Country: Hong Kong

What may sound like an unpleasant crime thriller because of the concept and title is actually another of the comedy films that Chow Yun-Fat made earlier in his career.

It has numerous nods to the Shaw Brothers classics and harks back to those swordplay flicks of yesteryear, making you smile, cry, jump for joy and shout like a banshee, like any good martial arts film should.

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.

Although this movie was enjoyable from start to finish, it still lacked something to make it an above average thriller, while the few surprises in store make it unlikely to be viewed more than once.

With a welcome big screen appearance by Anita Yuen and an all-star rendition of Sam Hui’s beloved ’Private Eyes’ theme, this celebration of Hong Kong is an unpretentious distraction.

If any viewer has been brought up on the Hong Kong musicals that Jeff Lau’s work alludes to, this will be highly recommended.

Even though I was eager to like the film and the trailer helped make this seem a possibility, this is a major disappointment – even for the most forgiving fans of the Samuel Hui/Karl Maka classic.

‘A Battle Of Wits’ is that rare work that is exciting, tense and yet is an introspective on the violence, war and conformity.

This is the ‘Citizen Kane’ of HK heroic bloodshed films and it never ages, even after repeat viewings.

What this film lacks in plot, it sure as hell makes up for in action and the finale of ‘A Better Tomorrow II’ is a brutal display of guns, grenades and swordplay.

As a standalone film ‘A Better Tomorrow 3’ is a fairly watchable effort thanks to an intriguing premise, but as a prequel to ‘A Better Tomorrow’ it just doesn’t quite cut it.

Any fan of wuxia films MUST see ‘A Chinese Ghost Story’. I can not give a higher recommendation for this veritable classic.