Author: Andrew Skeates

A somewhat straightforward, and at times melodramatic, narrative is given heft by the committed cast, stunning cinematography and set design, and fantastic swordplay action.

Slickly helmed by stunt guy and first-time director Heo Myung-Haeng, ‘Badland Hunters’ is some rollicking fun not to be taken too seriously.

Beginning somewhat sombre and low key before exploding into a cavalcade of colour and crazy (talking) creatures, ‘The Boy And The Heron’ is pure unbridled Miyazaki.

Not as riotously entertaining as the first instalment, ‘Bodyguard Kiba 2’ is still a fun watch, mainly to see Chiba strutting his cool stuff and for the impressive fight scenes that open and close the film.

Existing in its own heightened reality, ‘Bodyguard Kiba’ is all about making our hero look cool (and indestructible!) and the bad guys as nasty as possible.

Owing a lot to likes of ‘Evil Dead’ (and other 80s style demon/zombie/gore films) Kenichi Ugana puts enough of his own spin and Japanese style quirk into proceedings to make it his own.

‘Fighting Spirit’ has some energy and a surfeit of almost non-stop fights but is just a little too cheap, hokey, and grimy to recommend as silly fun.

Helmed by the then prolific Lo Wei and giving Wong Tao an early leading role, ‘Slaughter in San Francisco’ is some often cheesy but action-packed old school martial arts action.

Cool, swift, and breezy, ‘Yakuza Wolf 2’ may be different in tone and style to the first film, and nowhere near as satisfying, but is still some fun gangster action with Chiba at the top of his game.

Fierce Yakuza action from the man Sonny Chiba, ‘Yakuza Wolf’ has lost none of its power as it dishes up a hard-hitting dose of violent action and in-your-face exploitation.

Not for the fainthearted but for fans of hard-edged cop action films from the golden era of Hong Kong, this is tough to beat.

Slicker and swifter this time around, ‘Samurai Wolf II’ is still some dark, fight filled, chanbara entertainment but is perhaps unnecessarily complex and convoluted for its own good.