Author: Andrew Saroch

The few moments of promise at the beginning do not last long and the occasional flashes of action are merely there to trick us into sitting through the whole thing.

The result is a good big-budget action film though enjoyment will rest on how much Chinese flag-waving you can sit through.

This isn’t a masterpiece of the genre by any stretch, but it’s a more than adequate drama with some well shot chase scenes.

It’s watchable (though don’t dare take your eyes off it for a moment or you’ll miss at least three dramatic revelations) and confidently put together, but satisfying as a conclusion to the big story it is not.

‘The Harvest’ is a slow-burning, independent take on inter-generational tension, focused on the patient reveal rather than the spectacular twist and in this way it feels much more relatable.

For those of us who have grown up with Jackie Chan, this leaves quite an impression; it recalls an era of cinema, not just Hong Kong but worldwide, that will never be repeated again.

Andrew Saroch commemorates the career of Hong Kong actor Richard Ng (吳耀漢).

‘Spy Games’ is packed with 80s excess and ebullience, yet forgot to include the countless other elements that so many of its contemporaries included.

It was a big box office hit on its release, features Chingmy Yau looking adorable and has some decent chemistry between the cast, but that’s not enough to drag the viewer through the ninety-minute running time.

‘Broker’ is deceptively gentle in the same way as the tide is – constant, soothing and yet with a power to erode even the hardest granite with its motion.

The comedy is hit-and-miss and as it takes up the majority of the running time, it slows the pace right down after a promising start.

The action ranges from the adequate to the quite good – hardly a ringing endorsement, I grant you – but suffers from that same curse of poor wirework.