Genre: Crime

As much a twisty-turny drama as an all out action flick, ‘The Villainess’ overdoes both its noble attempts at gritty drama and action technical wizardry.

While ‘Fist of Fury’ is the Little Dragon’s best film, this comes a close second and would not be out of place in the DVD rack of any martial arts movie fan.

The characters are realistic and have sympathetic worries to consider, the twists keep the viewer guessing throughout and it benefits from Kim Sang-ho at his very best.

It’s a cinematic car crash, and it’s often difficult to peel your eyes away from the horrible things that are happening on-screen at any given moment.

An overlooked gem from the 1970s, ‘The Yakuza’ is both a cracking thriller and a genuinely touching character piece.

A relentless journey through the low rung end of society the film is an endurance for both us the viewer and the protagonist Gu-nam.

Though the overly moral message may deter some, there’s more than enough rough and tumble scraps to entertain fight fans and a host of strong performances from the leads as well as a thoroughly involving story to engage most everyone else.

Admittedly some of the action is passable but the rest of the movie is generally so damn depressing and sloppy that I wouldn’t personally want to sit through it again.

While ‘Tiger Cage’ is not quite as good as the amazing sequel, it is certainly a flick which no Hong Kong, or action fan should miss out on.

This really isn’t a truly great cinematic ‘film’, but one which moves at a frenetic, action-packed pace while fittingly bringing an end to the fabulous 80’s style action.

It is a welcome addition to the series without offering anything new. If you liked films such as ‘In the Line of Duty 4’ or ‘Tiger Cage’ then this is definitely for you.

‘Tiger On The Beat’ is a surprisingly successful outing that proves Liu Chia-Liang was just as capable of handling modern day actioners.