All Film Reviews

‘Deadend of Besiegers’ is 90 minutes of excellent entertainment featuring some brilliant wireworked fights and a rare chance to see Yu Rong Guang carry a film and play a hero.

If you like your early 90s wuxia flicks full of excessive theatrical action and characters then ‘Deadful Melody’ is a lot of fun.

A deeply unfunny comedy from director Taylor Wong who allows all pace and narrative flair to disappear out of the window after the first ten minutes.

It’s rough around the edges and doesn’t always keep the pace consistent, but it shows real promise that was never quite realised.

‘Death Bell’ is certainly not the best the genre has to offer, but it is a harmless little frightfest that has a few hints of ‘Saw’ and ‘Battle Royale’ thrown in.

‘Death Duel’ is a bleak, nihilistic swordplay film that embodies all of the qualities that one expects from a Chor Yuen adaptation of a Gu Long story.

Thankfully, you’re never too far away from a spot of fisticuffs, which is a very good thing because you’re not likely to gain much enjoyment from any other part of this film.

It’s nice to see Wilson and Rothrock back in action and there are some flashes of talent in amongst the fight scenes, but none of it is ever quite enough to overcome the film’s obvious faults.

I could wax lyrical about the film for a while longer as ‘Death Grip’ really is great stuff from a director and team who know how to put a fight film together.

‘Death Kappa’ is a real mess of a film that seems to be trying too hard to be considered cult rather than focusing on getting the basics right.

Right from the opening, it’s blatantly obvious that ‘Death Note’ is skipping some of the more important and enjoyable aspects of the story.

‘Death Trance’ isn’t quite as good as ‘Versus’ but is nevertheless a visually striking, always creative and if a little slow in pace at stages, still packed with great Eastern flavoured action.

This is pulp noir action done right, the banter as sharp as the flying fists and Johnson wisely builds on the first film adding depth to French and Sue as their bond deepens.

Despite using well worn action tropes as a framework to pit two men against one another, the film spins a refreshing take on these tropes to constantly surprise the viewer and ultimately deliver an emotional wallop.

Mainstream Hong Kong cinema has often embraced the bizarre and the baffling, but ‘Demon Of The Lute’ may be a step too far for many.

Tackling a taboo subject with maturity and outstanding sensitivity, it should be of no great surprise to see ‘Departures’ striking a chord with audiences around the globe.

A life-affirming work that came at a key time for a director whose self-confidence was at its lowest ebb, ‘Dersu Urzala’ is cinema at its most vital.

Stories of mismatched characters rely on the relationship between the two and ‘Detective Chinatown’ has a pair who play off each other’s quirks remarkably well.

Impressive production values, an excellent cast and a few moments of genuine inspiration (courtesy of Sammo Hung’s action choreography) make the minutes fly be.

Much like the first two Dee flicks, ‘The Four Heavenly Kings’ is an often breathless fantasy blockbuster that doesn’t skimp on the wuxia action, CGI wonderment and imaginative scenarios.

‘Detective Story’ is another entertaining blast of martial arts fun from The Stunt People featuring some of the best screen fighting around.

A sort of mix between ‘Freaky Friday’ and ‘Face/Off’ but with a lot bloodier horror and grimness, ‘Devils’ is some tough, grue splattered, body-swap thrills.

‘Dial D for Demons’ is a modest but effective Hong Kong ghost story and generates just enough suspense to keep one on edge until the finale.

For the most part ‘Die Fighting’ is an excellent (meta) martial arts flick showcasing the Z Team to be major players on the action movie block meaning breath is abated for their next feature film.