Silver Hawk is the crime fighter doing things her way, employing her own principles and behind the mask is rich Lulu Wong (Michelle Yeoh, also producer). Annoying police by simply being first on the scene every time, childhood friend Rich Man (Richie Ren) is the cop out to nail her. A kidnapping case but ultimately world domination via phones courtesy of Alexander Wolfe (Luke Goss - Blade II) keeps them busy...

A bright, silver-like (literally) attempt at futuristic comic book action, going into Silver Hawk with the big budget, international dud that was the Michelle Yeoh vehicle The Touch in mind certainly lowers expectations. So as flawed, ridiculous, dumb and ridiculously dumb Silver Hawk is, director Jingle Ma actually does show some skill in maintaining the fun and cool of the premise. With concepts such as Silver Hawk jumping The Great Wall on her bike and featuring Alien Sit choreographed fights of varying quality, the movie is a vehicle that often tries to survive by being loud. The action choreography when clear is all about the one or two kicks in slow motion set to pounding, generic techno while any move by anyone is accompanied by something boring from the library of whoosh-cues. Playing the movie out suitably light still ruins any chances as the largely English language performed dialogue is terrible and terribly performed. It's basically the Alien Sit show for two action scenes that matches the need for over the top behaviour to this universe. One has Silver Hawk taking on fighters on bungy chords and later in the same environment, it's henchmen on rollerblades with steel hockeysticks. Luke Goss has a suitable design as a villain with bionic arms as well and the ending pyro show not only entertains that way but in between has some cool cinematic moments that shows Jingle Ma is a director with it in him. Problem is, lighting up for a second or two doesn't help anyone and Silver Hawk needed a ton of bricks of more cool to clinch its goals. Deservedly so it bombed at the box office but low expectations at least makes you remember the 5 minutes that weren't abysmal. Also with Brandon Chang as the chairman of the Silver Hawk fanclub, Michael Jai White and Li Bing-Bing.

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Depicting the "Siege of Fort Zeelandia" in 1661 and 1662 that when it came to a close meant the Dutch East India Company surrendered rule over Taiwan. The assault in the movie is lead by Ming loyalist Zheng Cheng-Gong (Vincent Zhao) who's witnessed his dynasty fade away to the point where his father is even surrendering to the Ching. This lean epic (clocking in at a mere 100 minutes) mostly strikes chords of entertainment and is more of a quick run through of key events (accurate or not) but nonetheless is a ride worth taking. Director Wu Zi-Nu is no stranger to dealing with history with big images thanks to the likes of Don't Cry, Nanking a few years earlier. By choice (and getting away with it) creating a good chunk of Sino-Dutch War 1661 as a melodrama, it's still passable drama thanks to this brave stance of letting emotions flow. All this refers to the breakdown of the family, what choices are made in the face of a fading rule and where loyalty leads you. Sure it's patriotic but not distracting flag waving and Wu Zi-Nu's battle images are equal to rough, gritty and impressively staged on the grand scale (mostly true of the sea battle that dominates the finale).

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KENNETH'S REVIEW: Not as lifeless as Guy Lai's The Intellectual Trio but pretty damn close. At least it opens in an original fashion during what appears to be a breaking and entering but Pat Ha's Jenny isn't very good at it. Her plan is to elope with boyfriend Cheung (Jacky Cheung) but trying to stand in the way is his sister Kam (Carol Cheng). And when an old lady wants these people to be involved as she marries of her dead daughter, things take drastic turns. As the ghost of the daughter (embodied by Maggie Cheung) becomes visible, the marriage appears to have been done between her and Cheung. Enter rivalry...

Annoying pretty much until Maggie Cheung arrives in all her cute glory, as the comedic jabs takes place such as Pat Ha and Carol Cheng exchanging bust-jokes and Nat Chan appearing only mildly annoying, Guy Lai manages to trust Maggie Cheung to make matters bearable because nothing is otherwise funny. Criminally simple to direct her in this way.

Reasonably entertaining buddy cop cop comedy (the pairing this time is Sandra Ng and Charine Chan) from Andy Chin (Changing Partner) who usually makes reasonably entertaining films. No different here as comedy is kept unusually light (meaning not Wong Jing-esque broad outside of the Michael Chow cop character and his partner, but Michael is a pretty funny guy though) and plays to Sandra Ng's strength as an amusing comic actress. Tony Leung Siu Hung handles the action competently, giving us gritty and bloody gunplay that makes Sisters In Law a fair early 90s package. Shing Fui On and Max Mok are good in supporting roles.

Megastar does their best to ruin the movie with a horrendous 5.1 remix though.

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Sylvia (Sylvia Chang, also producer and co-writer) in a distraught mood about not feeling the attention and love from her husband (John Shum) anymore, shacks up with sister Sally (Sally Yeh in her last Hong movie). Sally herself is in a risky relationship with married man Johnny (Derek Yee) and decides ultimately to split up with him. Re-examining their roles in and view on love while being re-born again, Sylvia's true beauty will come out while she gets a breakthrough as a cook and Sally meets younger man Ray (David Wu) who literally drains all energy out of her. Being an environmentalist and never in shortage of things to do, it's the inevitable age clash that may threaten this blooming love. One time director Maisy Chow has a loveable structure and themes running throughout and it's especially heartwarming to see Sylvia's character bloom. Which in itself is the reason to cast Sylvia Chang as she can carry off that transformation from ignored house wife to true beauty and sexiness. Director Chow also thinks of this drama cinematically, going creative on us during her collaboration with cinematographer Jingle Ma. Pace she doesn't master however. In fact not at all. Sisters Of The World Unite seriously drags and engages merely in sporadic bursts, despite all throughout really showcasing its leading ladies well. Featuring cameos and appearances by Johnnie To, Raymond Wong, Kenny Bee, Phillip Chan and Kam Kwok-Leung.

Kwan Tak-Hing's return to the Wong Fei Hung role, 4 years after the last of long running series had ended with Wong Fei Hung: Bravely Crushing the Fire Formation. Kwan would go on to reprise the role yet again in movies such as The Magnificent Butcher and Dreadnaught.

As an anticipated comeback vehicle, The Skyhawk is far from remarkable, containing standard plotting and simple but well-meaning philosophies. It rises to solid thanks to Sammo Hung's action (Hung also co-stars) that partly recalls the style of the era but contains enough of Hung's powerful traits as a choreographer. Whang In-Sik obviously gets a good kicking showcase, Kwan Tak-Hing performs an admirable amount of his own fighting but it's Carter Wong that Hung has blessed with several moments of smoothly executed action. Also with Nora Miao, Lee Kwan and amongst the stunt players Lam Ching Ying and Wilson Tong can be spotted.

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Chang Cheh completists need only apply for this modern day blend of traditional martial arts and gunplay. The opening demo showcases what clearly is a budget constraint on the film although the martial arts is of a good caliber. Gunplay isn't however, nor is this standard story about police corruption. Some decent trademark Chang Cheh gore and mayhem does sporadically rear its head but when all parts are added up, Slaughter In Xian is only marginally better than the crap Joseph Lai and IFD churned out...sadly. Dung Chi-Wai was Chang Cheh's leading man of choice during this period and he's recently been employed by Stephen Chow, playing the character of Donut in Kung Fu Hustle.

Oh, and if you had your doubts about the homo-eroticism in Chang Cheh's movies, I think Slaughter In Xian will firmly seal your opinion. Not subtle. I'll leave it at that.

Kenichi (Takeshi Kaneshiro) finds himself in the middle of a gang war between the Chinese, 3 days prior to the New Year. He's on a reluctant mission for Shanghai crime boss Yuan (Eric Tsang) to find an old partner Yuan needs to exact revenge on. In comes the mysterious Natsumi (Mirai Yamamoto) who's offering Kenichi his target...a little too easily perhaps.

Lee Chi-Ngai (Lost And Found) once again utilizes Takeshi Kaneshiro to excellent effect in this Hong Kong/Japanese co-production. Largely set in Japan, it's the award winning technical merits to shines the most in this rather ordinary and overly complicated noir piece. Cinematographer Arthur Wong gives the perfect polished surface for the gritty gangster world while Lee makes Takeshi Kaneshiro and Mirai Yamamoto an effective couple. All up till the end, we're never sure of their loyalty towards each other and with that achieved chemistry, Lee Chi-Ngai gets some grade A remarks sporadically throughout. Although the standard he set for himself with Lost And Found is obviously lacking though. However, The Sleepless Town contains genre standards in a slick package which is a ride worth taking. Also with Kathy Chow (Beast Cops) and Ang Lee regular Lang Xiong.

Dark and off-beat comedy from Sammo Hung that juggles all kinds of elements that only Hong Kong cinema can for 90 minutes. Dealing with relationships, there's first Hung himself as a phone salesman trying to outdo his fiercest rival Ling (Carol Cheng). Being witness to a brutal murder by the whack job Bat (Jacky Cheung) and his calmer sidekick Owl (Lam Ching Ying), he manages to flee to report the case to the police. Difficulties arise because one, his wife (Yu Li) is a cop and the object of desire of another cop (Ngai Sing) and Hung's testimony doesn't get taken seriously. Then there's the shrink (Joyce Godenzi) who has Hung as her patient and gets involved as the killers go after him...

Slickers Vs Killers is involving but a little bit lacking in focus, mainly in regards to Carol Cheng's Ling who doesn't seem to have a proper spot in the narrative in the latter half. A few characters too many really occupies the film although Hung and backup leading lady Cheng's feisty interactions are probably the funniest throughout. Joyce Godenzi also gets ample time to shine as she tries to manipulate the underlying tension in the Hung/Yu Li relationship and Sammo hard hitting action, with a few stunts thrown in, has a decent showcase in what in the end, despite darkness, really is light, entertainment "only". Richard Ng and Tommy Wong also appear.