indeed I) should expect.

‘New Kung Fu Cult Master’ isn’t a great film, maybe not even a very good one, but there’s enough strengths here to make you eager to watch the second part.

It’s watchable (though don’t dare take your eyes off it for a moment or you’ll miss at least three dramatic revelations) and confidently put together, but satisfying as a conclusion to the big story it is not.

Hong Kong has always spliced genres together with aplomb, but this is an example of where things go wrong.