Director : Stanley Tong
Cast : Michelle Yeoh, Yu Rong Guang, Bowie Lam, Emil Chau, Fan Siu Wong, Antena Chu Yan, Dick Wei, Alan Sit, Bill Tung, Jackie Chan (cameo).

Synopsis
Michelle Yeoh reprises her role of Inspector Yang, a no-nonsense cop from mainland China whose dazzling beauty conceals her sharp mind and martial arts mastery. Sent to Hong Kong to bust up a crime syndicate, Yang is flung into a tailspin when she discovers the gang is headed by her ex-lover. Can Yang find a compromise between her heart and her honor.

Review
After the success of Police Story 3 (Supercop), here comes a spin-off for Michelle Yeoh’s character – Inspector Yang. Michelle Yeoh teams up with Emil Chau and Fan Siu Wong against the formidable Yu Rong Guang (Iron Monkey) and his gang. Overall, this movie is pretty decent with a good mix of fast-paced action sequences with love/drama elements. Look out for Jackie Chan & Eric Tsang cameo appearance in the second half of the movie. Recommended to all Michelle Yeoh fans!

Rating
Plot : 3/5
Acting : 3/5
Entertainment : 4/5
Overall :

Notable Scenes

• Michelle Yeoh’s action & stunts
• Michelle Yeoh vs big/tall guy in finale
• Yeoh & Yu’s relationship

Director : Alan Mak, Felix Chong
Cast : Eason Chan, Sammi Cheng 
Release Date : September 2008 (M’sia)

Synopsis :
John Fok (Eason Chan) is the kingpin of illegal red oil in Greater China. When an oil tanker explodes accidentally, he becomes the focus of investigation by Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese police and is forced to halt his business to wait thing out. Just as he is finally ready to turn his fortune around, however, his only son is kidnapped.

Senior Inspector Molline Szeto (Sammi Cheng) is the rising star in the police force, who is well praised for busting crime with her characteristic sangfroid and precision. However, in matters of love, she is totally at wit’s end. Poised at the crossroad of her life, she is thrilled to be assigned to investigate the kidnap of John’s son. An unlikely cooperation between cops and crooks thus ensues, leading to conflicts and clashes galore at every step till the end. 

Director : Tsui Hark, Kwak Jae- Yong
Cast : Zhou Xun, Kwai Lun-mei, Kitty Zhang Yuqi
Release Date : Late 2008

Synopsis
NOT ALL WOMEN ARE BAD, a comedy on modern metropolitan life that is being done from an unforeseeable perspective, is set against the backdrop of the rapidly developing city of Beijing. It takes a look at three women of different professions and backgrounds, and presents a contemporary comedy from the way they deal with love. In this chic comedy, Zhou Xun transforms from gentle to captivating, playing 12 roles in the movie including a doctor, a patient, a reporter, and more. Kwai Lun-mei transforms from innocent to rock-and-roll, while Kitty Zhang from girl-next-door to rich coquette.

Director : Wilson Yip Wai Sun
Cast : Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi.
Release Date : December 2008 (Asia)

Synopsis
Ip Man is adapted from the life story of Ip Man, the grand master of the Wing Chun style of kung fu and sifu (master) of legendary kung fu superstar Bruce Lee. This movie will be the first important record of the master’s life. Ip’s persistent devotion to Wing Chun is a classic example of the love and respect shown to wushu and the freedom and spirit it represents. Ip Man is a concept, a spirit, a way of thinking – and it represent a new peak in Hong Kong’s wushu movies.

Director : Benny Chan
Cast : Nicholas Tse, Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Andy On, Wu Jing

Synopsis
The rise of Ronin Gang, a band of notorious robbers affected the lives of three policemen drastically. Each of the three policemen: Fang (starring Shawn Yue), Jing Hau (starring Jaycee Chan) and Chen (starring Nicholas Tse) have their own stories but are motivated to achieve a common goal: to bring Jiang (starring Wu Jing), the leader of the Ronin Gang to justice.

Time is running out as Jiang’s influence grew and the gang’s ruthless acts are getting out hand. With Fang’s wit, Jing Hau’s courage and Chen’s dexterity, the three vowed to capture Jiang. However, it was also during the intense period of tracking the Ronin Gang that the three learnt about the presence of a prominent figure in the police force who is in cahoots with Jiang… With all these against them, they are even more determined to rid the evil doings of Jiang and his accomplice…

Rating
Plot : 3/5
Acting : 3/5
Entertainment : 3/5
Overall : 3/5

Notable Scenes
- Nicholas Tse’s stunts work
- Shattered glass everywhere
- The ruthless Ronin gang

Buy this movie at YesAsia – Invisible Target

 

Director : Wilson Yip
Action Director : Donnie Yen
Cast : Donnie Yen, Louis Koo, Fan Bing Bing, Kent Cheng, Collin Chou, Ray Lui, Xing Yu

Synopsis
As the Detective Sergeant of Serious Crimes Unit, Jun (Donnie Yen) detests crime and his life long nemeses are a Vietnamese gang of three brothers – Archer, Tony and Tiger. In order to further infiltrate the gang and fight them from within, Jun has planted a mole, Wilson (Louis Koo), who has managed to gain the complete trust of the gang.

Soon, Wilson becomes unhappy with Jun’s impulsive and unruly style, and has led to constant arguments and altercations. In a heated battle between, Wilson’s dual role is exposed and his left leg was hurt, leaving him handicapped for life. The day before Tiger’s trial, Archer turns up at the hospital to wipe out their only witness, Wilson. Jun manages to kill Archer and protect Wilson but Wilson’s girlfriend (Fan Bing Bing) is held hostage by the gang.

Jun is suspended from duty over Archer’s killing and held for questioning. The day of the trial, Wilson appears as a witness but claims he has amnesia and leaves immediately to retrieve his girlfriend. On the night of the final showdown between Jun and Tony, Wilson abandons Jun to the mercy of Tony leaving him besieged by scores of henchmen.

However, Jun believes that the only way to fight crime is ‘the road of no return’ and keeps up his fighting spirit. In the far distance, finally understands Jun’s unwavering spirit. Can he really abandon his true partner now?

Quick View
Another collaboration by Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen. Indeed, Flash Point is a semi-prequel to SPL as Donnie Yen’s character name is Inspector Ma Kwan. This time, Donnie Yen blends a new type of martial arts choreography (MMA – Mixed Martial Arts) into silver screen.

Rating
Plot : 3/5
Acting : 3/5
Entertainment : 4/5
Overall : 3/5

Notable Scenes
- Donnie Yen vs Collin Chou
- Donnie Yen vs Xing Yu
- Donnie Yen’s Mixed Martial Arts

Buy this movie at YesAsia – Flash Point

Director : Tsui Hark
Cast : Leon Lai Ming, Charlie Yeung Choi Nei, Lu Yi, Sun Honglei, Kim So-Yeon, Donnie Yen, Wang Xueqi, Zhang Jingchu, Zhou Qunda, Dai Li-Wu, Huang Peng

Synopsis
Adapted from renowned writer Liang Yu-shen’s timeless classic, Seven Swords tells the story of seven unlikely heroes gathered together to save a village from the massacre of a general that is seeking a fortune through killing. In the early 1600’s, the Manchurians have assumed sovereignty and established the Ching Dynasty. A highly oppressive reign thus began. To fight against the brutality of the new government and save the innocent, seven unlikely heroes gathered together and became the Seven Swords. Each sword carries its own character – The Transience Sword, The Dragon Sword, The Heaven’s Fall Sword, The Unlearn Sword, The Deity Sword, TheCelestial Beam Sword and The Star Chasers Sword.

Review
Well, finally Seven Swords hit the Asian cinemas. Adapted from renowned writer Liang Yu Shen’s novels, it tells a story of seven unlikely heroes gathered to save a village from the massacre of a deadly, barbarian cult armies. They are seeking fortune from killing the innocents to collect prize money from the government. Basically, Seven Swords follows the “Seven Swordsmen Leaves Mountain Heaven” novel where 5 swordsmen are summoned from Mount Heaven to save the innocent people. Each and every of them carry an unique sword which has it own capability and usage. There are The Unlearnt, The Dragon, The Transience, The Deity, The Heaven’s Fall, The Celestial Beam, and The Star-Chasers. Another 2 swordsmen came from the village itself and joined as a group to become the Seven Swords.

It started when Fu Qinzu (Lau Kar Leung) got hunted by the deadly armies when he tries to retrieve dog tags from the dead bodies to alert the villagers where they going to be the next targets of the armies. Liu managed to escape and landed on the village, but unfortunately the people doesn’t seems to believe Liu’s words. Two of the villagers sneak out and release Fu in order to find help to save the people. This awaken the heroes of Mount Heaven and their quest begins.

Its an interesting story adapted from the rich Liang Yu Shen’s Wu Xia novels. There are many things to tell and it seems Seven Swords is quite toned down. From its original 4 hours, its been cut to 2.5 hours to suits the theatrical length. As i can see, it really affect the overall outcome of the entire movie. Some of the sequences are poor edited where it jumps from scenes to scenes in a sudden and it makes you wonder. The momentum of the movie seems inconsistent and unable to give a cinematic suspense hype to the audience. The action scenes are good enough to deliver the swords capability but ain’t that great to give you a hype over it. The most notable action scene is the part where Donnie Yen (Chu Zaonan aka Dragon Sword) versus Sun Hong Lei (Fire-Wind Leader) in the tight space alley where Chu Zaonan set to reclaim his Dragon Sword from the Fire-Wind leader. Tsui Hark definitely put an effort in the visual part where the sets, location, back drop, and scenery look really promising, especially the scenes on Mount Heaven. Costumes are no doubt well made and look good. On the screenplay, Tsui Hark tends to follow the original, concentrated on the coming together of the swords where each of them are driven to unexpected courage and strength by love, friendship, spirit of justice, and the longing for a peaceful and harmonious world

On the actors, we can see the return of several veteran actors such as Leon Lai, Charlie Yeung (New Police Story) and Andrew Lau Kar Leung. Donnie Yen has been quite active in these several years and it seems he is going to shrine in this genre. There is nothing to shout out about the acting performance of the entire cast but most of them delivers their characters well enough.

Overall, Seven Swords is a piece of new Wu Xia genre which focus more on storytelling plot rather than action-speaks louder flick. The original novels are so rich that it cant be fit into a single movie only, thus there will be a sequel. At last, this movie is not for everyone. If you are looking for an entertaining action-packed Wu Xia flick, you will be disappointed.

Stills

Rating
Plot : 2/5
Acting : 3/5
Entertainment : 3/5
Overall : 3/5

Notable Scenes
- Scenes on Mount Heaven
- Chu Zaonan (Donnie Yen) vs Fire-Wind Leader

Buy this movie at YesAsia – Seven Swords

Director : Teddy Chen
Producers : Jackie Chan, Thomas Cheung, Willie Chan
Action Choreography : Tung Wei
Cast : Daniel Wu, Chow Wah-kin, Josie Ho, Kam Kwok-Leung, Joan Chen, Emil Chau

Synopsis
During a battle with the police, terrorist Todd Chow (Daniel Wu) is knocked out cold and when he wakes up in police custody and is interrogated he finds that he has lost his memory. Unable to remember who he is or who his friends are, the police decide to take advantage of the situation by trying to convince him that he was an undercover-cop. Todd is then rescued by his terrorist friends and in his confused state must decide whether to help either the police or the terrorists.

Review
by Martin Cleary

Although this film is a couple of years old now, this early effort from Daniel Wu is a pretty good thriller with a ‘memory loss’ concept which gives the plot plenty of twists. While the plot isn’t quite clever enough to make the film a classic, the high production values and good performances make this a worthwhile effort. Daniel Wu – in his first lead role – sadly comes across as a little wooden. Maybe this is partly intentional because for most of the film he is torn between its two real driving forces – the terrorist Soong, played with relish by Kwok Leung-Gan and the head of the counter-terrorist squad, played by Chow Wah-Kin. The relationship between ‘terrorist’ and ‘law enforcement’ is of course very relevant to todays political climate (although this was filmed before the events of September 11) and its subject matter definitely lingers in the mind.The film has some really good action scenes, although these are of the gunfight and explosion type of violence rather than martial arts, which seems a bit of a shame because it would be nice to see Daniel Wu show some of his fighting skills.

The action is still really good though, as the anti-terrorist squads plans go wrong regularly (surprise, surprise), resulting in some large scale shootouts. Chow Wah-kin is very good as the head of the terrorist squad, but its Kwok Leung-Gan who steals the film with his performance as the fatherly terrorist leader Soong. And he looks really cool with bleached hair and beard. As an added bonus, Josie Ho gets a few minutes screen time and looks sultry and sexy as the terrorist who needs to smile a bit more often. You just know that it’s not going to end nicely for her though. On the downside the script really should have been a bit tighter, as various sub-plots appear then disappear quickly, for example, Joan Chen wanders in for a bitthen disappears. Then she reappears later for very little reason.It’s not a classic, but Purple Storm seems to have a fairly large budget for a HK actioner, so it’s pretty slick with several impressively large set pieces. While not a perfect movie this is still really quite enjoyable – a good modern techno-thriller which is worth a look.

Rating
Plot : 3/5
Acting : 4/5
Entertainment : 3/5
Overall : 3/5

Notable Scenes
- Todds ‘rescue’ by the terrorists
- The groovy terrorist song
- Shootout at the harbour
- Josie Hos.

Buy this movie at  YesAsia – Purple Storm