Genre: Martial Arts

Eschewing any flashiness for a more old school and care given to character and pacing approach, Chong and Mak craft a beautifully shot and finely acted period piece.

Director Chan Siu Pang has crafted something that would be considered quite an achievement by many critics – an intelligent and exciting kung fu film.

With a director of considerable merit, a cast of fine performers and action that, while not exactly trail-blazing, is certainly very watchable, ‘The Magnificent Trio’ is another good release from Celestial.

While it may not be the most original entry into the genre, ‘The Mar’s Villa’ contains just the right mix of drama and intrigue interspersed with a number of enthralling action scenes.

With a predictable script and some seriously under-par actors, it was never really going to amount to much more than a set of average fight sequences.

Though containing enough reasons to warrant a viewing, ‘The Master’ is still not as polished as the better films being made by the studio at the time.

The main problem with ‘The Medallion’ is it looks just like a Hollywood film with a modest budget. In fact it’s not even as good as his Hollywood films, including ‘The Tuxedo’.

This is a real love it or hate it kind of movie and while I found it to be extremely amusing and entertaining, I have only given it 3 out of 5 as it is not likely to be viewed more than a couple of times.

The stand-out feature is the abundant fight scenes that are not only exciting, but also have a level of imagination not always seen in independent kung-fu cinema.

At times frustrating and yet mostly entertaining, ‘The Myth’ may not be vintage Chan, but there are glimpses here of a performer who is still a valuable treasure for world cinema.

What could have been a classic is rendered merely enjoyable by the prominence of some very weak comedy.

In just over 90 minutes so much action, story and style is effortless woven together that it shows the brilliance of one of the genre’s finest minds.