Rating: 3.0

It’s almost as if the makers watched ‘Rush Hour’, ‘Shanghai Noon’ and even ‘Around The World In Eighty Days’ and thought how utilitarian it might be just to throw various elements from these into one puzzling lump.

Like an enticing travel documentary, ‘Sky Lovers’ leaves the viewer with a feeling of wonder toward its subject.

The opening does promise a fun and breezy film before it gets bogged down in confusion, but there are moments that keep the viewer watching.

Helmed by the then prolific Lo Wei and giving Wong Tao an early leading role, ‘Slaughter in San Francisco’ is some often cheesy but action-packed old school martial arts action.

‘Sleeping Fist’ is not brave enough to offer any variations on a very tired theme, but it is consistently rewarding from an action perspective.

The cast is packed with the usual gallery of stars that one associates with a Sammo production and of course the action (when it happens) is expertly choreographed by the man himself.

‘Snake Deadly Act’ is a typical example of a good, but not great independent kung fu flick.

The production cannot sustain its appeal nor can it do justice to the grand themes of loneliness/love that it attempts to tackle.

‘Spy Games’ is packed with 80s excess and ebullience, yet forgot to include the countless other elements that so many of its contemporaries included.

Despite never straying towards originality and unlikely to win awards, there’s still an admirable mixture of action and drama to commend.

The final impression is that Otomo’s steampunk epic is much like a billow of steam: diverting for a while, but once it stops there is little indication it ever actually happened.

Even though the flick looks the part and is fun for fans, it just never seems to be as exciting as it could and should of been.