Cast Member: Richie Ren

Full of negative characterisation, sloppily handled sentiment and rudderless direction, this is a film that drags along like the walking dead and manages to smother its noble intentions with complete indecision.

Shi Runjiu’s film is a modest production with flaws in certain key areas, but remains a genuinely interesting film.

Weaving a tangled web, ‘Accident’ is actually elegant in its simplicity but by the film’s conclusion, whatever your thoughts are on the movie itself you are likely to be more cautious of crossing the road or getting out of a car.

‘Breaking News’ is punctuated by tension-filled action set-pieces, but its main draw is the sharp characterisation and the insightful critique of the media that fills most of the running time.

‘Elixir Of Love’ passes the time adequately, but there’s little doubt that it fails to stretch Riley Yip’s creative excellence and doesn’t even rank as one of Miriam Yeung’s best.

‘Exiled’ is a riveting portrayal of a group of friends sticking by one another as their once chosen profession threatens to kill them all.

While the narrative and tone get a little muddled and the pace dips here and there, ‘Fire of Conscience’ is still a good tough-as-nails cop thriller with some brutal action.

‘Fly Me To Polaris’ makes no excuses for its obvious emotional machinations and a storyline clearly designed to tug at the heart-strings.

While there are flashes of his trademark fight scenes, it’s the fairy tale love story that always takes precedence.

‘Happy Birthday’ is a slickly packaged vehicle for its two stars, but utterly uninspiring at the very same time.

Interest is created in ‘Lady Cop & Papa Crook’ by its style and verve, yet the story and characters are successful in doing the opposite.

As a pure piece of pulp entertainment, ‘Legendary Amazons’ is a hoot. Nevertheless, there is always the feeling at the back of your mind that a story as famous as this deserves much better handling.