Rating: 3.0

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.

Not as riotously entertaining as the first instalment, ‘Bodyguard Kiba 2’ is still a fun watch, mainly to see Chiba strutting his cool stuff and for the impressive fight scenes that open and close the film.

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.

The result is a good big-budget action film though enjoyment will rest on how much Chinese flag-waving you can sit through.

Director Fan Haolun seems to be more concerned with playing with flashbacks and flash-forwards than he is with constructing a story of any real depth.

‘Breathing Fire’ is a lot of fight action fun if you can go with it that blends B-movie American cheesiness with some blistering Hong Kong styled fight action.

‘Brotherhood Of The Wolf’ doesn’t quite contain enough action to hold fight fans’ attention but also lacks the innovation to be anything more than a weak murder mystery.

While its uniqueness may not be for all, ‘Bunraku’ wears its quest for originality proudly on its sleeve and for the most part succeeds at offering a different take on an old Western/Samurai style set up.

‘Butterfly Lovers’ is a forgettable version of a legend that deserves a definitive screen portrayal – it has moments of interest, but proves to be an unevenly yoked movie.

Retains the majority of its likeable qualities, such as enjoyable star partnerships, funny jokes, fast cars and pretty girls.

‘Carry On Hotel’ should work better than it does, but, due to uninspired writing and direction, is merely passable entertainment.