Genre: Action

While the original was essentially a remake of Luc Besson’s ‘La Femme Nikita’, ‘Black Cat II’ is more a straightforward action flick, with a little bit of ‘Terminator’ thrown in.

There is a degree of drama in this story of redemption but it’s not constructed with any great care and can hardly make up for the lack of sparkle in the choreography.

The action is still impressive, and deserves 4 stars, but the direction, annoying camera work and lack of real plot drag it down into the 3 star category.

‘Black Mask 2’ could be seen as Hark’s interpretation of what appeals to a global audience or maybe he just watched one too many episodes of ‘Power Rangers’ before production began.

Low budget, straight-forward, though with a couple of unexpected twists and turns, this was a fun and surprisingly action packed ride.

Along with all the sweet kickboxing action the flick crams in a fair chunk of graphic gore and a surprising amount of drama for a low budget B-movie.

Part 2 showed some nicer choreography but was hindered by the MTV-style camera work, which has seemingly infected all action films of the past few years.

‘Blade of the 47 Ronin’ is slick albeit silly fun that rightly plays everything just earnest enough to be taken seriously but having fun with the hokey concept of Samurai’s running around modern Budapest fighting evil witches.

Billed as Takashi Miike’s 100th film at the time of release, ‘Blade of the Immortal’ sees the enfant terrible deliver one of his best films of recent: both violently excessive and beautifully crafted.

A classy affair all round, ‘Blades of Blood’ is an invigorating and hugely enjoyable slice of chanbara styled storytelling from Korea.

‘Bleeding Steel’ starts with promise and then refuses to flesh out any of the plot details, leaving us bewildered shortly after our interest had piqued.

A straightforward martial arts film it may be but is all the better for it and features a great cast, blistering fight scenes and proves that sometimes old school is the best school.