Opening credits claim "adapted from a true story" but the people creating the end credits were apparently not of the same opinion (or just used the standard "these events are fictional"-disclaimer). Regardless, director Herman Yau and Danny Lee return to a minor franchise that they started at the height of the true crime Category III craze in the early 90s, this time adapting to a lower rating and showcasing knowledge of what works that they didn't have before.

The Untold Story III follows an on and off flashback structure concerning a gang of punks (led by Sam Lee) hustling money from a rookie loan shark (Ken Lo). When they can't pay him back, they turn to murder instead. A missing persons report is filed and soon thereafter the kids are brought in for questioning. Lee Sir (Danny Lee...who else?) and his pipe headlines the investigation.

First thing you're greeted to is a hugely inexpensive look that is likely to turn off viewers instantly. Herman Yau hasn't armed himself with budget constantly throughout his career but have been able to generate surprising results every other 3-4 movies despite. The Untold Story III represents one such effort. Far from the bloodshed and goofiness of the past, the familiar Cat III structure is maintained but Yau injects a fair amount of actual wit and chills throughout. The cops are shown as bumbling idiots but only occasionally which is a breakthrough in itself and the sly wit of Yau's plays out with satisfying low-key results. Fact of the matter, it's the parts in the present concerning the interrogations that remains the most compelling and that never happened in a Cat III picture of the same structure before!

Turning his attention to the past story, pacing becomes an issue and the youth characters aren't exactly the most thrilling bunch to follow. Thanks to engaging performances by Sam Lee and Ken Lo though (the latter playing against type as a nice guy making friends with the wrong people and forcing a tough guy act to the surface), going through some stumbling sections becomes less of an hassle but towards the final act, Yau logs his best work. A section akin to Taxi Hunter showcases a commendable amount of human comedy as our youths are planning their attack on Lo's character, all well-edited together with the events in the present. Some social commentary sneaks in and out quietly and like most Herman Yau movies, The Untold Story III isn't overly special Hong Kong cinema. It's worth acknowledging though because Yau once again proves that he can inject creativity in an inexpensive frame. Chin Ka-Lok, Emily Kwan, Jude Poyer, Monica Chan and Lo Lieh also appear.

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Yesasia.com

When you for once get the picture and ALMOST keep track of all the characters in this Wuxia dealing with power struggles, it's a shame that it's such a weak package. From what I can gather, princes and brothers Zhao Guang Yi (Chiu Gwok) and De Zhao (Max Mok) desire the throne but it's the former who's willing to go the lengths of assassinating his brother... had it not been for an agreement that says it can't be done at the hand of Guang Yi because the throne won't simply be his then. Into this mix comes skilled master Chen Bo (Lung Tien-Hsiang) who hovers between different loyalties and renegade fighter Li Lang (Lau Wing - Human Lanterns) who wants someone good at the throne and is willing to fight for it.

Reasonably interesting power struggles and an unexpectedly intriguing portrayal of Chen Bo by Lung Tien-Hsiang, Inframan-director Hua Shan would've definitely had something if his short running time and lighting fast pace didn't infect the action scenes. There's wonderful Wuxia-style techniques such as one ending with blood heavily spurting out from various parts of an opponents body and a traps-sequence where a horse gets horribly skewered. But excessive undercranking and tight editing (in an otherwise accomplished Shaw Brother's movie as shot) leaves us wondering what wonderful concepts are in there to complement the rather plotting. At the very tail end, there is effective imagery connecting to the dark facets of power but Hua Shan doesn't turn his movie around despite.

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HK Flix.com
Yesasia.com

A cut and paste production using no budget footage by IFD's Alton Cheung with Catman (Jonathan Isgar, billed as Jonathan James here) vs a religious cult, his origin story (after being scratched by a radioactive cat, he gains strength rather than cat-like powers) and merging it with a no budget Thai actioner starring Sorapong Chatri. Thus a fairly different IFD experience than most viewers are used to is created. Still the same technique, just another form of (attempts at) colorful content. For what it's worth, Isgar's and Kenneth Goodman's scenes (and really any scene shot by Cheung) are a lot of fun. It's very silly, sometimes verging on the tone of the 1960s Batman TV-series but not truly witty. Often armed with dialogue loaded with tons of forced profanity and oddly, picked voices and delivery, there's enough drive here where it's delightful to see IFD's attempt at pushing a superhero onto the international market. However their strength is not exposition, leading to a generally incoherent tone and the original Thai movie offers up very little. Shot mostly outside and in real locations, this doesn't translate to grit and neither fight-action or gunplay comes through as anything but dull (save for a few good motorbike stunts). Pretty joyous in bursts because of IFD's footage, that includes a fantastic scene at the cult-hangout that feels like the Foot Clan-headquarters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles conceived on a budget of 12 dollars, but a trek overall because of the movie Cheung is merging his superhero product with.

While IFD does something very rare here as this is a true sequel to one of their movies, it's of course a re-thread of merging their own shot Jonathan Isgar and Kenneth Goodman footage with a source movie (from Thailand in this case). It's also one of those cases where neither the source movie or IFD's footage shines. Doing the fatal mistake of ejecting the light, silly (and profane) fun from the first entry 'Lethal Track', Alton Cheung doesn't introduce his lead until 30 minutes in and Catman himself appears 10-15 minutes later. Through incoherent exposition dumps, we are then mostly stuck with the Thai actioner (starring among others Sorapong Chatri) and its large character-gallery to keep track of. So large in fact we're constantly introduced to new people and sink deeper into the pit of incoherency while we impatiently wait for more Catman scenes. Only fun sporadically, nothing in this second and final entry can be truly recommended and for a demonstration of how IFD did when creating their own superhero, stick to the first movie.