Rating: 2.5

The action ranges from the adequate to the quite good – hardly a ringing endorsement, I grant you – but suffers from that same curse of poor wirework.

‘Escape of Shark’ is a remake of Australian thriller ‘Bait’ which, while not a masterpiece either, is several notches above this effort.

‘Falcon Rising’ is a disappointingly average slice of action fodder that does little to warrant a solid recommendation.

Like most martial arts movies to emerge out of Hong Kong in recent years, there are flashes of the talent involved but it’s not nearly as entertaining as it should have been.

‘FB: Fighting Beat’ isn’t that bad but it’s just been done so much better before and nothing no fight film fan hasn’t seen a million times.

The major problem with ‘Fighting For Love’ is the fact that the leading characters are so unsympathetic that the viewer cares little about their fight to be together.

The plot and characterisation are very weak but there’s enough about the fights to keep a kung fu fan watching till the end.

A movie should be able to stand on its own merits, but despite the situation intriguing me and the action exciting me, I couldn’t help feeling unsatisfied in the end.

If you fancy watching a series of fun fights that feature some bizarre opponents then ‘Geisha Assassin’ is certainly as good a choice as any.

Not the best Hong Kong exploitation flick out there and far too lethargic and serious to recommend as over-the-top fun.

‘Golgo 13: Queen Bee’ is a short and not particularly sweet film that fails to make effective use of one of the coolest Japanese characters around.

Certainly a product of its time and now rather dated, ‘Guns of Dragon’ is still worth a watch for those in the mood for unpretentious and gratuitous gun blazing nonsense.