Hong Kong Movie Reviews »
Wait Til You’re Older (2005) Movie Review
“Wait ’til you’re Older” is a Hong Kong take on the ever-popular fantasy scenario of a child inhabiting the body of an adult. This is a theme much-beloved of Hollywood screenwriters, with essentially the...
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A Chinese Tall Story (2005) Movie Review
Oh boy. It’s another Hong Kong movie where CGI isn’t just the order of the day, it’s the order, the menu, and the restaurant! In short, Jeffrey Lau’s “A Chinese Tall Story” is a...
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Election (2005) Movie Review
As much as it pains me to say it, I must: Johnnie To’s latest, the Triad crime thriller “Election”, is painfully average. There it is. I said it. And this is coming from a...
Read More »Sha Po Lang (aka Killzone, 2005) Movie Review
Advertised as a throwback to the days of gritty, hardcore Hong Kong action films, “Sha Po Lang” (currently going by the non-descriptive international title of “SPL”) is certainly unlike anything flooding the industry at...
Read More »Dragon Squad (aka Dragon Heat, 2005) Movie Review
The big-budget Hong Kong actioner “Dragon Squad” (which was supposedly “produced” by Steven Seagal) is a big, loud, and dumb movie made for a globalized world. The narrative makes no logical sense, with the...
Read More »The Myth (2004) Movie Review
Stanley Tong’s big-budget epic “The Myth” is an conflicted attempt to further the persona of Jackie the Actor, while at the same time remaining familiar enough to those that demands the Jackie of old....
Read More »Initial D (2005) Movie Review
Surprisingly straightforward and a little underwhelming considering the prodigious advance buzz that preceded it, “Initial D” is acceptable fare, which may really be all it had the potential to be. A thoroughly commercial enterprise...
Read More »The Eye 10 (2005) Movie Review
More “Scary Movie” than “The Amityville Horror”, the Pang Brothers’ “The Eye 10″, the latest entry into their highly successful “The Eye” series, is a surprisingly funny comedy with some decent frights thrown in...
Read More »Slim Til Dead (2005) Movie Review
“Slim Til Dead” is the latest effort from the ever ubiquitous Wong Jing, the infamous producer/director/writer blamed by many for the current Hong Kong cinema slump, and who is the very personification of quantity...
Read More »Divergence (2005) Movie Review
Less an action film than a mild mystery with heavy doses of mental imbalance, Benny Chan’s “Divergence” has more in common with the director’s previous films like “Heroic Duo” (which also starred “Divergence’s” Ekin...
Read More »Tiger on the Beat (1988) Movie Review
One of the staples of action cinema is the buddy cop films, and the Hong Kong film industry is as inundated with them as Hollywood. Whether it’s John Woo behind the camera or Jackie...
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Men Behind the Sun 4: Black Sun – The Nanking Massacre (1996) Movie Review
From the Crusades to the Nazis, the various atrocities committed during wars have been covered fairly well by most high school and college history classes. However, one event that rarely gets much international exposure...
Read More »Seven Swords (2005) Movie Review
Rumor has it that the original cut for Tsui Hark’s wuxia epic “Seven Swords” originally ran over four hours, before it was trimmed down to 2 hours and 30 minutes for cinematic consumption. “Seven...
Read More »Vampire vs. Vampire (1989) Movie Review
“Vampire vs. Vampire” is another entry in the time honoured genre of Chinese hopping vampire films, once again starring the late, great Ching Ying Lam as an undead-battling, one-eye browed Taoist priest. The film...
Read More »House of Fury (2005) Movie Review
The Hong Kong movie industry continues to confound with the release of Stephen Fung’s “House of Fury”. With all the financial woes they’ve had of late (the seemingly unstoppable commercial success of Stephen Chow’s...
Read More »Magic Cop (1990) Movie Review
“Magic Cop” is basically a modern day version of the popular and enduring Hong Kong classic, “Mr. Vampire”, even sharing the presence of bushy eye-browed star Lam Ching-Ying, who plays a detective who uses...
Read More »Killer Snakes (1975) Movie Review
Although the famous Shaw Bros. studio is primarily associated with its output of martial arts films, it has also been responsible for a fair number of sleazy exploitation howlers. “The Killer Snakes” is an...
Read More »Beyond Our Ken (2004) Movie Review
“Beyond our Ken” is a film by Edmond Pang, director of the awkwardly titled, yet excellent “Men Suddenly in Black”, who is being touted in some circles as one of the great young hopes...
Read More »The Trail (1981) Movie Review
“The Trail” is an early film from Hong Kong director Ronny Yu, best remembered for his classic “The Bride with White Hair”, and who would later go on to underwhelm horror fans with “Freddy...
Read More »Fu Bo (2003) Movie Review
“Fu Bo” is a film which takes place in a location rather unusual for Hong Kong cinema: a morgue. Although there have been a number of films, mostly horror comedies, with this setting (such...
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