Country: China

A mix of historical drama, romantic melodrama, and frantic wuxia superhero charged action, Yen and his crew certainly go all out to create an epic and kudos to their ambition.

‘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.

Yu’s epic is often stunning to look at, is a lot less stuffy and longwinded than many a recent Chinese period epic, moves at a fair clip and delivers a surfeit of adrenaline surged spectacle.

Despite eschewing all the trappings of a big budget thriller, ‘Saving Mr. Wu’ is still a tense and perhaps even thought-provoking production.

The two most striking things about ‘Send Me To The Clouds’ are the photography and the performance of actress Yao Chen.

Zhang Yimou’s black, white and blood red opus mixes political intrigue, wuxia action and enough twists and turns to fill several mysteries.

‘Shanghai’ is an entertaining watch buoyed by an impressive cast which features several Eastern superstars showing they can hold their own against some of Hollywood’s finest.

The dramatic framework is sturdy enough to make ‘Shaolin’ emotionally engaging, while the Yuen Kwai-orchestrated action is a delightful throwback to the Golden Age.

Director Guo Xiaolu does manage some scenes of striking realism where the drama and relationships work but soap opera theatrics derails the overall dramatic impact of ‘She, A Chinese’.

It’s almost as if the makers watched ‘Rush Hour’, ‘Shanghai Noon’ and even ‘Around The World In Eighty Days’ and thought how utilitarian it might be just to throw various elements from these into one puzzling lump.

Like an enticing travel documentary, ‘Sky Lovers’ leaves the viewer with a feeling of wonder toward its subject.

Ringo Lam in the director’s chair should ensure a film that is at least cohesive. ‘Sky On Fire’ shows that this faith in the film-maker may be currently under review as this incredulous action thriller is a messy, wildly inconsistent affair.