Dante Lam follows up his action spectacular The Viral Factor with this far more character focused and melodramatic story of two MMA fighters in Macau. Nick Cheung goes even further to transform himself into a twisted knot of walking muscle while Eddie Peng stakes his claim as the young Chinese hope in the relam of […] Read more »
I can probably count the number of Vietnamese films I’ve seen on one hand, but this 3D martial arts romance had proved a huge success at the domestic box office earlier in the year that had warranted it a limited release in North America. As a result I was given the opportunity to review it. […] Read more »
Jet Li back doing action? Sounds great, but Badges of Fury proves to be more a goofy comedy for his co-star Wen Zhang than a kung-fu packed homage to old school Hong Kong action. Despite its setting, this is aimed squarely at mainland audiences, shot in Mandarin with a mostly mainland cast. The results are […] Read more »
As someone with tenuous associations to the Alamo Drafthouse, I am somewhat ashamed that it has taken me this long to watch the flagship release of their Drafthouse Films label. A low budget action oddity, the film attempts to showcase the martial arts talents of Grandmaster Y.K. Kim, whose band of aging college student rockers […] Read more »
Opening this year's HK International Film Festival is Herman Yau's follow up to The Legend Is Born. Anthony Wong stars as an aging Ip Man, forced to abandon his wing chun teaching and face off against a local gangster in this modest, yet rather charming little film. Read more »
Wu-Tang Clan frontman and self-confessed Shaw Brothers fanboy RZA makes his directorial debut in this loving but messy homage to the martial arts classics of yesteryear, which he also wrote and stars in. Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Daniel Wu and many more join in the blood fun. Read my full review here Read more »
Rapper-turned-filmmaker RZA writes, directs and stars as the titular hero of this passionate love letter to old school Chinese martial arts movies. It is widely known that the founder of Wu-Tang Clan is a huge fan and bona fide expert on Hong Kong and Chinese kung-fu Cinema, and he pours all that passion into this […] Read more »
I’ve seen Gareth Evans’ blistering Indonesian action movie a few times before, but on discovering that last night’s dinner guests were in the mood for a movie and unaware of the film, I was only too happy to watch it again for their benefit. Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian and Joe Taslim all make an instant […] Read more »
I had little interest or faith in Stephen Chow’s latest retelling of the classic Chinese fantasy, but there is some enjoyment to be had. The story, which is essentially the origin story of monk Tripitaka, relies heavily on large CGI beasts fighting each other for extended periods of time. This isn’t ideal, especially when the […] Read more »
A decade after it was announced, Wong Kar Wai finally delivers his martial arts epic, starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai as wing chun advocate Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi has his potential adversary/love interest. Beautiful, elegant, light on narrative but heavy on class, Wong is back at the top of his game with what is […] Read more »
Without a prominent blocbuster opening this week, distributors scrabble to release whatever they have left in their slate before the onslaught of summer behemoths arrives. As a result it is an extremely mixed back of films hitting Hong Kong’s screens, but certainly not devoid of recommendations. Movie of the Week: WUTHERING HEIGHTS Directed by Andrea […] Read more »