Cast Member: Simon Yam

Keanu Reeves makes an assured directorial debut and an all round great fight film with the rather impressive ‘Man of Tai Chi’.

Definitely a film of two halves, ‘Midnight Fly’ is a brave, uncompromising, yet not always successful Jacob Cheung feature.

Thrown together rather than constructed, this is a production where the director has little idea how to generate organic laughs from situations and must therefore shoe-horn them in.

A stylish and moody piece from one of the masters of style and mood, ‘PTU’ is a dark journey into the equally dark heart of Hong Kong where the cops are almost as corrupt as the criminals.

‘Return Engagement’ is cut from much the same cloth as many gangster films of the era but differentiates itself with a stronger core storyline.

‘Rose, Rose I Love You’ is less of a straight lampoon of 60s Hong Kong cinema and more of a genuine attempt to harness the spiritedness of the original.

The sheer energy and pacing of the film is undeniably invigorating and it is truly captivating to watch poor, unsuspecting Cheung fighting for his life.

‘Sparrow’ is the archetypal Curate’s Egg, a film that fuses together precious few moments of brilliance with a heavy dose of lethargy, rendering the finished article difficult to digest.

A first class cop thriller, that despite it’s flaws and over dramatics is riveting viewing and shows Wilson Yip is one of the best directors working in Hong Kong at the minute.

Sticking with ‘SPL 2’ makes for an overall rewarding experience as director Soi Cheang takes the viewer on a wild, thrilling and at times incredibly dark ride.

Somewhere on earth, there might a exist a computer than can decipher the meaning of ‘The Black Panther Warriors’ – but that’s doubtful.

Thankfully this low-budget Hong Kong drama has enough going for it to sidestep its lazier moments.