Genre: Thriller

Though ‘Helpless’ features characters that are genre staples the acting has enough of an edge to divert attention away from clichés. A fine thriller, a solid drama and two hours of quality entertainment.

‘Hidden Strike’ is an entertaining film though the computer effects sometimes lack finesse and the wirework for an ageing Jackie Chan has become too obvious.

Another one to add to the dust gathering pile of DVD’s – and recommended only for Koichi or Shannon completists.

Penned by prolific director and writer Wong Jing, ‘Hit Team’ is a formulaic cop thriller done on a low budget, something that makes itself very apparent early on.

While it does have its fair share of amusingly bizarre dialogue and cheesy action sequences, it also has quite a bit of uninteresting filler that regularly drags it down.

This film’s strength lies in its joy in beating you over the head with excessive 80s bloodshed and cheese.

A pretty cool concept for this Taiwanese horror is all but wasted under a slew of clichés, incredibly muddled plotting, and not enough decent scares.

Perhaps too overly convoluted, po-faced and twist happy for its own good, ‘Hunt’ is nevertheless mounted with impressive verve and if one can forgive its flaws, is an exhilarating action charged political thriller.

Loaded with breakneck action, ‘Hunt the Wicked’ gets by on its energetic execution and its two martial arts stars facing off before teaming up.

While it doesn’t completely succeed in its intentions it is still a brave, and very dark, experimental thriller recommended to the less judgemental out there.

Not even the odd moment of black humour and Kim Jee-Woon’s knack for crafting exhilarating sequences of action and tension can elevate his film beyond pure nihilism.

‘Illang’ looks fantastic, often thrills, and features some incredible and expertly staged action but suffers from pacing issues and a lukewarm emotional core.