Fearless review

 Number 597 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Hong Kong Wuxia film 'Fearless.'

Fearless tells the true-life story of martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia (Jet Li.) He became a hero across China by restoring national pride after China lost cultural status to Europe, the US and Russia in the dying years of the Qing Dynasty.

Wuxia films have never been my thing. Although they always look great with terrific fight choreography and beautiful cinematography like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or Hero - also starring Jet Li. I've always found the storylines lacking. The exception might be IP Man, but it wasn't as good.

I think much of this was down to the character of Huo Yuanjia who wasn't as interesting as he could have been. The film started a little too early in his life as we see the effect his father had on his life. It was important backstory that fed into Yuanjia's motivations, but it could have been excised. It removed too much focus from Yuanjia.

This wasn't necessarily the fault of Jet Li, but of the direction of Ronny Yu. Jet Li was perfectly fine as the hero of this film and at least Fearless had more forward momentum than Jet Li's earlier martial arts epic 'Hero.' Although, a bit like IP man, the villains could have used more work. The actors they hired to play the foreign fighters were cliched to the max.

Like I said, I'm not a big fan of Wuxia films and I'm not sure that Fearless is going to do anything to change that.

Hard Boiled review

 Number 368 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong action-triller Hard-Boiled.

"Tequila" Yuen Ho-Yan (Chow Yun-Fat) is a cop who doesn't play by the book. His goal is to bring the triad boss Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong) to justice. He finds an unlikely ally in undercover cop Alan (Tony Leung) who is masquerading as Johnny Wong's closest advisor.

Similar to his previous effort of the Killer, Woo's Hard Boiled will be an acquired taste. If you're a fan of action films then you'll love it, but if not then I'd recommend you watch something else, as Hard-Boiled employs almost every action film cliche in the book including infinite ammo, plot armour, slow-motion, lots of blood and endless gunfights.

Thankfully, one refreshing change was how Hard Boiled's female protagonist - Tequila's girlfriend Theresa Chang (Teresa Mo) and fellow cop has some agency and does something else than incessantly scream like Sally Yeh did in the Killer. Teresa even shot one of the bad guys.

In making this film, John Woo wanted to romanticise the police rather than criminals, which he did do in fairness. True they weren't the most complicated of characters, but Tequila and Alan were undoubtedly the heroes of the films. Not the two-dimensional villainous Johnny Wong. 

I did enjoy seeing Yun-Fat and Leung together - they had good chemistry which is important in a film like this. I've seen Leung in both romantic and action roles and he's good at both. It's just a shame that I don't care for action films. The endless explosions and gunfights became rather repetitive. Rather than being exciting, it was very boring.

And I also found it strange how despite the film is mostly in Cantonese, the characters had a few odd lines in English. True Hong Kong was still a British colony, but it seemed like an odd, out-of-place choice.

Similar, to the Killer, I'd only recommend watching Hard Boiled if you're an action film fan. If you're not then you best find something else to watch as this is not the film for you.

The Killer review

Number 359 on the top 1000 films of all time John Woo's Hong Kong action film 'the Killer.'

Ah Jong (Chow Yun-Fat) is a hitman who accidentally blinds nightclub singer Jennie (Sally Yeh) in a mob hit gone wrong. Wanting to raise money for an operation that can cure her sight, he embarks on one last hit, but disgraced policeman Li Yang (Danny Lee) is determined to send him to prison.

If there was a list for the cheesiest 1980's, popcorn-munching action films then the Killer would surely top the list. If you love those types of films then you would love the Killer. But if you're looking for something more than pretty much every single cliche in the action genre, then you'll be disappointed. And I was left sorely disappointed by this film.

I know it was an action film, but it was so absurd that it bordered on the ridiculous. Like I say, it is absolutely bursting with cliches. Where do we even start? There's the infinite ammo cliche. In the numerous gun fights that litter the film, Ah Jong and Li Yang never seem to run out of bullets even when they're using handguns. And the characters get shot multiple times but rarely show any distress. Plus there's a silly amount of slow motion too.

The character of Jennie is little more than a damsel-in-distress having little identity beyond being a screaming woman to be saved. Hardly the most complicated of characters. Not knowing that he is the one who blinded her, she falls in love with Ah Jong and the two begin a relationship which also seemed pretty unlikely.

As for the villains, Triad boss Wong Hoi (Shing Fui-on) was one of the most two-dimensional villains I've seen in a while. Like the rest of the film, he was just so over the top that it really hurt his credibility as a scary enemy. However, I also think that the exaggerated reality was very much the point of the film. Everything was supposed to be over-the-top. 

Yet that didn't make it any more entertaining. The gunfights became tedious after a while. And they detracted from the rest of the film particularly from the central three characters of Ah Jong, Jennie and Li Hang. Beyond their roles in the film, there was little depth to any of them. The whole film is about Ah Jong raising money to help Jennie's sight yet she ends up completely blind by the end. It was rather a disappointing end to that storyline.

You should only watch the Killer if you love cheesy action films. If you don't, then I would sorely recommend you find something else to watch instead.