Cast Member: Chang Chen

Not a complete waste of time as it does provide some basic gangster movie stylings but ‘Blood Brothers’ is just that: an exercise in style and a style that has been done much better by other films.

Bathed in nihilism from the opening frames to the last and creates a gradual sense of doom that would befit the most ice-cold thriller of the 40s.

The fights are almost seamlessly integrated and amongst some of the best on offer for a few years even if they are not new by Jade screen standards.

Despite having no conclusion of its own, all of the groundwork of the characterisation and story make the next chapter an exciting prospect.

Part 2 is certainly the superior one, but both deserve individual credit for reviving the dying embers of John Woo’s career.

‘Savage’ pulls few punches in its tough tale of a mountain cop on a quest to extract revenge on a trio of criminals who killed his partner.

The production cannot sustain its appeal nor can it do justice to the grand themes of loneliness/love that it attempts to tackle.

There is no arguing that it is an entrancingly shot piece of work with some typically eye-catching Yuen Woo-Ping action choreography.