Rating: 3.5

Ichikawa has put together an attractive and professional interpretation of one of Japan’s beloved characters.

Though the comedy is perhaps too obtrusive at times and does little to advance the film, there is lots to offer fans of the genre.

The laughs can be a bit too parochial for inexperienced viewers while the sudden mood change from touching romance to typically surreal canto-humour may be too jarring for some.

Rittikrai fashions numerous scenes of mayhem and gets the flexible newcomer Na Tae-Joo to perform the kind of outlandish kicks that seem to defy logic.

With its refreshing 90-minute runtime and welcome 1990s action movie approach to delivering as many set-pieces as possible, ‘The Killer’ may lack overall character development, but it delivers stellar done-for-real action.

‘The Knight Of Knights’ could easily be considered standard Shaw Brothers fair, if it weren’t for the slight twist on the style of storytelling.

‘The Lady Hermit’ still manages to stand up well decades on as an extremely entertaining, if not extremely gory, example of the Shaw Brothers armed combat films in their prime.

Once it settles down and the MacGuffin doesn’t become the sole focus of the story, ‘The Legend and Hag of Shaolin’ becomes an enjoyable homage to early 90s Hong Kong cinema.

‘The Legend Is Born: Ip Man’ does not try to outdo the spectacle of its more lavish inspiration, though Herman Yau does try to give the viewers the ample Wing Chun action they crave.

‘The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires’ doesn’t exactly set the world alight in either of its attempted genres, but it does remain a fun curio for fans of both studios that certainly still sports some old-school charm.

‘The Legend Of The Owl’ is a positively insane, yet gloriously inventive production that boasts more hits than misses.

Although there’s the odd hole or inconsistency, the production mostly runs at a sustained pace that draws the viewer along with it.