Roy Chiao, Pai Ying, Lau Kong, Hsu Feng & company roam the Chinese land in order to rid of Japanese and Chinese pirates. Yes, it's very straightforward plotting coming from King Hu, particular with A Touch Of Zen in mind. Shot largely outdoors, to be really unfair, The Valiant Ones echoes the feelings of cheap, independent productions when pondering the location work alone. However, King Hu's exquisite and elegant style beats any indie, that's for damn sure! A genuinely intriguing and extensive merging of Hu's Chinese opera style to the fight choreography and young Sammo Hung's powerful skills as an action director also makes The Valiant Ones a true standout, despite a not so involving plot as such. By the time I see a better and sharper print though, I might give King Hu's film a few extra marks as the one screened for me clearly makes the film lose some of its impact. Hang Ying Chieh, Yuen Biao, Mars, Simon Yuen, Yuen Wah and Sammo Hung also appear.

Director Wong Chung (former Shaw Brother's actor in movies such as Killer Clans and later turned director) handles Kent Cheng's reporter Piao's battles with a vampire and the police in a fairly refreshingly balanced way (basically choosing to rarely let the elements of comedy, crude social commentary and horror interfere with each other). It's also easier therefore to differentiate it from other similar genre excursions of the era and expectedly, Wong scores more points when dealing with the horror that includes melting corpses, gory decapitations (ok...one), enveiled in a professional frame co-lensed by Arthur Wong. The romance angle between the unlikely pair of Kent Cheng and Emily Chu is rough though as there needs to be more substance for it to work but occasionally the stars share some chemistry and it's certainly not the make or break element of this entertaining film. Co-starring Parkman Wong and Wu Ma.

Buy the DVD at:
HK Flix.com
Yesasia.com

Before the mellow times writing and directing at UFO, Lee Chi-Ngai (Lost And Found) debuted with Vengeance Is Mine. A mostly standard rape and revenge story, Lee as expected asks his cinematographer to bring out the blue filters and his writer to create stereotypical bad guys (that you do genuinely hate however). With several very chilling scenes of Tony Leung directed action and violence plus sympathetic turns by Pat Ha and Derek Yee, Vengeance Is Mine easily ends up on par with Her Vengeance, a solid effort released the same year. Rosamund Kwan also stars.

Despite claiming otherwise, the Megastar vcd reportedly contains no subtitles. Mei Ah's old laserdisc did however.

Buy the VCD at:
Yesasia.com

The confidence of the Wah Shui women's volleyball team is shattered when they lose to the evil team in black, the Devil Women. Without support by the heads of their university, they threaten to go public with discrimination rumors but they're allowed to keep on playing. Only problem is finding a willing coach and when all options are exhausted, they turn to substitute teacher and insect geek Ma Chi (Derek Yee)...

Andy Chin (Changing Partner) takes the themes of the sport movie nowhere particularly special but deserves kudos for maintaining a focus on delivering the familiar essentials, reaching pleasant levels with Victory in the process. Employing patriotic cues surrounding the need to unify makes for a good thematic ground for this kind of story and amazingly, it doesn't feel cloying or bothersome. While there's no huge care towards characters, the whole package is put together with care, with Chin logging good impact during the volleyball scenes and cinematographer Poon Hang Sang (Kung Fu Hustle) provides fine camera work. Likeable performers gets you a long way also, with Carman Lee and a suitably dorky Derek Yee providing fitting turns. The attempts at satire aimed at the decision makers of the school may very well be poor attempts but with otherwise great director Derek Yee involved, one can also argue that the behind the scenes team actually are adept at this sort of thing. You be the judge. Also with Josie Ho (in her film debut).