I, the Executioner is the follow-up to Seung-wan’s Veteran. I hadn’t seen it, and I loved this one. So don’t let that hold you back from checking this one out. South Korean action films and police thrillers are always engaging, and they aren’t afraid to get dark. Veteran cop, Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min) works in the…
Tag: fight sequences
Enter the Ninja (1981) – Menaham Golan
Enter the Ninja is dangerously bad. Coming on the tail of Chuck Norris’ The Octagon, the two films helped usher the ninja fad into the 80s. Featuring a story dreamed up by stuntman Mike Stone, who was initially cast as the main character until his acting chops didn’t make the cut – and that’s saying…
Polite Society (2023) – Nida Manzoor
Polite Society is an enjoyable action comedy with strong female characters involved in a wonderfully melodramatic tale. The story follows a young Pakistani woman, Ria (Priya Kansara) who dreams of being a stuntwoman, and who idolizes her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), who is experiencing a tough time after leaving art school because she she…
Rush Hour 2 (2001) – Brett Ratner
So the racism, sexism and homophobia are back on display in the follow-up to the break-out hit, Rush Hour. Rush Hour 2 brings Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker back into action as Lee and Carter in a sequel that looks worlds better than the first but is still steeped in the same racist issues as…
Transporter 3 (2008) – Olivier Megaton
Transporter 3 should work. Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is back in Europe, there’s a solid actor, Robert Knepper, as the film’s villain, there’s a solid supporting cast including Jeroen Krabbe and Francois Berleand returning as Tarconi, but this one just feels like it flounders. Part of that problem, sadly, rests on the casting of Natalya…
Transporter 2 (2005) – Louis Leterrier
Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is back as the Transporter. The first film was a fun European action film, the second sees the locale changed to North America, specifically Florida, which isn’t a bad thing, but the film’s incredibly short runtime, and its employment of really bad computer-generated visual effects doesn’t do it any favours and…
The Raid 2 (2014) – Gareth Evans
Picking up shortly after the first film, The Raid 2 sees Rama (Iko Uwais) recruited into a secret, and small division of the police to go undercover in the hopes of securing tangible and undeniable proof of police corruption. The only way for it to be believable is if Rama breaks the law, and can…
Spiritwalker (2020) – Yoon Jae-keun
Hitting digital, DVD and Blu-Ray today from Well Go USA Entertainment is this Korean bare-knuckle action flick with some sci-fi undertones that keeps things moving right until the last frame. The film gives a new spin on familiar territory, and features solidly constructed, and executed action and fight sequences. Ian (Yoon Kyesang) isn’t who he…
9th Annual Old School Kung Fu Film Fest: Joseph Kuo Edition – 7 Grandmasters (1977)
I was able to check out one last film at the 9th Annual Old School Kung Fu Film Fest that is screening at the Museum of the Moving Image, and presented in conjunction with Subway Cinema, and that was Kuo’s 7 Grandmasters! Featuring a sharp and clean 2K restoration, of the four films I’ve seen…
9th Annual Old School Kung Fu Film Fest: Joseph Kuo Edition – The 36 Deadly Styles (1979)
There’s always something happening in New York, and this weekend, if you’re in Queens, swing by the Museum of the Moving Image who, in conjunction with Subway Cinema, are delivering their ninth annual Old School Kung Fu Film Fest! The focus of this year’s festival is writer/producer/director Joseph Kuo, who has sixty-one directing credits to…
The Mind Reels 