Cast Member: Tony Leung Ka-Fai

If any viewer has been brought up on the Hong Kong musicals that Jeff Lau’s work alludes to, this will be highly recommended.

As a standalone film ‘A Better Tomorrow 3’ is a fairly watchable effort thanks to an intriguing premise, but as a prequel to ‘A Better Tomorrow’ it just doesn’t quite cut it.

The pace flags slightly near the end with a final section that is needlessly padded out, but there’s much to absorb in Tony Au’s work.

There are moments of entertainment here, but the flat denouement sums up the lack of real polish that the preceding 100 minutes had provided.

It has to be admitted that there are some decent moments within the film and it certainly brings more smiles to the face than many a Chinese New Year comedy of the past.

A tapestry of emotion, audaciously flashing backwards and forwards and shifting voice-overs to piece together the moments that have led the characters to the barren wastes of the desert.

Overall it’s a wonderful film, a blockbuster people call it, and maybe it is, but really for us Asian movie fans this is what it’s all about – a hard hitting, hard punching film with a heart of gold and a fist of iron.

Those jonesing for action may feel the pace sag, but ‘Bruce Lee, My Brother’ is a brilliant period family drama.

Patrick Tam’s ‘Cherie’ is, simply put, little more than a moderately average eighties romantic comedy and decidedly underwhelming when compared against any of the true “greats” of the era.

‘Cold War’ is consistently entertaining and its massive success at the Hong Kong box-office shows that it clearly struck a chord with local audiences.

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

Impressive production values, an excellent cast and a few moments of genuine inspiration (courtesy of Sammo Hung’s action choreography) make the minutes fly be.