Country: Hong Kong

‘Black Mask 2’ could be seen as Hark’s interpretation of what appeals to a global audience or maybe he just watched one too many episodes of ‘Power Rangers’ before production began.

‘Bleeding Steel’ starts with promise and then refuses to flesh out any of the plot details, leaving us bewildered shortly after our interest had piqued.

Much of the story could have been padded better, with the format really revolving around getting to the next action sequence when more depth to the characters would have been far more beneficial.

Although I like a lot of the people involved, there’s no escaping that ‘Bloodfight’ simply isn’t a very good martial arts movie.

Dark cinematography, powerful scenes, politically incorrect humour and good fight choreography combine to make this an entertaining film, but one you are only likely to watch once.

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.

The comedy is hit-and-miss and as it takes up the majority of the running time, it slows the pace right down after a promising start.

‘Born Invincible’ contains what many consider to be Carter Wong’s strongest performance; playing the crazed Chi Kung master, Wong enjoys every minute of his scenery chewing role.

‘Breaking News’ is punctuated by tension-filled action set-pieces, but its main draw is the sharp characterisation and the insightful critique of the media that fills most of the running time.

This is a surprisingly exciting and often blackly comic thriller that borrows from ‘Prison on Fire’ but does so with real skill.

With choreography by the great Yuen Woo-Ping and Hsu Hsia, ‘Broken Oath’ lets its female star showcase her considerable skill in a multitude of crisply choreographed set-pieces

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