Genre: Comedy

‘Gallants’ is, for the most part, a refreshing diversion that allows stars of the past to remind modern viewers that they still have much to offer to the future of Hong Kong cinema.

I can imagine watching it thirty years ago and wanting to throw a brick at the screen, but, imbued with a tidal wave of nostalgia today, it was a decent ninety-minute distraction.

As an introduction to the Hui brothers or Hong Kong comedy in general, this is a fine starting point.

For the most part this is a perfectly enjoyable though undistinguished drama, but things step up a gear near the end.

Clearly a set of well-intentioned, though poorly executed, morality plays, ‘Ghost Office’ proves itself in the long-run to be an enormous flub.

Mercifully the ghost busting escapades do provide some laughter and come the final run Sammo Hung and Corey Yuen unleash some wicked fight action.

‘Gift From Heaven’ is a low-key comedy, but a very watchable 90 minutes.

Although it is undoubtedly still an enjoyable arc from the show, the decision to make ‘Gintama: The Movie’ a collection of existing episodes feels somewhat disappointing.

Though ‘Girl With The Diamond Slipper’ has a fine finale and some excellent physical comedy throughout, the decidedly flat middle section eats away at the viewer’s patience.

The film itself is relatively well paced, shoehorning in equal helpings of genuinely amusing comedy set-pieces and soft-focus “cheeky moments”, seemingly flittering by in what feels like no time.

It is a true genre-defining classic that will go down in Hong Kong cinema history as one of the greats.

Much like a television movie version of ‘God of Gamblers’, but stripped of many of the elements that made the original work, this 2020 unofficial update is low budget and low entertainment value.