Rating: 2.0

It’s almost as if director Andrew Lam just got a few mates together for an exercise in tedium to prove how willing we are to forgive anything for a hit of nostalgia.

The limited plot makes it impossible to get involved with any of the characters and the sheer volume of fight scenes quickly forces them to become tiresome.

The lack of urgency and often confusing nature of the plot means ‘Armageddon’ is never as engaging or exciting as it could have been.

Not quite as bad as the above descriptions might make it sound but far too barmy, slapdash and low rent to be fully successful with its intentions.

Even though Oshii has an impressive eye for visuals, he really needs to invest more time into the overall package as this is sadly lacking in depth.

Only recommended to war completists and those who find overt sentimentality and propaganda pushing easier to swallow.

This is only for the war history (and propaganda/sentimentality pushing) completist out there. Those wanting a war combat fix best look elsewhere.

One could almost believe the idea was hatched in a few minutes as scenes are needlessly dragged out and nothing significant happens until the closing moments.

At times, the film will have you slipping into a catatonic state and you’ll just be praying for the next bit of action to come along.

This lacklustre and also very sluggish remake, comes from Nicholas Cage and the Pang Brothers once again and offers nothing new to say and pretty much suffers from the same problems as the original.

Unfortunately, ‘Beauty Escort’ is no old school classic and should probably only be viewed by complete-ists, or after you have exhausted many (many) other old school kung fu flicks or very late at night with a buddy who can make fun of it with you.

There really is no disputing that ‘Best Of The Best 4’ is a far cry from the quality we have come to expect from the series, and this is basically nothing more than a very faceless action movie.