Category Archives: Reviews

A Legend (2024) Review

Director: Stanley Tong Cast: Jackie Chan, Bextiyar Gülnezer, Yixing Zhang, Aarif Lee Zhi-ting, Chen Li, Max Huang, Kim Hee-seon, Shawn Dou Yecheng Zheng, Ray Lui Leung Wai Running Time: 130 min.  By Paul Bramhall Back in 2021 I wrote a retrospective on Jackie Chan and Stanley Tong called ‘Giving the People What They Want’, framed from the perspective of how their collaborations as director and star always appealed to the … Continue reading

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Black Cat II: The Assassination of Boris Yeltsin (1992) Review

"Black Cat II" Theatrical Poster

Director: Stephen Shin Cast: Jade Leung, Robin Shou, Zoltan Buday, Bob Wilde, Alexander Skorokhod, Tatiana Chekhova, Mike Miller, Jack Wong Wai-Leung, Wan Seung-Lam  Running Time: 90 min.  By Paul Bramhall Despite Black Cat’s middling box office results, it wasn’t enough to deter D&B Films from continuing to push Jade Leung as a bankable action lead for the 1990’s, and just a year later we’d get a sequel in the form … Continue reading

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Beheaded 1000, The (1993) Review

AKA: The Executioner Director: Ting Shan-Hsi Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Chin Siu-Ho, Joey Wong Cho-Yin, Monica Chan Fat-Yung, Wu Ma, Pauline Wong Siu-Fung, Sun Ya-Tung, Shen Hai-Rong Running Time: 105 min. By Paul Bramhall One of the more intriguing propositions to come out of the early 90’s, on the surface at least The Beheaded 1000 offers up a Taiwanese take on the Hong Kong blend of wuxia and fantasy that … Continue reading

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Striking Rescue (2024) Review

Director: Siyu Cheng Cast: Tony Jaa, Xing Yu, Kaho Hung, Philip Keung, Peng Bo, Yu Bolin, Wang Chenxin, Chen Duo Yi Running Time: 110 min.  By Paul Bramhall Action cinema is always evolving, and whenever it’s discussed Hong Kong’s golden era deservedly casts a long shadow. For a long time fans have lamented the gradual decline of the territories output, an inevitability that’s down to a number of disparate reasons, … Continue reading

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Devils Stay (2024) Review

Director: Hyeon Moon-seob Cast: Park Shin-Yang, Lee Min-Ki, Lee Re, Won Mi-won, Yoon Jong Seok, Yoo Sun-ho, Shim So-young Running Time: 95 min. By Paul Bramhall Ever since 2015’s The Priests Korean cinema has had bit of a thing going on with, well, priests. While Jang Jae-hyon’s debut served up its holy protagonists in the context of the exorcism genre, since then we’ve had MMA priests fighting demons in The Divine … Continue reading

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Goose Boxer | aka Shaolins Tough Kid (1978) Review

Director: Tai Si-Fu Cast: Charles Heung Wah-Keung, Lee Hoi-Sang, Phillip Ko Fei, Tin Ching, Addy Sung Gam-Loi, Chan Lap-Ban, Lee Chun-Wa, Wong Mei, Cheung Sin-Ming Running Time: 90 min.  By Paul Bramhall This year marks the 10th anniversary of my relationship with Goose Boxer, which I confess has been a fairly one-sided affair. Purchased as part of a 9-movie DVD set called Brooklyn Zu Volume 1, I picked up the … Continue reading

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Secret Executioners | aka Trouble-Solving Broker (1982) Review

Director: Lee Doo-Yong Co-director: Godfrey Ho Cast: Shin Woo-chul, Hwang Jang Lee, Jim Norris, Kwon Il-soo, Min Bok-gi, Park Dong-ryong Running Time: 90 min. By Paul Bramhall It remains one of the greatest travesties in Korean cinema that director Lee Doo-yong’s The Trouble-Solving Broker is referenced in 99% of English language content as “another one of those Godfrey Ho cut and paste jobs.” The real tragedy is that it’s also … Continue reading

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Film Safari Ghana (2024) Review

"Fim Safari Ghana" Theatrical Poster

Director: Andrew Leavold Cast: Andrew Leavold, Samuel K. Nkansah (aka Ninja), Joseph Osei, Emmanuel Afriyie  Running Time: 86 min. By Paul Bramhall While in his native Australia Andrew Leavold may be known for many things – former cult video store owner, punk band frontman, Filipino cinema historian, sometime actor, and documentary filmmaker – internationally he’s likely to be remembered as the guy who directed 2013’s The Search for Weng Weng. … Continue reading

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Tai Chi Master, The (2022) Review

Director: Lin Zhenzhao Cast: Wu Yue, Zhang Kai, Zhang Ming Can, Ada Liu, Zhang Chunzhong, Yu Hai, Lemon Li Running Time: 90 min. By Paul Bramhall During the Chinese web-movie boom of the 2010’s many of them were regarded as cheap and disposable entertainment, often justifiably so, with most of them falling either into the category of cheap kung-fu flick, or even cheaper monster movie. However it’s not an industry … Continue reading

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100 Yards (2024) Review

Director: Xu Haofeng Co-director: Xu Junfeng Cast: Jacky Heung, Andy On, Bea Hayden Kuo, Li Yuan, Shiyi Tang, Kevin Lee, Brono Bajtala Running Time: 109 min. By Paul Bramhall There’s a strong argument to be had for Xu Haofeng being the greatest kung-fu cinema director of the 21st century. When Haofeng made his directorial debut with The Sword Identity in 2012 he was billed as the writer of Wong Kar-Wai’s … Continue reading

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High Forces (2024) Review

Director: Oxide Pang Cast: Andy Lau, Liu Tau, Zhang Zifeng, Qu Chuxiao, Jiang Mengjie, Jiang Chao, Eric Chou Running Time: 115 min. By Paul Bramhall The disaster movie on a plane has been going through a bit of a renaissance in Asia during recent years. China threw their hat into the ring with 2019’s The Captain, and Korea’s returned to the genre twice in as many years with 2022’s Emergency … Continue reading

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Bangkok Dog (2024) Review

Director: Chaya Supannarat Cast: D.Y. Sao, Jenny Philomena Van Der Sluijs, Brian Le, Ron Smoorenburg, Sahajak Boonthanakit Running Time: 85 min. By Paul Bramhall Throughout the 2000’s and 2010’s having the Thai capitals name in an action movie title seemed to be all the rage – Bangkok Dangerous, Bangkok Adrenaline, Bangkok Revenge, BKO: Bangkok Knockout, Bangkok Rush, Bangkok Assassins – the list goes on! However as the Thai action scene … Continue reading

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Bridge of Death (1974) Review

Director: Lee Doo-yong Cast: Han Yong-cheol, Bae Su-chun, Kim Yeongran, Chang Il-sik, Woo Yeon-jeong, Mun-ju Kim Running Time: 90 min.  By Paul Bramhall In my review for Returned a Single-Legged Man 2 I concluded with “What’s left to ask but for more taekwon-action productions be made available to be enjoyed.” The line was in reference to the Korean Film Archive’s decision in 2023 to release some of director Lee Doo-yong’s … Continue reading

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Shadow Strays, The (2024) Review

Director: Timo Tjahjanto Cast: Auroro Ribero, Hana Malasan, Ali Fikri, Adipati Dolken, Kristo Immanuel, Andri Mashadi, Chew Kin Wah, Arswendy Bening Swara, Tanta Ginting Running Time: 145 min. By Paul Bramhall  When the Indonesian directing duo the Mo Brothers decided to apply their horror genre leanings to the action genre in 2016, the result was Headshot, a movie which immediately grabbed the attention of martial arts cinema fans. While it … Continue reading

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Panda Plan (2024) Review

Director: Luan Zhang Cast: Jackie Chan, Yanbo Han, Ce Shi, Xiang Wei, Temur Mamisashvili, Aleksandra Smirnova Running Time: 100 min. By Paul Bramhall In one of the initial scenes from Jackie Chan’s latest big screen outing, Panda Plan, a character says, “It’s a commercial movie, it needs to entertain.” In many ways the line could be interpreted as director Luan Zhang’s way of announcing his intentions to the audience, and … Continue reading

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